This article seeks to uncover a philosophical basis for negative perceptions of political activity, including an unwillingness to recognise a political realm in the conduct of private life. Drawing on the work of Alfred Schutz and the ethical theory of Stoicism, the ingredients of an apolitical orientation find a cognitive and moral intelligibility which, while not necessarily desirable, can nevertheless make sense of the low reputation in which politics is held and the reluctance to engage in it.