When morality is in accordance with nature. A review of Polina Gadzhikurbanova, ethics of the early stoa: the doctrine of due. Moscow: Institute of Philosophy press, 2012. 219 pp

The monograph under review investigates the correlation of the two Stoic ethical concepts: kathēkon (appropriate action) and katorthōma (perfect moral action). As the author highlights, specific features of the Stoic ethical theory are focused in these concepts and the character of their relations, and at the same time its key challenges are associated with them: the correlation of the highest good and the relative values, and the correlation of natural and virtuous. The author presents readers a history of the investigated problem in the introduction. The first chapter is devoted to the study of the main provisions of the ethics of early Stoics, aretology and axiology of Stoics, doctrine of oikeiōsis etc. The second chapter deals with the problem of influence of Cynic and Peripatetic philosophy on ethics of Stoa. The third chapter is devoted to the solution of the main objective of this work. In order to achieve this goal the author uses the rich heritage of research, which includes names such as M. Forschner, G. Nebel, J. Rist, D. Tsekourakis, A. Huseynov, A. Stolyarov and others. The following position can be assumed as the basic setting of the author: kathēkon and katorthōma are related as matter ( hylē ) and principle ( arkhē ) of the act. On the one hand, this thesis captures the qualitative difference between the two spheres of Stoic ethics. On the other hand, the author fairly insists that the two areas are closely connected to each other. To sum up, the principle is independent from the matter, but the first cannot be completely isolated from the second.