The Ethics of Cake

[The following is an exercise in coming to terms with making decisions according to Stoic principles, especially the dreaded Temperance.  Obviously, one could swap out cake for any number of other pleasant things (wine, computer games, sex) but altering the surrounding text so that it still makes sense will not be equally easy in all case.]

Suppose that while visiting a coffee shop you see a bit of cake and you think to yourself "Cake would be nice."  Then by all means eat the cake: in and of itself, cake is morally neutral.  Its existence is neither an impediment nor an aid to Virtue: it is an indifferent.  But it is pleasant and something you would like in your life, so it is a preferred indifferent (the language of modern Stoicism is, at times, comically technical).

But suppose instead that you see the cake and think "I've had more than enough fat and sugar today, I really don't need the cake", and then you eat it anyway!  This would be a failure of Volition.  Your Temperance has helped you set your priorities, you have formulated the appropriate response, but then you act in a manner contrary to your will.  It seems your ethical muscles need training.

There might be other reasons to be suspicious of the cake.  Perhaps you're concerned about the conditions under which it was made (exploited migrant bakers on dodgy work visas) or the provenance of its ingredients: are the eggs free-range?  Your sense of Justice is helping you act in a way that will not compromise your character.  Given that I said cake was morally neutral, it's turning out to be a real mine-field (welcome to virtue ethics).

Stoics seek to make the best decision "all things considered", balancing up different, competing requirements.  In the case of meeting a friend for coffee, the cake is easily avoided if that is what you wish.  But what if instead it is a friend's birthday cake?  You might still decline, if your objection is strong, but you might instead conclude that your concerns about the cake are subordinate to the social role cake-eating plays.  This is not necessarily a failure of Courage, just your Wisdom telling you that your friend's enjoyment of the occasion trumps your own obsession with your waist line.

[As I was writing this, I saw that a related (more general and far more expert) post had gone up at How to be a Stoic.]