Introduction: Cracking Open the Shell

We now begin Part II, moving from physics to logic. As parts of the egg, we are leaving the yolk and cracking open the shell. What we find in the shell are mysterious things called λϵκτα (or λϵκτόν, singular). While it is better to leave this term in the original Greek, for now we can at least say that it has something to do with linguistic meaning or sense. This might make us wonder why sense is grouped alongside space and time as the three incorporeals. Although an affinity between space and time seems plausible, certainly one that allows for their easy classification in a single category, λϵκτόν seems like the odd one out. As we will see, λϵκτόν is grouped alongside space and time because it shares – alongside space and time – the same double-sided structure of Stoic incorporeality.

In this chapter we first must hunt down the origins of λϵκτα in the early days of the Stoa, where we find that the Stoics’ full commitment to materialism entails a serious challenge, one Deleuze, too, faces: the emergence of language out of meaningless materiality. Through Deleuze's Stoicism, we map this emergent movement and find that there are two kinds of genesis – dynamic and static – that operate between three stages of language – primary order, secondary organisation, and tertiary ordinance. After detailing these kinds and stages, we compare Epicurean grammar to Stoic grammar, where we reveal a difference in prioritisation: Epicureans privilege nouns, Stoics privilege verbs. We conclude by showing how λϵκτα has the same double-sided structure of all Stoics incorporeals.

The remaining two sections of Part II – ‘The Shell B’ and ‘The Shell C’ – round out our examination of Stoic logic. ‘The Shell B’ considers the Stoics’ development of propositional logic and the correlative art of paradoxes. ‘The Shell C’ offers a Handbook or training manual of logic, as was wont in the Stoa. This Handbook connects with the transcendental logic of incorporeals from ‘The Yolk B’ and the Stoic paradoxes from ‘The Shell B’ in order to offer a regiment for cultivating a Stoic form of life. With this logic book in hand, we will turn to Part III of the Stoic egg: ‘The Albumen’, or ethics.