What does Nietzsche mean by big-N Nature? How does Nature fit into Stoic thought?
I haven't really read any Stoic philosophy so I don't have the context, and this excerpt seems to attack a word that wasn't covered in the linked article. Or at least it's not clear to me how the ideas discussed in the article fit into this idea of "a being like Nature". Can you give a bit more background?
Nietzsche might actually be misreading the stoics here (is that heretical to say?), or I am not privy to the angle of his attack.
The stoic viewpoint is to play your role according to where you find yourself. Suffering is unavoidable. A stoic accepts this fact and does not let it perturb him. An ideal stoic fears neither pain nor death, and goes willingly to death when called. This in my view is what is meant by ‘living in accordance with nature.’ Respect for the bounds of your existence, and not giving into the depression and self pity that can accompany a less than lavish or comfortable existence.
Not really a philosophy of ‘raging against the dying of the light.’
The Stoics were pantheists who believed gods, fate, matter came from Nature, the most ancient goddess. Nature assembles out of the four elements inanimate rocks, souled beings like mice and rational beings, Humans. Humans alone have a ruling center (Hegemonikon) granted by Nature which allows them to freely choose good or evil.
I haven't really read any Stoic philosophy so I don't have the context, and this excerpt seems to attack a word that wasn't covered in the linked article. Or at least it's not clear to me how the ideas discussed in the article fit into this idea of "a being like Nature". Can you give a bit more background?