You can tell Stoicism is getting popular when anyone who disagrees with me on Twitter resorts to the “argument” (I’m using the word very loosely): “but what you said is un-Stoic!,” pretty much regardless of what I actually said, or… Read More ›
Psychology
Stoicism and Emotion, II: the “pathetic” syllogism
Stoicism is not about suppressing emotions. At least, not exactly. Last time we have seen that Margaret Graver, in her Stoicism and Emotion, makes the point that for the Stoics (as in modern cognitive science) there is a fundamental distinction… Read More ›
Stoicism and Emotion, I: a science of the mind
If there is one complex, and often misunderstood, topic in Stoicism is the role played by emotions in the philosophy. You know, stiff upper lip and all that nonsense. That is why I decided to begin a multi-part series devoted… Read More ›
The philosophy and science of (Stoic) free will
Time to tackle again the debate that never goes away: how is the Stoic idea that we can work to improve our character, or — which is the same — Epictetus’ contention that some things are up to us and… Read More ›
Living according to nature
The ancient Stoics were famous, or infamous, depending on whom one asks, for promulgating doctrines that sounded “paradoxical.” Indeed, Cicero wrote an entire book called Paradoxa Stoicorum (my commentary here), in which he tried to explain six of them. “Paradox”… Read More ›
Stoic advice: I suffer from addiction, and I hate myself because I’m a bad Stoic
[Feel free to submit a question for this column, addressing it at massimo at howtobeastoic dot org.] E. writes: Before I discovered Stoicism, many years ago, I struggled with an addiction. At the time I tried to implement what I… Read More ›
Stoicism is a philosophy. Not a magic wand, a bag of tricks, or a prosperity gospel
A funny thing is happening now that Stoicism is part of the zeitgeist: people want to use it as a magic wand to solve any and all problems, as if practicing a philosophy of life (any philosophy of life, not… Read More ›
