5/ Preconceptions — Prolēpseis — πρόληψις

You arrive at work, and your colleague doesn’t greet you. Instantly, a thought arises:
“He’s being disrespectful.” And with it, perhaps, a slight tension, a feeling of being offended.
But if you take a moment to step back, you’ll notice something: this reaction didn’t come from the event itself, but from the application of a preconception (prolēpseis). You hold a general idea of what respect means. That’s natural—every human being carries within them an intuition of what is owed to others, of what constitutes a just relationship. But did you actually check whether your colleague truly disrespected you? Perhaps he was simply distracted, tired, or lost in thought.

The problem, then, isn’t your preconception of respect—
it’s valuable, even necessary,
but the way you applied it.
You filled it in too quickly, without evidence, under the influence of emotion.
And this is precisely what the Stoics urge us to correct: to learn to recognize these universal preconceptions, while avoiding the distortion that comes from filtering them through the lens of our ego or our mental habits.

You think you're thinking freely.
But more often than not, you're simply following received ideas, inherited notions you've never questioned, general beliefs you carry within you without even realizing it.
But are these ideas clear? Coherent? Grounded in experience, or merely in habit?

The Stoics claim that the source of our errors and suffering does not lie in a lack of moral principles, but in the poor application of notions we already possess.

Every human being has natural preconceptions, general ideas such as “good,” “evil,” “justice,” or “courage.” These notions, which reason develops spontaneously, are not problematic in themselves. What is problematic is how we fill them in. Too often, under the influence of emotion, social pressure, or personal sensitivity, we project mistaken interpretations into these categories. We call “injustice” what is merely an inconvenience, or label as “evil” what is simply a minor obstacle. The philosophical task, then, is to refine our use of these preconceptions: to examine more rigorously what we place under these ideas, so we can free ourselves from rash judgments and the excessive reactions that follow.

Most preconceived ideas are generated, according to the Stoic empirical doctrine, directly from sensory perception, memory, and experience. That’s why they’re called pre-conceptions: because for the Stoics, conceptions (without the “pre”) ¹ are something else entirely. Conceptions are constructed ideas, elaborated through attention, observation, and above all… instruction. Whereas a preconception is immediate, almost instinctive, a conception is the result of effort. It requires that we gather impressions, analyze cases, compare, reflect, and build a coherent understanding. You don’t reflect on what justice is in the same way at seven years old and at thirty, even though you carry the same initial preconception within you.

These preconceptions, then, are natural, shared by all beings endowed with reason.
They form the raw material of your judgment. But if you don’t examine them, if you don’t take the time to shape them into true conceptions through your experience and the knowledge you’ve gathered, they can become traps.

That’s why the work of the philosopher begins here: clarifying one’s own reference points.
Bringing unconscious beliefs to light. Asking, before judging: “What do I think I know? And where does that idea come from?”

Only by illuminating your preconceptions can you begin to think clearly.
And instead of living by borrowed ideas, you’ll finally live by your own.