Cynical opposite should be Stoic, not Zealous

[Sol]

Cynical means belief that people and society are inherently bad.
Stoic means belief that people/society are good and we should participate in society.

The opposites here are whether you believe people/society is worthy/unworthy, good/bad, and whether you should trust/respect other people and participate in society.

Zealous refers to intense enthusiasm and passion for a cause or belief, the ultimate radical. Zealous is not in any way the opposite of Cynical. Zealous would be the opposite of something like Moderate (if the opposite of radical is centered) or even Apathy (the absence of passion for a cause or belief).

[Cole]

Cynical (in reference to the personality in ck3) is more faith involved, same with zealous. a personality isnt as simple as a google definition, and there isnt necessarily an apathetic personality, closest is probably callous? but callous already has an opposite. this game also has worse issues, so it doesnt really matter

[Sol]

Callous refers to someone who is mean spirited and foul willed. This would not be opposite. Callous is a good example of how Cynics treat others (because they find others unworthy of respect and incapable of inherent goodness).

Cynical and Stoic should be opposites.
Zealous should be opposite of Apathetic and Moderate, each being opposite of the other two.

Zealous people care too much about the cause (what god thinks?) while Apathetic people would not care at all (even if they were otherwise religious) and Moderates are in between. Another distinction is that Zealous people tend to have extreme/radical actions they call for while moderates not to like extreme/radical actions.

[Sol]

I will certainly make this fix for my personal modding. I just feel like this is one of those gross violations of logic. It would be like having Gregarious as the opposite of Content, and just saying "content people are happy to not over socialize". The reasoning feels cheap and the opposing pairs make no sense at all.

[Razorblade]

You are confusing religious cynicism with philosophical (capital C) Cynicism. CK3, a game about the Middle Ages, is obviously not referring to (pagan) Greek philosophy; it is referring to medieval Christian morality.

Cynicism, as in skepticism towards God and the church, is a perfectly valid term in the context the game uses it, and Zealotry, unshakeable faith, would indeed be its opposite.

[Sol]

1. There are a lot of Non-Christians in this game who's morality is somewhat reflected. Also, the medieval christian morality was derived from Greek philosophy.

2. Cynicism and Stoicism are still arguing today, and argued back then, too. About the nature of mankind as good or bad. There were religious sects who claimed god saved mankind because mankind is worthy of salvation while others claim mankind is wicked and unworthy and actively deserves hell, and only the pure/saved are "less unworthy, but acceptable". Medieval and modern churches still argue over this issue.

3. Doubter-Believer (regarding religious conviction) would also be a good pairing to have. I said doubter instead of skeptic because to me, skeptic implies a distrust with possible resistance while doubter implies someone who has doubts about things even if they do believe. This would be the ideal Zealous vs ??? pairing.

4. I will close by adding that your definition of Zealous would also be covered by Fervent and its opposite would be Apathy. I know many christians today (and even back then) differ on whether they really care a lot, or not at all. Those who don't care tell me it isn't a negligence of passion but rather a golden mean, and the bigger crime is caring too much about things only god/nature/fate seems to control.

This also adds the notion that both zealous and apathetic people have a moral reason. The zealous doesn't care too much, their passion is justified and apathy falls far short, perhaps to the point of a moral crime. The apathetic isn't shirking a moral/social/divine duty, they know their lane and stay in it, and let god be god and preserve their "care" for that which they might be able to impact.

[jpcerutti]

Your thinking way too deep for a sandbox game where people regularly inbreed.

Cynical - I regularly doubt things, especially the ones I cannot see or prove.
Zealous - I never doubt things, the things I cannot see or prove God(s) handle(s) magnificently.

All the rest is arguing language semantics, word choices, and definitions... all of which are culturally, situation, and time period variable.

I'm just glad they don't issue my version in period language that I have to try and decypher to choose an event action - which they should do if we are going for 'historical/accuracy'.

[freezray]

Other people have already pointed out that the game is using "cynical" in an entirely different manner. However, my confusion stems from the fact that the game makes that painfully obvious. Practically every NPC that has that trait gains some kind of "atheist" personality archetype. Meaning they won't go out of their way to build temples or interact with the church. On TOP of that you get a monthly piety deduction for simply having the trait. But WAIT it doesn't stop there! There are EVENTS tied to that trait were other NPC's will straight up question if you are a non-believer. Depending on how that interaction goes will even land you with a non-believer secret. Which if exposed could get you imprisoned and your titles revoked.

So if your modding the game that would imply some familiarity with the game. Yet all of this somehow escaped your notice?

[Ordinary Cat]

You're confusing personality traits with religious philosophy.

Now, CK3 is a pretty religious game. People can't really escape having an opinion of some kind on religion and while most people sit somewhere in the respectable middle, there are some extreme ends of the spectrum of opinion.

Cynical is strictly the lack of belief, or trust in religion. Cynical people are resistant to religion in general. The foil is obviously Zealous, or the unwavering belief of trust in religion. The only religion they're resistant to is the religion someone tells them they should believe instead.

As a personality trait, to be Stoic is to endure hardship without complaining, which doesn't really fit anywhere in your pairing chart. Stoicism is a religious philosophy and there are a handful of religions that include Stocism.

Granted, CK3 doesn't really cover the evolving contemporary discussions about religion, just the snapshots of religions at the time. If you comb over the options, you'll probably find some flavor of the philosophical concepts you mention.