Stoic Meditations

1094. The Olympics have already started!

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 10:00:51 GMT

When faced with anything painful or pleasurable, anything bringing glory or disrepute, realize that the crisis is now, that the Olympics have started, and waiting is no longer an option; that the chance for progress, to keep or lose, turns on the events of a single day.

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1093. Homer and Chrysippus

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 10:00:43 GMT

If I admire the interpretation [of a philosophical treatise], I have turned into a literary critic instead of a philosopher, the only difference being that, instead of Homer, I’m interpreting Chrysippus.

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1092. Don't judge others

Fri, 19 Aug 2022 10:00:58 GMT

Someone bathes in haste; don’t say he bathes badly, but in haste. Someone drinks a lot of wine; don’t say he drinks badly, but a lot. Until you know their reasons, how do you know that their actions are vicious?

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1091. Non sequiturs

Thu, 18 Aug 2022 10:00:36 GMT

The following are non-sequiturs: ‘I am richer, therefore superior to you’; or ‘I am a better speaker, therefore a better person, than you.’

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1090. Every cup has two handles

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 10:00:16 GMT

Everything has two handles: one by which it may be borne, another by which it cannot. If your brother acts unjustly, do not lay hold on the affair by the handle of his injustice, for by that it cannot be borne, but rather by the opposite — that he is your brother, that he was brought up with you; and thus you will lay hold on it as it is to be borne.

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1089. Of insults and logic

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 10:00:54 GMT

Whenever anyone criticizes or wrongs you, remember that they are only doing or saying what they think is right. They cannot be guided by your views, only their own; so if their views are wrong, they are the ones who suffer insofar as they are misguided. I mean, if someone declares a true conjunctive proposition to be false, the proposition is unaffected, it is they who come off worse for having their ignorance exposed.

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1088. Wrong priorities

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 10:00:36 GMT

As you are careful when you walk not to step on a nail or turn your ankle, so you should take care not to do any injury to your character at the same time.

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1087. Conversation and company

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 10:00:58 GMT

When you’re called upon to speak, then speak, but never about banalities like gladiators, horses, sports, food and drink – common-place stuff. Above all don’t gossip about people, praising, blaming or comparing them. Avoid fraternizing with non-philosophers. If you must, though, be careful not to sink to their level; because, you know, if a companion is dirty, his friends cannot help but get a little dirty too, no matter how clean they started out.

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1086. Grief and loss

Thu, 11 Aug 2022 10:00:31 GMT

When somebody’s wife or child dies, to a man we all routinely say, ‘Well, that’s part of life.’ But if one of our own family is involved, then right away it’s ‘Poor, poor me!’ We would do better to remember how we react when a similar loss afflicts others.

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1085. Money

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 10:00:27 GMT

If I can make money while remaining honest, trustworthy and dignified, show me how and I will do it. But if you expect me to sacrifice my own values, just so you can get your hands on things that aren’t even good – well, you can see yourself how thoughtless and unfair you’re being.

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1084. On insults

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 10:00:26 GMT

Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. … Take a moment before reacting, and you will find it is easier to maintain control.

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1083. Do not groan inwardly

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 10:00:26 GMT

When you see anyone weeping for grief, either that his son has gone abroad or that he has suffered in his affairs, take care not to be overcome by the apparent evil, but discriminate and be ready to say, "What hurts this man is not this occurrence itself — for another man might not be hurt by it — but the view he chooses to take of it." As far as conversation goes, however, do not disdain to accommodate yourself to him and, if need be, to groan with him. Take heed, however, not to groan inwardly, too.

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1082. The fundamental tradeoff

Fri, 05 Aug 2022 10:00:53 GMT

You have to realize, it isn’t easy to keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals. Caring about the one inevitably means you are going to shortchange the other.

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1081. Your reservoir of virtues

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 10:00:57 GMT

Provoked by the sight of a handsome man or a beautiful woman, you will discover within you the contrary power of self-restraint. Faced with pain, you will discover the power of endurance. If you are insulted, you will discover patience. In time, you will grow to be confident that there is not a single impression that you will not have the moral means to tolerate.

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1080. The path to peace

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 10:00:38 GMT

Don’t hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace.

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1079. The use of impressions

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 10:00:51 GMT

What quality belongs to you? The intelligent use of impressions. If you use impressions as nature prescribes, go ahead and indulge your pride, because then you will be celebrating a quality distinctly your own.

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1078. Facts vs value judgments

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 10:00:52 GMT

It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgements concerning them.

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1077. You should always have two goals in mind

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 10:00:05 GMT

When you’re about to embark on any action, remind yourself what kind of action it is. If you’re going out to take a bath, set before your mind the things that happen at the baths, that people splash you, that people knock up against you, that people steal from you. And you’ll thus undertake the action in a surer manner if you say to yourself at the outset, ‘I want to take a bath and ensure at the same time that my choice remains in harmony with nature.’

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1076. Remember, we are all mortals

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 10:00:32 GMT

If you kiss your child or your wife, say to yourself that it is a human being that you're kissing; and then, if one of them should die, you won't be upset.

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1075. Question your impressions

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 10:00:01 GMT

So make a practice at once of saying to every strong impression: ‘An impression is all you are, not the source of the impression.’ Then test and assess it with your criteria, but one primarily: ask, ‘Is this something that is, or is not, up to me?’

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1074. The fundamental rule of life

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 10:00:40 GMT

Some things are up to us, while others are not. Up to us are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not up to us are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing.

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1073. Virtue is the only good

Fri, 22 Jul 2022 10:00:46 GMT

Despise poverty; no man lives as poor as he was born: despise pain; either it will cease or you will cease: despise death; it either ends you or takes you elsewhere: despise fortune; I have given her no weapon that can reach the mind. I have taken care that no one should hold you captive against your will: the way of escape lies open before you: if you do not choose to fight, you may fly. For this reason, of all those matters which I have deemed essential for you, I have made nothing easier for you than to die.

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1072. What Nature has given us

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 10:00:45 GMT

I have placed every good thing within your own breasts: it is your good fortune not to need any good fortune. Yet many things befall you which are sad, dreadful, hard to be borne. Well, as I have not been able to remove these from your path, I have given your minds strength to combat all: bear them bravely.

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1071. The Stoic deterministic universe

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 10:00:13 GMT

The fates guide us, and the length of every person’s days is decided at the first hour of their birth: every cause depends upon some earlier cause: one long chain of destiny decides all things, public or private. Wherefore, everything must be patiently endured, because events do not fall in our way, as we imagine, but come by a regular law.

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1070. We should seek out life's challenges

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 10:00:31 GMT

To be always prosperous, and to pass through life without a twinge of mental distress, is to remain ignorant of one half of nature. You are a great human being; but how am I to know it, if fortune gives you no opportunity of showing your virtue? I think you unhappy because you never have been unhappy: you have passed through your life without meeting an antagonist: no one will know your powers, not even you yourself.

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1069. It doesn't matter what you bear, but how you bear it

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 10:00:14 GMT

Good people ought to act so as not to fear troubles and difficulties, nor to lament their hard fate, to take in good part whatever befalls them, and force it to become a blessing to them. It does not matter what you bear, but how you bear it.

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1068. No evil can befall a good person

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 10:00:40 GMT

The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of a brave person; for the mind of someone brave maintains its balance and throws its own complexion over all that takes place, because it is more powerful than any external circumstances.

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1067. The Stoic argument from design

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 10:00:24 GMT

Seneca presents an argument from design to conclude that the universe is rationally and providentially arranged, just like Cleanthes, Chrysippus, and Cicero had done before him, and like Epictetus will do afterwards. Of course, from a modern scientific perspective, such argument does not hold water.

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1066. Stoic R&R

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 10:00:55 GMT

It does good also to take walks out of doors, that our spirits may be raised and refreshed by the open air and fresh breeze. Sometimes we gain strength by driving in a carriage, by travel, by change of air, or by social meals and a more generous allowance of wine.

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1065. Democritus vs Heraclitus

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 10:00:43 GMT

We ought therefore to bring ourselves into such a state of mind that all the vices of the vulgar may not appear hateful to us, but merely ridiculous, and we should imitate Democritus rather than Heraclitus. The latter of these, whenever he appeared in public, used to weep, the former to laugh.

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1064. Stoic non-attachment

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 10:00:54 GMT

Zeno, the chief of our school, when he heard the news of a shipwreck, in which all his property had been lost, remarked, “Fortune bids me follow philosophy in lighter marching order.”

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1063. The reserve clause

Tue, 31 May 2022 10:00:23 GMT

He who does many things often puts himself in Fortune’s power, and it is safest not to tempt her often, but always to remember her existence, and never to promise oneself anything on her security. I will set sail unless anything happens to prevent me; I shall be praetor, if nothing hinders me; my financial operations will succeed, unless anything goes wrong with them.

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1062. The problem with busyness

Mon, 30 May 2022 10:00:23 GMT

We must limit the running to and fro which most people practice, rambling about houses, theaters, and marketplaces. They mind other peoples’ business, and always seem as though they themselves had something to do. If you ask them as they come out of their own door, “Whither are you going?” they will answer, “By Hercules, I do not know: but I shall see some people and do some things.”

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1061. What do we labor for?

Fri, 27 May 2022 10:00:29 GMT

The next point to these will be to take care that we do not labour for what is vain, or labour in vain: that is to say, neither to desire what we are not able to obtain, nor yet, having obtained our desire too late, and after much toil, to discover the folly of our wishes: in other words, that our labour may not be without result, and that the result may not be unworthy of our labour.

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1060. The premeditatio malorum

Thu, 26 May 2022 10:00:58 GMT

For by looking forward to everything which can happen as though it would happen to us, we take the sting out of all evils, which can make no difference to those who expect it and are prepared to meet it. … Disease, captivity, disaster, conflagration, are none of them unexpected: I always knew with what disorderly company Nature had associated me. … Ought I to be surprised if the dangers which have always been circling around me at last assail me?

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1059. It's a matter of attitude

Wed, 25 May 2022 10:00:50 GMT

In every station of life you will find amusements, relaxations, and enjoyments; that is, provided you be willing to make light of evils rather than to hate them.

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1058. How many books? How many authors?

Tue, 24 May 2022 10:00:02 GMT

What is the use of possessing numberless books and libraries, whose titles their owner can hardly read through in a lifetime? A student is over-whelmed by such a mass, not instructed, and it is much better to devote yourself to a few writers than to skim through many.

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1057. The real value of things

Mon, 23 May 2022 10:00:38 GMT

Let us accustom ourselves to set aside mere outward show, and to measure things by their uses, not by their ornamental trappings.

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1056. Whereby Seneca praises Diogenes

Fri, 20 May 2022 10:00:38 GMT

The best amount of property to have is that which is enough to keep us from poverty, and which yet is not far removed from it.

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1055. The problem with too much wealth

Thu, 19 May 2022 10:00:51 GMT

If you compare all the other ills from which we suffer—deaths, sicknesses, fears, regrets, endurance of pains and labors—with those miseries which our money inflicts upon us, the latter will far outweigh all the others.

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1054. Be careful the company you keep

Wed, 18 May 2022 10:00:15 GMT

We should choose for our friends those who are, as far as possible, free from strong desires: for vices are contagious, and pass from someone to their neighbor, and injure those who touch them.

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1053. What we do is a preferred indifferent, how we do it is not

Tue, 17 May 2022 10:00:56 GMT

No good is done by forcing one’s mind to engage in uncongenial work: it is vain to struggle against Nature.

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1052. Careful about what and why you commit yourself to

Mon, 16 May 2022 10:00:06 GMT

We ought first to examine our own selves, next the business which we propose to transact, next those for whose sake or in whose company we transact it.

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1051. Consider how much or how little you can do

Fri, 06 May 2022 10:00:44 GMT

We ought therefore, to expand or contract ourselves according as the state of things presents itself to us, or as Fortune offers us opportunities.

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1050. Be a good citizen

Thu, 05 May 2022 10:00:55 GMT

The services of a good citizen are never thrown away: he does good by being heard and seen, by his expression, his gestures, his silent determination, and his very walk.

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1049. Wisdom and age

Wed, 04 May 2022 10:00:54 GMT

Often a man who is very old in years has nothing beyond his age by which he can prove that he has lived a long time.

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1048. Serving the cosmopolis

Tue, 03 May 2022 10:00:47 GMT

Seneca explains that there are many ways to help improve the human cosmopolis: one can be a candidate for public office, a defense lawyer, or a teacher. Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus encouraged involvement in politics, but where themselves teachers.

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1047. A very good question

Mon, 02 May 2022 10:00:26 GMT

How long are we to go on doing the same thing?

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1046. Don't flee from yourself

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 10:00:02 GMT

Hence men undertake aimless wanderings and travel along distant shores, trying to soothe that fickleness of disposition which always is dissatisfied with the present. As Lucretius says: “Thus every mortal from himself does flee.”

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1045. Is tranquillity of mind really a good thing?

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 10:00:36 GMT

What you desire, to be undisturbed, is a great thing, nay, the greatest thing of all, and one which raises a man almost to the level of a god.

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1044. On public service

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 10:00:52 GMT

I will obey the maxims of our school and plunge into public life, not because the purple robe attracts me, but in order that I may be able to be of use to my friends, my relatives, to all my countrymen, and indeed to all mankind.

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1043. Seneca's life style

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 10:00:42 GMT

Seneca explains that he prefers simple cloths and easily prepared food, not the kind that "goes out of the body by the same path by which it came in."

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1042. Chrysippus' cylinder

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 10:00:12 GMT

Cicero introduces Chrysippus' example of a rolling cylinder as an analogy for the inner workings of the human will. This results in a defense of compatibilism about free will based on distinguishing internal from external causes.

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1041. The three basic positions on free will

Thu, 21 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero explains that the Greco-Romans were divided on free will along three possible positions, which turn out to be the very same that still characterize the modern debate on the subject.

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1040. Carneades on free will

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero presents Carneades' response to Chrysippus' argument about free will and determinism. Though interesting, this time it is the Skeptics who got it wrong and the Stoics who are on target.

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1039. Co-causality

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero explains Chrysippus' theory of co-causality, which plays a crucial role in his rejection of the so-called lazy argument concerning free will.

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1038. The lazy argument

Fri, 15 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero summarizes the so-called lazy argument about the nature of faith, explaining why it doesn't make any sense. Fate, according to the Stoics, just is the universal web of causes and effects.

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1037. Self-caused free will?

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

No external cause need be sought to explain the voluntary movements of the mind; for voluntary motion possesses the intrinsic property of being in our power and of obeying us, and its obedience is not uncaused, for its nature is itself the cause of this.

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1036. The Epicurean swerve

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero nails the Epicureans for their ad hoc theory of the so-called swerve, a sudden lateral movement of atoms meant to preserve the notion of free will in an otherwise mechanistic universe.

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1035. Different kinds of causality?

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Is the fact that Carneades went to the Academy on a given day the result of necessary causes determined from the beginning of time, or of local causes that could have been otherwise?

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1034. On free will: Chrysippus vs Cicero

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

For it does not follow that if differences in people’s propensities are due to natural and antecedent causes, therefore our wills and desires are also due to natural and antecedent causes; for if that were the case, we should have no freedom of the will at all.

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1033. Ethics and morality are the same thing

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Because it relates to character, called in Greek ethos, we usually term that part of philosophy ‘the study of character.’ But the suitable course is to add to the Latin language by giving this subject the name of ‘moral science.’

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1032. On magnanimity

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

It is no proof of a great mind to give and to throw away one’s bounty; the true test of a great mind is to throw away one’s bounty and still to give.

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1031. The importance of memory

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Consider within yourself, whether you have always shown gratitude to those to whom you owe it, whether no one’s kindness has ever been wasted upon you, whether you constantly bear in mind all the benefits which you have received.

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1030. Socrates' cloak

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca tells the story of when Socrates asked his friends for money to buy a cloak, and reminds us of our duty to bestow benefits on our friends before they even ask.

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1029. The problem with being ultra-wealthy

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Wretched is he who can take pleasure in the size of the audit book of his estate, in great tracts of land cultivated by slaves in chains, in huge flocks and herds which require provinces and kingdoms for their pasture ground.

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1028. Useful vs leisure knowledge

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

There is nothing which is hard to discover except those things by which we gain nothing beyond the credit of having discovered them. Whatever things tend to make us better or happier are either obvious or easily discovered.

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1027. Memorize reminders to be ready to act

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

The cynic Demetrius had an admirable saying about this, that one gained more by having a few wise precepts ready and in common use, than by learning many without having them at hand.

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1026. Gratitude irrespective of reputation

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

You do wrong if you are grateful only for the sake of your reputation, and not to satisfy your conscience.

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1025. A long list of dangerous fools

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Do you not see how powerful people are driven to ruin by the want of candor among their friends, whose loyalty has degenerated into slavish obsequiousness?

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1024. Some things are worth much more than the asking price

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Some things are of greater value than the price which we pay for them. You buy of a physician life and good health, the value of which cannot be estimated in money; from a teacher you buy the education of a gentleman and mental culture.

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1023. You don't own anything

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

That which you esteem so highly, that by which you think that you are made rich and powerful, owns but the shabby title of “house” or “money;” but when you have given it away, it becomes a benefit.

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1022. Ungrateful politicians

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca discusses the widespread ingratitude of politicians toward their country and fellow citizens. Which raises the obvious question: why is it so difficult to find virtuous politicians?

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1021. Sick stomach, sick mind

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Just as the stomach, when disordered by disease, turns every kind of sustenance into a source of pain, so whatever you entrust to an ill-regulated mind becomes to it a burden, an annoyance, and a source of misery.

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1020. Instinctive vs conscious actions

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

A benefit is a voluntary act, but to do good to oneself is an instinctive one.

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1019. Diogenes and Alexander

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Diogenes was far more powerful, far richer even than Alexander, who then possessed everything; for there was more that Diogenes could refuse to receive than that Alexander was able to give.

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1018. The reserve clause

Fri, 18 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

The wise person begins everything with the saving clause, “If nothing shall occur to the contrary.”

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1017. Seneca, the Skeptic?

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

We proceed in the way in which reason, not absolute truth, directs us.

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1016. Of sages and torture

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

A good conscience is of value on the rack.

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1015. The two fundamental human strengths

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

While all other animals have sufficient strength to protect themselves, man is covered by a soft skin, has no powerful teeth or claws with which to terrify other creatures, but weak and naked by himself is made strong by union.

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1014. Even bad people appreciate virtue

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Nature bestows upon us all this immense advantage, that the light of virtue shines into the minds of all alike; even those who do not follow her, behold her.

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1013. The duty to help others and the providential nature of the universe

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca makes an argument that we have a duty to help others based on the providential nature of the universe. But the universe does not have a providential nature. Fortunately, there is a way to rescue Seneca's conclusion.

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1012. God = Nature = Fate = Cause & Effect

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 11:00:00 GMT

If you were to call God Fate, you would not lie; for since fate is nothing more than a connected chain of causes, he is the first cause of all upon which all the rest depend.

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1011. Two criticisms of Seneca

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca, though he acknowledges that women are perfectly capable of virtue, characterizes Epicureans as "effeminate." And in today's passage he comes across as far more critical of Epicurus than he is usually regarded to be.

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1010. The difference between a mere parent and a good parent

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 11:00:00 GMT

It is not a good thing to live, but to live well.

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1009. On slavery

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Whereby Seneca displays a bit too casual of an attitude toward slavery, a particular instance of a broader problem for Stoicism when it comes to social and political issues.

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1008. No deadline for gratefulness

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 16:34:24 GMT

No day is appointed for repayment of a benefit, as there is for borrowed money; consequently he who has not yet repaid a benefit may do so hereafter: for tell me, pray, within what time a person is to be declared ungrateful?

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1007. Virtue and the law

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca explains why it makes no sense to pass laws to enforce virtuous behavior, such as some modern laws against marital infidelity.

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1006. Contentedness vs ambition

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Being always intent upon new objects of desire, we think, not of what we have, but of what we are striving to obtain. Those whose mind is fixed entirely upon what they hope to gain, regard with contempt all that is their own already.

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1005. Should we complain to the gods?

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

They call the gods neglectful of us because we have not been given health which even our vices cannot destroy.

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1004. The sources of ingratitude

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Ingratitude is caused by excessive self-esteem, by that fault innate in all mortals, of taking a partial view of ourselves and our own acts, by greed, or by jealousy.

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1003. When we should decline a benefit to help a friend

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Someone may be a worthy person for me to receive a benefit from, but it will hurt them to give it. For this reason I will not receive it, because they are ready to help me to their own prejudice, or even danger.

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1002. Benefits should be freely received

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

No one incurs any obligation by receiving what it was not in his power to refuse; if you want to know whether I wish to take it, arrange matters so that I have the power of saying ‘No.’

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1001. Sometimes the right thing to do is to say no

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

As we refuse cold water to the sick, or swords to the grief-stricken or remorseful, so must we persist in refusing to give anything whatever that is hurtful, although our friends earnestly and humbly beg for it.

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1000. Be an anonymous benefactor

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

You should be satisfied with the approval of your own conscience; if not, you do not really delight in doing good, but in being seen to do good.

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999. Don't let generosity degenerate into extravagance

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Since no impulse of the human mind can be approved of, even though it springs from a right feeling, unless it be made into a virtue by discretion, I forbid generosity to degenerate into extravagance.

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998. A hierarchy of needs and benefits

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

The next point to be defined is, what kind of benefits are to be given, and in what manner. First let us give what is necessary, next what is useful, and then what is pleasant, provided that they be lasting.

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997. Do we make moral progress?

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Our ancestors before us have lamented, and our children after us will lament, as we do, the ruin of morality, the prevalence of vice, and the gradual deterioration of mankind; yet these things are really stationary.

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996. Why are you doing what you are doing?

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca reminds us that virtue ethics is about motivations and the improvement of one's character, not just about material help, as much as the latter may be needed.

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995. It is the thought that counts

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

What value has the crown in itself? or the purple-bordered robe? or the judgment-seat and car of triumph? None of these things is in itself an honour, but is an emblem of honour.

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994. The many forms of benefits

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Do not grow weary, perform your duty, and act as becomes a good person. Help one with money, another with credit, another with your favor; this one with good advice, that one with sound maxims.

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993. The book-keeping of benefits is simple

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

The book-keeping of benefits is simple: it is all expenditure; if any one returns it, that is clear gain; if he does not return it, it is not lost, I gave it for the sake of giving.

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992. Good deeds, or their fruits?

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

It is the property of a great and good mind to covet, not the fruit of good deeds, but good deeds themselves.

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991. The right attitude for gift giving

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Let us bestow benefits, not put them out at interest.

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990. The importance of benefits

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Among the numerous faults of those who pass their lives recklessly and without due reflexion, I should say that there is hardly any one so hurtful to society as this, that we neither know how to bestow or how to receive a benefit.

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989. The story of Marcus Atilius Regulus

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Marcus Atilius Regulus in his second consulship was taken prisoner in Africa by the stratagem of Xanthippus, a Spartan general serving under the command of Hannibal’s father Hamilcar. …

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988. Apply the rule! What follows?

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Pray, tell me, does it coincide with the character of your good person to lie for their own profit, to slander, to overreach, to deceive? Nay, verily; anything but that!

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987. Let's hear it from Chrysippus

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 11:00:00 GMT

“When a man enters the foot-race,” says Chrysippus with his usual aptness, “it is his duty to put forth all his strength and strive with all his might to win; but he ought never with his foot to trip, or with his hand to foul a competitor.”

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986. What are we born for?

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero presents the Stoic argument that we are born to be virtuous, meaning prosocial. The Epicureans thought we are born to seek pleasure and avoid pain. They both had a point.

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985. The axioms of your ethics

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero explains that ethical reasoning is akin to mathematics: it begins with certain axioms that are taken for granted. Which axioms does your ethical thinking assume to be true?

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984. How to treat so-called foreigners

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Those who say that regard should be had for the rights of fellow-citizens, but not of foreigners, would destroy the universal brotherhood of mankind.

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983. Justice is instrumental to good living

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Injustice is fatal to social life and fellowship between people. For, if we are so disposed that each, to gain some personal profit, will defraud or injure his neighbor, then the bonds of human society must of necessity be broken.

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982. Tyrannicide and friendship

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 11:00:00 GMT

If your friend were a tyrant, would you kill him? That is the situation that Brutus faced with respect to Caesar, and which Cicero analyzes in this episode.

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981. Socratic vs ataraxic schools

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 11:00:00 GMT

There were, broadly speaking, two major clusters of Hellenistic philosophies: the Socratic ones and, for lack of a better term, the ataraxic ones. Let's take a look at the differences.

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980. The conflict between virtue and benefits

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 11:00:00 GMT

Whether moral goodness is the only good, as the Stoics believe, or whether, as the Peripatetics think, it is the highest of many goods, it is beyond question that expediency can never conflict with moral rectitude.

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979. Self-seeking politicians

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 11:00:00 GMT

But the chief thing in all public administration and public service is to avoid even the slightest suspicion of self-seeking. For to exploit the state for selfish profit is not only immoral; it is criminal, infamous.

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978. We must apologize for our offenses

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 12:31:16 GMT

We must apologize also, to the best of our ability, if we have involuntarily hurt anyone’s feelings, and we must by future services and kind offices atone for the apparent offense.

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977. The duty to help the poor

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Relieving the poor is a form of charity that is a service to the state as well as to the individual.

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976. Political theory, not just virtue

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 10:09:07 GMT

The reason for making constitutional laws was the same as that for making kings. For what people have always sought is equality of rights before the law. For rights that were not open to all alike would be no rights.

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975. Virtue and human society

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 09:05:48 GMT

Think of the aqueducts, canals, irrigation works, breakwaters, artificial harbors; how should we have these without the work of people?

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974. The morally right vs the expedient

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 11:45:12 GMT

It is nowadays accepted that a thing may be morally right without being expedient, and expedient without being morally right. No more pernicious doctrine than this could be introduced into human life.

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973. Dogmatists vs Skeptics

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 08:19:56 GMT

As other schools maintain that some things are certain, others uncertain, we, differing with them, say that some things are probable, others improbable.

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972. Philosophy, the most useful pursuit

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 05:00:00 GMT

And if someone lives who would belittle the study of philosophy, I quite fail to see what in the world they would see fit to praise.

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971. If you can't do politics, do philosophy

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 05:00:00 GMT

And since my mind could not be wholly idle, I thought that the most honourable way for me to forget my sorrows would be by turning to philosophy.

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970. Practical duties

Tue, 28 Dec 2021 05:00:00 GMT

If wisdom is the most important of the virtues, as it certainly is, it necessarily follows that that duty which is connected with the social obligation is the most important duty.

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969. The virtue of temperance

Fri, 24 Dec 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Moderation is the science of doing the right thing at the right time.

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968. Making important decisions early in life

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 05:00:00 GMT

We are called to make important decisions about our life and career when we are young and immature. That's why engaging in critical philosophical reflection as soon as possible is crucial for our happiness.

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967. Four aspects of our character

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero relates that the Stoic Panaetius thought there are four fundamental aspects to our character, and that they shape our roles in society.

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966. What about sports and play?

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Here is how to balance the serious and the playful components of your life, what psychologists call the eudaimonic and hedonic aspects of existence.

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965. The harmony of character and behavior

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero tells us that there is a harmonious beauty in the relationship between one's virtuous character and that person's actions. The relationship being analogous to that between physical beauty and health.

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964. Justice and anger are incompatible

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

In administering punishment it is above all necessary to allow no trace of anger. It is to be desired that they who administer the government should be like the laws, which are led to inflict punishment not by wrath but by justice.

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963. The two rules of good government

Mon, 13 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

First, keep the good of the people so clearly in view that regardless of your own interests you will make your every action conform to that; second, care for the welfare of the whole body politic and do not let the interests of one party betray the rest.

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962. On running for political office

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Those whom Nature has endowed with the capacity for administering public affairs should put aside all hesitation, enter the race for public office and take a hand in directing the government.

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961. On money

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

There is nothing more honourable and noble than to be indifferent to money, if one does not possess it, and to devote it to beneficence and liberality, if one does possess it.

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960. The right kind of courage

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

The Stoics, therefore, correctly define courage as "that virtue which champions the cause of right." For nothing that lacks justice can be morally right.

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959. The art of a duty calculator

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Eric Weiner, the author of The Socrates Express, put it nicely: “Duty [is] not obligation. There is a difference. Duty comes from inside, obligation from outside.”

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958. The most powerful fellowship

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Of all the bonds of fellowship, there is none more noble, none more powerful than when good people of congenial character are joined in intimate friendship.

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957. Is your act truly a kind one?

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero reminds us that in virtue ethics intentions are fundamental. If you do an act of kindness in order to receive a favor, then you have done no kindness at all.

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956. How to do acts of kindness

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero argues that we ought to consider what is the best way for us to engage in acts of kindness. And that the fundamental criterion by which to judge their soundness is justice.

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955. Don’t be a traitor to social life

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 11:00:00 GMT

There are some also who claim that they are occupied solely with their own affairs. They are traitors to social life, for they contribute to it none of their interest, none of their effort, none of their means.

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954. A cautious defense of private property

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

I do not mean to find fault with the accumulation of property, provided it hurts nobody, but unjust acquisition of it is always to be avoided.

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953. How to become more human

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

We ought to follow Nature as our guide, to contribute to the general good by an interchange of acts of kindness, by giving and receiving, and thus by our skill, our industry, and our talents to cement human society more closely together.

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952. Two common errors

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

If we truly want to become better human beings, Cicero counsels, we should avoid two common mistakes. Let's take a look at what they are, and reflect on whether we ourselves have sometimes committed them.

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951. The four sources of morality

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero argues that there are four fundamental concerns of morality: truth; the organization of society (including our duties toward others); the development of our character; and doing everything while exercising temperance.

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950. Living according to reason

Fri, 19 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Nature by the power of reason associates man with man in the common bonds of speech and life; she also prompts men to meet in companies, to form public assemblies, and to take part in them themselves.

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949. Three types of moral question

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Consider if what you are doing is: (i) morally right; (ii) conducive to your happiness; and (iii) whether you may be rationalizing doing something wrong simply because it brings you comfort.

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948. Practice must accompany theory

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Every treatise on duty has two parts: one, dealing with the doctrine of the supreme good; the other with the practical rules by which daily life in all its bearings may be regulated.

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947. Virtue vs pleasure

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Brave he surely cannot possibly be that counts pain the supreme evil, nor temperate he that holds pleasure to be the supreme good.

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946. The importance of moral duties

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

On the discharge of our duties depends all that is morally right, and on their neglect all that is morally wrong in life.

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945. Let your character be brave, not harsh

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

I know that there are some, whose wisdom is of a harsh rather than a brave character, who say that the sage never would mourn. They have never been in the position of mourners, otherwise their misfortune would have shaken their haughty philosophy out of them.

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944. Write about your loved ones

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Prolong the remembrance of your brother by inserting some memoir of him among your other writings: for that is the only sort of monument that can be erected by man which no storm can injure, no time destroy.

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943. Loss as a universal equalizer

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

For it is not human not to feel our sorrows, while it is unvirtuous not to bear them.

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942. The universe is not after you, personally

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Fortune has not chosen you as the only person in the world to receive so severe a blow: there is no house in all the earth, and never has been one, that has not something to mourn for.

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941. Redirect your thoughts

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Turn yourself away from these thoughts which torment you, and look rather at those numerous and powerful sources of consolation which you possess: look at your excellent brothers, look at your wife and your son.

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940. No such a thing as a premature death

Thu, 04 Nov 2021 10:00:00 GMT

"But," you say, "he was taken away unexpectedly." Every man is deceived by his own willingness to believe what he wishes, and he chooses to forget that those whom he loves are mortal.

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939. On loan from the universe

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 10:00:00 GMT

You need not think for how much longer you might have had him, but for how long you did have him. Nature gave him to you, as she gives others to other brothers, not as an absolute property, but as a loan.

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938. The dead do not suffer

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 10:00:00 GMT

If the dead retain no feeling whatever, my brother has escaped from all the troubles of life. What madness then for me never to cease grieving for one who will never grieve again?

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937. Literature will save your soul

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 10:00:00 GMT

At such times let literature repay to you the debt which your long and faithful love has laid upon it, let it claim you for its high priest and worshipper: at such times let Homer and Virgil be much in your company.

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936. What would your loved one who passed away wish for you?

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

If your brother wishes you to be tortured with endless mourning, he does not deserve such affection; if he does not wish it, dismiss the grief which affects you both.

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935. Do not let grief fester

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

I would force some drops to flow from these eyes, exhausted as they are with weeping over my own domestic afflictions, were it likely to be of any service to you.

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934. The wish for immortality is the height of selfishness

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Who can be so haughtily and peevishly arrogant as to expect that this law of nature by which every thing is brought to an end will be set aside in his own case, and that his own house will be exempted from the ruin which menaces the whole world itself?

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933. On universal impermanence

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

What, indeed, have mortal hands made that is not mortal? The seven wonders of the world, and any even greater wonders which the ambition of later ages has constructed, will be seen some day leveled with the ground.

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932. The dangers of superstition

Fri, 22 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Speaking frankly, superstition, which is widespread among the nations, has taken advantage of human weakness to cast its spell over the mind of almost every man.

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931. Methodological naturalism

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Which is more consonant with philosophy: to explain these apparitions by the superstitious theories of fortune-telling hags, or by an explanation based on natural causes?

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930. Never underestimate the power of chance

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

We sleep every night and there is scarcely ever a night when we do not dream; then do we wonder that our dreams come true sometimes?

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929. On the vagueness of prophecy

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

It was clever in the author to take care that whatever happened should appear foretold because all reference to persons or time had been omitted.

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928. Heredity, not stars and planets

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Surely, no one fails to see that the appearance and habits, and generally, the carriage and gestures of children are derived from their parents, not by the phases of the moon and by the condition of the sky.

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927. On astrology

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Is it not evident that these astrologers, these would-be interpreters of the sky are of a class who are utterly ignorant of the nature of the sky?

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926. The nature of philosophy

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Myths would have no place in philosophy. It would have been more in keeping with your role as a philosopher to consider, first, the nature of divination generally, second, its origin, and third, its consistency.

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925. On cherry picking

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

‘Flaminius,’ you say, ‘did not obey the auspices, therefore he perished with his army.’ But a year later Paulus did obey them; and did he not lose his army and his life in the battle of Cannae?

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924. Two common explanations of “extraordinary” events

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The incidents may have been fictitious; if not, then the fulfillment of the prophecy may have been accidental.

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923. On epistemic humility

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Explore the cause, if you can, of every strange thing that excites your astonishment. If you do not find the cause be assured, nevertheless, that nothing could have happened without a cause.

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922. Ordinary explanations for extraordinary events

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

In periods of fear and of danger, stories of portents are not only more readily believed, but they are invented with greater impunity.

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921. The scientific turn in understanding the world

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

In the case of things that happen now by chance, now in the usual course of nature, it is the height of folly to hold the gods as the direct agents and not to inquire into the causes of such things.

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920. Follow Hannibal, not a piece of ox-meat

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

While Hannibal was in exile at the court of King Prusias he advised the king to go to war, but the king replied, ‘I do not dare, because the entrails forbid.’ ‘And do you,’ said Hannibal, ‘put more reliance in a piece of ox-meat than you do in a veteran commander?’

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919. Sometimes coincidences as just that

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

You say, ‘Jupiter’s statue was being set up at the very time the conspiracy was being exposed.’ You, of course, prefer to attribute this coincidence to a divine decree rather than to chance.

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918. Philosophy vs pseudoscience

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Upon my word you Stoics surrender the very city of philosophy while defending its outworks! For, by your insistence on the truth of soothsaying, you utterly overthrow physiology.

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917. The proper place of sarcasm

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Don’t you think, rather, that the bull lost his heart when he saw that Caesar, in his purple robe, had lost his head?

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916. How, exactly, do you know that?

Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

How did the soothsayers manage to agree among themselves what part of the entrails was unfavourable, and what part favourable; or what cleft in the liver indicated danger and what promised some advantage?

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915. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

You ought to have employed arguments and reason to show that all your propositions were true and you ought not to have resorted to so-called occurrences — certainly not to such occurrences as are unworthy of belief.

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914. Trust science, not mysticism

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Science, argues Cicero, makes reliable predictions of events based on the laws of nature. No such reliability is possible for mysticisms like divination.

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913. When the problem is real, you don't go to a soothsayer

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero says that nobody actually takes soothsayers seriously, because when we want to actually accomplish something, we go to an expert in that domain, like a doctor, and not a to a seer or a prophet.

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912. The proper attitude of a Skeptic

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero is gearing up to respond to his brother's defense of the Stoic notion of divination. He will do so, however, while putting forth probable arguments, not declarations of certainty. As a good critical thinker ought to do.

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911. Why write about philosophy

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero explains the main reason he writes philosophy: to be helpful to other people. But we also know he was helping himself to overcome the grief he felt at the death of his beloved daughter Tullia.

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910. The Stoics and Laplace's demon

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Quintus, Cicero's brother, makes one last - and pretty good - argument in favor of divination, an argument that anticipated a famous idea by the astronomer Pierre-Simon de Laplace.

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909. The world is regulated by cause and effect

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Nothing has happened which was not bound to happen, and, likewise, nothing is going to happen which will not find in nature every efficient cause of its happening.

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908. Socrates' daimon

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Quintus, Cicero's brother, mentions Socrates' famous daimon as evidence of divine influence. But it is more likely that Socrates himself simply meant the concept as a way to represent his conscience.

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907. Two problems with Stoicism

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero makes reference to two problems, as we moderns may see them, with Stoic philosophy: the notion of an intelligence permeating the universe, and the idea that the body is a drag on the mind.

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906. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Quintus, Cicero's brother, relies on other people's testimony to establish the reality of divination. But as his brother, David Hume, and Carl Sagan observed, that sort of evidence is insufficient to establish his extraordinary claim.

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905. Epicurus was right after all!

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Quintus, Cicero's brother, delivers yet another fallacious argument in defense of divination, one that implies that Epicurus got at least one thing right, despite how much Cicero obviously didn't like him or his philosophy.

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904. The argument from celebrity

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Quintus, Cicero's brother, puts forth yet another bad argument in favor of divination, one that unfortunately is still used by many today: if celebrity so-and-so says X, then X must be true...

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903. One problem with Stoic epistemology

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero's brother, Quintus, uses a qualitative argument in defense of the notion of divination. The argument appears valid, but it is flawed because of the lack of quantification, which - to be fair - was invented only many centuries later.

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902. The Venus throw

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero's brother, Quintus, invokes an analogy between a dice game and the structure of the universe to deploy what we today recognize as an argument from intelligent design. Which doesn't work.

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901. Good and bad reasons to reject a claim

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero rejects the notion of divination on the grounds that there is no mechanism to explain it. He was wrong on the general epistemological principle, though right in the specific case.

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900. Stoic disagreements

Thu, 19 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero tells us that some Stoics disagreed with the majority opinion within the Stoa on the topic of divination. Indeed, there were multiple opinions on various subjects. Stoicism was never a rigid school of thought.

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899. Shall we accept the opinion of the many?

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero's brother, Quintus, presents one Stoic argument in favor of divination: everyone knows it's true. This is an obvious logical fallacy. And yet, there are cases when it is justified to believe a majority opinion.

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898. The best days of our lives

Tue, 17 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

These days are my best, because my mind is at leisure to attend to its own affairs, and at one time amuses itself with lighter studies, at another eagerly presses its inquiries into its own nature and that of the universe.

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897. The proper attitude toward grief

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The best middle course between affection and hard common sense is both to feel regret and to restrain it.

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896. Use virtuous reason as your shield

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

If you regard the end of your days not as a punishment, but as an ordinance of nature, no fear of anything else will dare to enter the breast which has cast out the fear of death.

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895. On over-consumption

Thu, 12 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Why do you amass fortune after fortune? Are you unwilling to remember how small our bodies are? Is it not frenzy and the wildest insanity to wish for so much when you can contain so little?

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894. On gourmet food

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

How unhappy are they whose appetite can only be aroused by costly food! And the costliness of food depends not upon its delightful flavor and sweetness of taste, but upon its rarity and the difficulty of procuring it.

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893. Two precious things we always carry with us

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Whithersoever we betake ourselves two most excellent things will accompany us, namely, a common Nature and our own special virtue.

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892. Don't get cocky with Fortune

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

No one loses anything by the frowns of Fortune unless they have been deceived by her smiles. The one who has not been puffed up by success, does not collapse after failure.

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891. Look out for Fortune's blows

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Always stand as it were on guard, and mark the attacks and charges of Fortune long before she delivers them; she is only terrible to those whom she catches unawares.

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890. Happiness regardless of circumstances

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

External circumstances have very little importance either for good or for evil: wise persons are neither elated by prosperity nor depressed by adversity.

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889. What really makes us wiser

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

You have gained nothing by so many misfortunes, if you have not learned how to suffer.

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888. On the last path to freedom

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero reminds us that - when life is truly unbearable and we can no longer act virtuously - we have one last escape route, the guarantor of our ultimate freedom: death itself.

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887. What to do if you are deaf

Tue, 27 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

We are all truly deaf with regard to those innumerable languages which we do not understand. Then, as I before referred the blind to the pleasures of hearing, so I may the deaf to the pleasures of sight.

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886. Focus on what you can do, not on what you can't

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The reply of Antipater the Cyrenaic to some women who bewailed his being blind, though it is a little too obscene, is not without its significance. “What do you mean?,” said he, “do you think the night can furnish no pleasure?”

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885. On exile and cosmopolitanism

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero explains why being sent out of one's country is not a hardship worth worrying about, and tells us that Socrates regarded the whole world as his country.

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884. The time Plato almost lost his life

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero tells us about a letter written by Plato during his stint in Syracuse, explaining why temperance is the most fundamental of the four cardinal virtues.

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883. On walking before dinner

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

They relate, too, of Socrates, that, once when he was walking very fast till the evening, on his being asked why he did so, his reply was that he was purchasing an appetite by walking, that he might sup the better.

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882. Socrates the non-consumerist

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Socrates, when on one occasion he saw a great quantity of gold and silver carried in a procession, cried out, “How many things are there which I do not want!”

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881. Three kinds of goods

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

There are three kinds of goods: the greatest being those of the mind; the next best those of the body; the third are external goods, as the Peripatetics call them, and the Old Academics differ very little from them.

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880. Many schools, many takes

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero gives us a rundown of the major Hellenistic schools, which differed in the way they understood eudaimonia, the life worth living.

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879. The philosophical problem with pain

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Shall virtue, then, yield to pain? Shall the happy life of a wise person succumb to it? Good Gods! How base would this be! Spartan boys will bear to have their bodies torn by rods without uttering a groan.

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878. Damocles' sword and the nature of happiness

Wed, 14 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero tells the famous story of Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, and one of his flatterers, Damocles, who learns the hard way that what may look like a happy life is actually nothing of the sort.

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877. An argument in favor of virtue as guarantor of a happy life

Tue, 13 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero makes one of a number of arguments for why virtue is the only guarantor of a happy life. Let's examine the validity of the argument's structure and the soundness of its premises.

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876. How to evaluate philosophical systems

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

We are not, therefore, to form our judgment of philosophers from detached sentences, but from their consistency with themselves, and their ordinary manner of talking.

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875. Why virtue is necessary and sufficient for happiness

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero makes a strong argument, based on Socratic and Stoic positions, for why virtue is necessary and sufficient for "happiness," if we translate the Greek word eudaimonia as "the life worth living."

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874. The importance of Socrates

Thu, 08 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Socrates was the first who brought down philosophy from the heavens, placed it in cities, introduced it into families, and obliged it to examine into life and morals, and good and evil.

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873. The first philosopher

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero tells us that Pythagoras was the first to use the word philosopher and to explain what philosophy consists of. The Stoics will partially agree with Pythagoras' definition, but the disagreement is crucial.

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872. Do not catastrophize

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

We, who increase every approaching evil by our fear, and every present one by our grief, choose rather to condemn the nature of things than our own errors.

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871. Is virtue sufficient for a happy life?

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

If virtue were but the slave of fortune, I am afraid that it would seem desirable rather to offer up prayers, than to rely on our own confidence in virtue as the foundation for our hope of a happy life.

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870. If anger is natural, what's wrong with it?

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Where, then, are they who say that anger has its use? Can madness be of any use? But still it is natural. Can anything be natural that is against reason?

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869. Redirect your mind toward useful things

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Whenever we catch ourselves being too focused on trivial or unimportant things, we can willfully redirect our attention on the sort of activities that are truly good for us and for other people.

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868. The meaning of true love

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The Stoics, in truth, say, not only that their wise person may be a lover, but they even define love itself as an endeavor to originate friendship out of the appearance of beauty.

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867. Your (mature) emotional response is up to you

Tue, 29 Jun 2021 10:00:00 GMT

One thing alone seems to embrace the question of all that relates to the perturbations of the mind—the fact, namely, that all perturbations are in our own power; that they are taken up upon opinion, and are voluntary.

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866. Think about how others endure adversity

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero advocates a standard Stoic technique: when facing adversity, remind yourself that many others have experienced something similar and have endured it. So can you.

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865. Philosophy is the cure

Mon, 31 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Certainly the most effectual cure is to be achieved by showing that all perturbations are of themselves vicious, and have nothing natural or necessary in them.

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864. The problem with grief

Fri, 28 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

We should not take sorrows on ourselves upon another’s account; but we ought to relieve others of their grief if we can.

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863. Anger is good only when it's fake

Thu, 27 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Anger is in no wise becoming in an orator, though it is not amiss to affect it. Do you imagine that I am angry when in pleading I use any extraordinary vehemence and sharpness?

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862. Virtue is a kind of knowledge

Wed, 26 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

What is Chrysippus’s definition? Fortitude, says he, is the knowledge of all things that are bearable, or an affection of the mind which bears and supports everything in obedience to the chief law of reason without fear.

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861. Courage does not require anger

Tue, 25 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Take care how you make courage to depend in the least on rage. For anger is altogether irrational, and that is not courage which is void of reason.

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860. Why Aristotle was wrong about moderating vice

Mon, 24 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

For whoever prescribes bounds to vice admits a part of it, which, as it is odious of itself, becomes the more so as it stands on slippery ground, and, being once set forward, glides on headlong, and cannot by any means be stopped.

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859. Virtue is right reason

Fri, 21 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

There is an important distinction to be made between instrumental reason, which is morally neutral, and what the Stoics call "right" reason, or virtue, which comes with a built-in moral prescription.

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858. Disharmony of the mind

Thu, 20 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero says that our mind becomes sick when our opinions and judgments are not coherent with each other, just like our body becomes sick when one of its parts is in disharmony with the rest.

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857. Apply the Socratic remedy

Wed, 19 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Money, fame, and sexual pleasure are not problematic per se. They may be preferred or dispreferred, so long as they don’t control us and lead us away from a virtuous life. Own your desires and pleasures, do not be own by them.

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856. The importance of temperance

Tue, 18 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Intemperance, which is in opposition to reason, inflames, confounds, and puts every state of the mind into a violent motion. Thus, grief and fear, and every other perturbation of the mind, have their rise from intemperance.

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855. Envy, malevolence, and delight

Mon, 17 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero continues his classification of the emotions as seen by the Stoics. Envy, for instance, is a type of grief generated by the mistaken belief that the prosperity of another is an injury to ourselves.

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854. Challenging your incorrect emotions

Fri, 14 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero gives a nice rundown of the Stoic theory of emotions, which holds up well according to modern cognitive science. Emotions have cognitive components, so we can challenge them when they are not good for us.

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853. The nature of fear

Thu, 13 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

If our concerns are in agreement with reason, they are healthy; but fear is not in agreement with reason, and it is therefore unhealthy.

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852. The nature of volition

Wed, 12 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Where this strong desire is consistent and founded on prudence, it is by the Stoics called volition. And this they define it thus: volition is a reasonable desire.

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851. Perturbations of the mind

Mon, 10 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Zeno’s definition, then, is this: “A perturbation” (which he calls “pathos”) “is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason, and against nature.”

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850. What is apatheia?

Fri, 07 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The sage will achieve a state of apatheia, meaning lack of disturbance from unhealthy emotions like fear, anger, and hatred. But she will also experience healthy emotions, like love, joy, and a sense of justice.

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849. Five philosophical takes on grief

Thu, 06 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero very clearly and succinctly explains the difference among five Hellenistic takes on grief, including two Stoic ones, one by Cleanthes (the second head of the Stoa) and one by Chrysippus (the third head).

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848. Grief is an opinion

Wed, 05 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Grief arises from an opinion of some present evil, which includes this belief, that it is incumbent on us to grieve.

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847. Philosophical contradictions

Tue, 04 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Most people appear to be unaware what contradictions these things are full of. They commend those who die calmly, but they blame those who can bear the loss of another with the same calmness.

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846. Willing grief away

Mon, 03 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero gives an example of people suddenly setting grief aside because they are absorbed in an urgent task. He infers that, therefore, grief is a matter of opinion, not of nature.

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845. Facts vs judgments

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

You see, the evil is in opinion, not in nature.

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844. Comfort by comparison

Thu, 29 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

[We can point] out that nothing has happened but what is common to human nature; [which] does not only inform us what human nature is, but implies that all things are tolerable which others have borne and are bearing.

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843. Cicero vs the Epicureans, part II

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero presents three major objections to Epicureanism, which he argues is a fundamentally incoherent philosophy. See if you agree with his analysis.

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842. Cicero vs the Epicureans

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

I should agree with Epicurus that we ought to be called off from grief to contemplate good things, if we could only agree upon what was good.

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841. Music or Socrates?

Mon, 26 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero says that if one is distraught she should read Socrates rather than listen to music. I disagree. Music may be soothing in the long run. Socrates is the long term cure.

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840. Should we contemplate future adversity?

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

There are two ways to think about potential future setbacks: emotionally, and rationally. The first approach only causes perpetual distress. The second one prepares our mind to deal with what may be coming.

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839. Being prepared for anything

Thu, 22 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero tells us that Anaxagoras, the Presocratic philosopher, was ready to accept the death of his son, because he had always known he was a mortal. This isn't lack of care, it's mental preparedness.

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838. Why and how to overcome grief

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Grief, Cicero tells us, is a highly destructive emotion. While we shouldn't go around telling others not to grieve, we ourselves should take care to react differently to the loss of a loved one.

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837. The four fundamental disturbances of the mind

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero gives us a classification of disturbances of the mind: when we think that something is good (now or in the future) but it actually isn't. And when we think that something is bad (now or in the future) but it actually isn't.

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836. Pity vs envy

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero makes an argument that the ideal Stoic, the sage, should feel neither envy nor pity. He was spectacularly wrong, and directly contradicted by Marcus Aurelius. Let's see why.

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835. The absurdity of envy

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The word envy comes from Latin for "looking too closely into other people's fortune." Let us see why this is most definitely not a thing that a Stoic should indulge in.

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834. Is grief a form of cowardice?

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero presents an argument according to which grief is the result of lack of courage. As a modern Stoic, I beg to differ. Overcoming grief requires courage, but the feeling itself is natural and inevitable.

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833. Lust and anger

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

They who are run away with by their lust or anger have quitted the command over themselves.

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832. Everyone but the sage is mad

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero explains the Stoic "paradox" that everyone but the sage is mad. In the sense of not being reasonable. The good news is that we can work on being less mad, every day.

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831. Diseases of the mind

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

There are more disorders of the mind than of the body, and they are of a more dangerous nature. And what disorders can be worse to the body than these two distempers of the mind, weakness and desire?

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830. On fame

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Popular fame is hasty and inconsiderate, and generally commends wicked and immoral actions, and throws discredit upon the appearance and beauty of honesty by assuming a resemblance of it.

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829. Natural virtue?

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The Stoics put forth the notion that we are naturally virtuous (i.e., prosocial), and that it is society that leads us astray. Modern science confirms their intuition only in part. The fact remains, though, that the choice is ours.

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828. Who we really are

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

What reason shall I assign, O Brutus, why, as we consist of mind and body, the art of curing the body should be so much sought after, but the medicine of the mind should not have been so much the object of inquiry?

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827. The power of acting right

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

If you are satisfied with yourself when you have approved of what is right, you will not only have the mastery over yourself (which I recommended to you just now), but over everybody, and everything.

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826. Posidonius talks about pain

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Posidonius was once afflicted by severe pain, and yet invited Pompey to discuss philosophy. He said: “Pain, it is to no purpose; notwithstanding you are troublesome, I will never acknowledge you an evil.”

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825. Dionysius the Renegade

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero tells the story of how Dionysius quit Stoicism because he was experiencing chronic pain, and how Cleanthes, the second head of the Stoa, chastised him for not understanding the Stoic take on the issue.

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824. Epaminondas, one of the most excellent men who ever lived

Thu, 01 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero refers to the story of the Theban general Epaminondas, who sacrificed his life to free his people from the Spartan yoke. If he was capable of that, surely we can withstand the pains and setbacks of ordinary life.

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823. When Zeno bit the tyrant

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero tells the story of Zeno of Elea, a philosopher who withstood torture and faced death in order to overthrow tyranny. Remember that, the next time you complain about a toothache...

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822. Pain and mental attitude

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

While physical pain may be inevitable, our mental attitude makes a significant difference — for better or worse, depending on how we choose to see things.

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821. Better to be a sick person with integrity than a healthy lier

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Health has value, and is therefore preferred in the Stoic system. However, it is not an intrinsic good, and if in order to stay healthy you have to cheat others, you should accept the chances that you might get sick.

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820. How to learn to bear pain

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero suggests that getting used to one kind of discomfort or pain will allow us to more easily bear another kind. This is the basis for some modern Stoic exercises, like taking a cold shower.

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819. The crucial importance of patience

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

I do not deny pain to be pain—for were that the case, in what would courage consist?—but I say it should be assuaged by patience, if there be such a thing as patience: if not, why do we speak so in praise of philosophy?

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818. Courage vs pain

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

For the Epicureans virtue is instrumental in achieving ataraxia, a life of tranquillity. For the Stoics ataraxia is a byproduct, a result of the fact that the virtuous person can take on any challenge in life with a serene mind.

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817. Should we ban the poets?

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Poetry and fiction tug at our emotions. They are pleasant and powerful, but they may also be manipulative. While Plato's solution to ban poets is not a good idea, we should keep our critical sense on guard so not to be manipulated.

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816. On bearing pain

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

I cannot allow the wise person to be so indifferent about pain. If they bear it with courage, it is sufficient. For pain is, beyond all question, sharp, bitter, against nature, hard to submit to and to bear.

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815. Pleasure, pain, virtue

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero on Epicureanism: "What disgrace, what ignominy, would he not submit to that he might avoid pain, when persuaded that it was the greatest of evils?"

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814. Is pain the worst of all evils?

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero and Brutus begin a conversation on the nature of pain. Brutus immediately concedes that pain isn't the worst possible evil. Infamy, which indicates a bad character, is to be avoided even at the cost of pain.

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813. The real philosophical life

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

How few philosophers will you meet with whose life is conformable to the dictates of reason! Who look on their profession, not as a means of displaying their learning, but as a rule for their own practice!

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812. The benefits of the philosophical life

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Some people have a natural talent for music. But everyone can learn to play an instrument, even if they don't get to perform at Carnegie Hall. The same goes for philosophy: everyone can benefit from it, but not everyone is a sage.

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811. Philosophers should be open to being wrong

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 10:00:00 GMT

We who pursue only probabilities, and who cannot go beyond that which seems really likely, can confute others without obstinacy, and are prepared to be confuted ourselves without resentment.

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810. Philosophy underlies everything else

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero explains to his friend Brutus why he writes about philosophy, and why in order to do so well he has to be acquainted with a large variety of fields of inquiry. Philosophical knowledge leads to the good life.

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809. Others are coping, so can you

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 11:00:00 GMT

How can that be miserable for one, which all must of necessity undergo?

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808. Be careful what you wish for, especially with Apollo

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero recounts an anecdote involving Trophonius and Agamedes, who built the temple of Apollo at Delphi. They asked the god for whatever was best, and the god granted it: three days later, they were found dead.

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807. Rites for the dead, care for the living

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 11:00:00 GMT

People carry out all sorts of rites to "take care" of the dead, even though there is no one to take care of. How about, instead, taking care of the people you love while they are still alive?

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806. A Cynic reason to donate your organs after you die

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Diogenes the Cynic famously didn't care what happened to his body after death, since he believed there would be no sensation. That's an excellent reason to check your driver's license and see if you signed up for organ donation.

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805. The tiny insects that live one day

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Aristotle discovered some insects whose entire life lasts one day. Compared to the vastness of time, our lives are not much longer. The question is whether we are able to live them fully.

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804. The deal Nature has struck with us

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Away, then, with those follies, such as that it is miserable to die before our time. What time do you mean? That of nature? But she has only lent you life, as she might lend you money, without fixing any certain time for its repayment.

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803. The difference between facts and judgments

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 11:00:00 GMT

The process of nature is this: that in the same manner as our birth was the beginning of things with us, so death will be the end; and as we were not concerned with anything before we were born, so neither shall we be after we are dead.

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802. As happy as Metellus?

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 11:00:00 GMT

It never occurs to a man that such a disaster may befall himself. As if the number of the happy exceeded that of the miserable; or as if there were any certainty in human affairs.

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801. The right time to die

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero argues that sometimes people live too long for their own good. Which makes the Stoic point that life itself is not an intrinsic good, but the means by which we exercise virtue.

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800. The real reason we are afraid of death

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Death, says Cicero, overtakes us quickly, and it is therefore endurable. It is the thought of leaving people and things behind that is painful. But the Stoics have a unique argument for why we should overcome that fear.

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799. What Socrates said about death

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

For the whole life of a philosopher is, as [Socrates] says, a meditation on death.

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798. On the rationality of grief

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Why exactly to we grieve when loved ones are gone? Is it about them, about us? Does it depend on what we think will happen to them after death?

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797. Two possibilities for the afterlife

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

How, then, can you, or why do you, assert that you think that death is an evil, when it either makes us happy, in the case of the soul continuing to exist, or, at all events, not unhappy, in the case of our becoming destitute of all sensation?

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796. On the nature of the soul

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero mentions a number of accounts of the nature of the soul, explaining that the Stoic take is that the soul is a physical attribute responsible for our faculty of judgment. And it perishes with us.

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795. Nature's bargain

Fri, 19 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Nature has presented us with this bargain: either not being born at all, or being born a mortal. Everything else is the fantasy of priests bent on scaring and controlling us, as Epicurus put it.

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794. The symmetry argument

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

We seem to be awfully bothered by the fact that we will one day no longer exist. And yet, we didn't suffer from the equally true fact that for a long time we didn't exist.

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793. Are you so silly as to believe in Cerberus and Sisyphus?

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero disputes with his friend about whether we should be afraid of the afterlife, and concludes that we will not exist, and therefore we will not be feeling anything. It is superstition that generates fears of death.

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792. On true friendship

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Just prove to me that you are trustworthy, high-minded and reliable, and that your intentions are benign, and you’ll find that I won’t even wait for you to open your heart to me, I’ll be the first to implore you to lend an ear to my own affairs.

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791. Get better today, not tomorrow

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

As it is, you say, 'I will fix my attention tomorrow': which means, let me tell you, 'Today I will be shameless, inopportune, abject: others shall have power to vex me: today I will harbor anger and envy.'

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790. You are not perfect, so what?

Fri, 12 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Is it possible to escape error altogether? No, it is impossible: but it is possible to set one's mind continuously on avoiding error.

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789. Just pay attention, will you?

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Now if such postponement of attention is profitable, it would be still more profitable to abandon it altogether: but if it is not profitable, why do you not keep up your attention continuously?

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788. How would you like death to find you?

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

For my part I would be found by death busy with some humane task, whatever it be—something noble, beneficent, advancing the common weal.

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787. The real value of things

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

You were shameless and shall be self-respecting, you were untrustworthy and you shall be trusted. If you look for greater things than these, go on doing as you do now: not even a god can save you.

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786. Pay attention to the cosmic trainer

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

'Get up', says the trainer, 'and wrestle again, until you are made strong.' Let this be your attitude; for know that nothing is more amenable than the mind of a human being.

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785. What sort of thirst do you have?

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Epictetus draws a distinction between natural and greedy desires, reminding us that the first ones are part of a virtuous life, while the second ones are characteristic of a sick soul.

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784. Take care of your prohairesis

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

What then is the subject-matter of the philosopher? Is it a cloak? No, it is reason. What is his end? Is it to wear a cloak? No, but to keep his reason right.

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783. The distinctiveness of philosophy

Wed, 03 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Philosophy has been criticized since antiquity, and Epictetus explains why some of this criticism misses the point, and indeed shows that such critics could benefit from a bit of sound philosophical training.

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782. Be charitable toward other people's shortcomings

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

'This man washes hastily.' Does he do evil then? Not at all. What is it he does then? He washes hastily.

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781. Do you have the skills?

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 11:00:00 GMT

When I hear a man called happy because he is honored by Caesar I say, 'What is his portion?' 'A province.' Does he also get a judgement, such as a governor should have? Does he get the skill to use it?

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780. Don't use fancy words, describe the facts

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

'But now the time is come to die.' What do you mean by 'die'? Do not use fine words, but state the facts as they are. 'Now is the time for your material part to be restored to the elements of which it was composed.'

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779. Pretend you are in exile

Thu, 28 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

'Exile?' Wherever I go, it will be well with me: for even here it was not the place that made me well off, but my judgements, and these I shall carry away with me, for no one can rob me of them.

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778. The judgment of others

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Those who pity me shall take their own views: I have neither hunger nor thirst nor cold, but their own hunger or thirst makes them imagine the same of me.

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777. Are you a fox or a lion?

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Although we are capable of writing and reading these sentiments, although we can praise them as we read, yet they do not bring conviction to us, nor anything like it.

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776. The difference between an amateur and a craftsman

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

How will those who know despise one who is gentle and self-respecting? By those who do not know? What do you care for them? No craftsman cares for those who have no skill!

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775. The real value of people, and apples

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Is everything judged by its outward form alone? On that principle you must call your waxen apple an apple. No, it must smell and taste like an apple: the outward semblance is not enough.

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774. Developing a better understanding of things

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Either you’re going to be depressed when your wish is not realized or foolishly pleased with yourself if it is, overjoyed for the wrong reasons.

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773. Our obsession with control

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.

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772. Just pay attention

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Very little is needed for everything to be upset and ruined, only a slight lapse in reason. It’s much easier for a mariner to wreck his ship than it is for him to keep it sailing safely.

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771. What did you lose, and what did you gain?

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

If you forfeit an external possession, make sure to notice what you get in return. If it is something more valuable, never say, ‘I have suffered a loss.’

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770. Changing friends

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Formerly, when you were devoted to worthless pursuits, your friends found you congenial company. But you can’t be a hit in both roles. To the extent you cultivate one you will fall short in the other.

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769. The problem with hyper-consumerism

Thu, 07 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Freedom is not achieved by satisfying desire, but by eliminating it.

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768. Natural goodness

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

A plant or animal fares poorly when it acts contrary to its nature; and a human being is no different. Well, then, biting, kicking, wanton imprisonment and beheading–is that what our nature entails? No; rather, acts of kindness, cooperation and good will.

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767. What truly belongs to you

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

Whoever told you, ‘Walking is your irrevocable privilege’? I said only that the will to walk could not be obstructed.

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766. Learning the art of living

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

What makes for freedom and fluency in the practice of writing? Knowledge of how to write. The same goes for the practice of playing an instrument. It follows that, in the conduct of life, there must be a science to living well.

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765. The true nature of freedom

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 11:00:00 GMT

So you admit that you have at least one master. And don’t let the fact that Caesar rules over everyone, as you say, console you: it only means that you’re a slave in a very large household.

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764. Not bad person lives a happy life

Thu, 31 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Who wants to live with delusion and prejudice, being unjust, undisciplined, mean and ungrateful? ‘No one.’ No bad person, then, lives the way he wants, and no bad person is free.

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763. The purpose of philosophizing

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Everyone is fond of contemplation. Some make it the object of their lives: to us it is an anchorage, but not a harbor.

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762. The three types of philosophy of life

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

There are three kinds of life, and it is a stock question which of the three is the best: the first is devoted to pleasure, the second to contemplation, the third to action.

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761. Do something for posterity

Mon, 28 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

What is the sage’s purpose in devoting themselves to leisure? They know that in leisure as well as in action they will accomplish something by which they will be of service to posterity.

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760. Achieve balance in life

Thu, 24 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

It is by no means desirable that one should merely strive to accumulate property without any love of virtue. Similarly, virtue placed in leisure without action is but an incomplete and feeble good thing, because she never displays what she has learned.

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759. Put to practice your inquiring disposition

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

We have a habit of saying that the highest good is to live according to nature: now nature has produced us for both purposes, for contemplation and for action. … Nature has [also] bestowed upon us an inquiring disposition.

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758. How to better serve the human cosmopolis

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

We are born by accident into a specific nation, but we naturally belong to the human cosmopolis. Reflecting on the nature of virtue and practicing it every day is one way to serve both our fellow citizens and humanity at large.

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757. Just do your part

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

The duty of a human being is to be useful to his fellow human beings; if possible, to many of them; failing this, to a few; failing this, to oneself: for when we help others, we advance the general interests of humanity.

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756. The axiom of futility

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

If the state is so rotten as to be past helping, if evil has entire dominion over it, the wise man will not labour in vain or waste his strength in unprofitable efforts.

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755. Should we get involved in politics?

Thu, 17 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Epicurus says, “The wise man will not take part in politics, except upon some special occasion.” Zeno says, “The wise man will take part in politics, unless prevented by some special circumstance.”

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754. Stoicism is not written in stone

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Would that all things were already known, that truth were unveiled and recognized, and that none of our doctrines required modification! but as it is we have to seek for truth in the company of the very men who teach it.

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753. There are different ways to be useful to the human cosmopolis

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Our Stoic philosophers say we must be in motion up to the very end of our life, we will never cease to labour for the general good, to help individual people, and when stricken in years to afford assistance even to our enemies.

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752. Set your own priorities, don't slavishly follow other people's

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

We oscillate between desire and remorse, for we depend entirely upon the opinions of others, and it is that which many people praise and seek after, not that which deserves to be praised and sought after, which we consider to be best.

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751. How much leisure time do you have, and what do you do with it?

Fri, 11 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Leisure is important to be able to pursue the good life, and yet by itself it is not sufficient. Without proper education, we are far more likely to waste our time than to use it to good effect.

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750. Everything changes, act accordingly

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

A brief existence is common to all things, and yet you avoid and pursue all things as if they would be eternal.

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749. No point in finding faults

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

When you are offended at any one’s fault, immediately turn to yourself and reflect in what manner you yourself have erred: for example, in thinking that money is a good thing, or pleasure, or a bit of reputation, and the like.

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748. Putting things, and people, in perspective

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Consider what men are when they are eating, sleeping, coupling, evacuating, and so forth. Then what kind of men they are when they are imperious and arrogant, or angry and scolding from their elevated place.

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747. Theory and practice

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

No longer talk at all about the kind of person that a good person ought to be, but be such.

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746. Always use reason and you'll achieve serenity

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

He who follows reason in all things is both tranquil and active at the same time, and also cheerful and collected.

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745. How to become magnanimous

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Acquire the contemplative way of seeing how all things change into one another, and constantly attend to it, and exercise yourself about this part of philosophy. For nothing is so much adapted to produce magnanimity.

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744. Just pay attention, will you?

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

When you have assumed these names—good, modest, truthful, rational, a person of equanimity, and magnanimous—take care that you do not change these names; and if you should lose them, quickly return to them.

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743. We are part of the universe and have duties toward fellow human beings

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Whether the universe is a concourse of atoms, or nature is a system, let this first be established: that I am a part of the whole that is governed by nature; next, that I stand in some intimate connection with other kindred parts.

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742. How to engage people in a discussion

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

If someone is mistaken, instruct them kindly and show them their error. But if you are not able, blame yourself, or not even yourself.

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741. The link between rationality and sociability

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius says that the rational animal is consequently also a social animal. Not exactly. And yet, he was onto something.

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740. The Stoics got divination wrong, but cause-effect right

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

The ancient Stoics believed in divination, because the world works by cause-effect. They were wrong on the specifics, but correct about the general idea, which is what still today underpins modern science.

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739. Isn't the eye the most sophisticated thing you've ever seen?

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

The ancient Stoics used their knowledge of human, animal, and plant anatomy to argue for the intelligence and wisdom of the universe. Similar arguments were still advanced at the beginning of the 18th century.

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738. The universe is not the result of random events

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

The ancient Stoics advanced an argument for the intelligence of the universe very similar to the one deployed by modern creationists. The difference is that - given the advances of science - creationists ought to know better.

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737. Reason and wisdom, or chance and necessity?

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

The Stoics make an argument against the Epicureans about the nature of the universe. For once, it is the Epicureans who got closer t the truth.

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736. Is the universe governed by wisdom?

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

The Stoics put forth a three-pronged argument to arrive at the conclusion that the universe is governed wisely and providentially. Unfortunately, their argument is both invalid and unsound.

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735. Different conceptions of the gods

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

The Stoics rejected the gods of the Olympian pantheon as obvious projections of human psychology. But modern thinking leads to doubts even about the Stoics' own more sophisticated conception of God as Nature.

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734. On the movement of the planets

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

The complex patterns drawn by the planets in the sky seem to indicate the existence of a higher intelligence. But of course modern physics has other ideas.

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733. The cosmos is neither living nor endowed with mind

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero has one of his Stoic characters very explicitly state a notion about the nature of the cosmos that does not hold up to modern philosophical and scientific scrutiny.

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732. Is the world wise?

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero summarizes a beautiful argument by the Stoics to the effect that the world itself is wise. Unfortunately, the argument is based on unsound premises, and its conclusion is incoherent.

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731. Like from like, nothing from nothing

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Zeno claimed that life can only come from life, and reason from reason, so he concluded that the universe was alive and endowed with reason. It's a beautiful idea, but one that has not withstood the test of modern science.

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730. Zeno tries to demonstrate that the cosmos are capable of reason

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Zeno of Citium puts forth a compact argument to conclude that the universe as a whole, as distinct from individual beings within the cosmos, reasons. But the argument is based on a fallacious premise.

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729. Chrysippus accepts a faulty premise

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Chrysippus, the third head of the Stoa, constructs an argument for the existence of god that is unsound, that is, based on a faulty premise.

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728. Four (bad) arguments for the existence of the gods

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Cleanthes, the second head of the Stoa, advances four bad arguments for the existence of the gods.

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727. Two bad arguments for the existence of gods

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

We need to demystify the Stoics somewhat. We moderns should value and respect ancient wisdom, but not to the point of mindless worship. This episodes provides two pertinent examples.

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726. Divination, anyone?

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

The ancient Stoics believed in divination. They were obviously mistaken about it. And yet the general principle they adopted was very much akin to the one underlying modern science.

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725. Obviously, the universe is guided by an intelligence. Or is it?

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

We begin the study of book II of Cicero's On the Nature of the Gods, and we see that the Stoics begin with deploying what is nowadays known as an argument from design.

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724. Look less critically at others, and a bit more critically at yourself

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Do you look at other people’s pimples while yon yourselves are covered with countless ulcers?

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723. Careful not to underestimate the power of Fortune

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

You are rendered over-proud by a fine house, as though it could never be burned, and your heads are turned by riches as though Fortune has not sufficient strength to swallow them up.

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722. Ready for bad stuff to happen, but preferring the good stuff

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

I shall make whatever befalls me become a good thing, but I prefer that what befalls me should be comfortable and pleasant and unlikely to cause me annoyance.

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721. Be at ease wherever you find yourself

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

A Stoic finds herself at ease both in a fancy house where food is served on silver plates and under the bridge sharing the fare with beggars.

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720. Why wealth is not a good

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Riches, I say, are not a good thing; for if they were, they would make people good: now since that which is found even among bad people cannot be termed good, I do not allow them to be called so.

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719. People's social status doesn't matter

Thu, 15 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Nature bids me do good to mankind. Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a benefit.

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718. On rational giving

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

He who believes giving to be an easy matter, is mistaken: it offers very great difficulties, if we bestow our bounty rationally, and do not scatter it impulsively and at random.

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717. No one condemned wisdom to poverty

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

The philosopher may own wealth, but will not own wealth that has been torn from another, or which is stained with another’s blood: her must be obtained without wronging anyone, and without it being won by base means.

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716. On the desirability of wealth

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Do not, then, make any mistake: riches belong to the class of desirable things. But if my riches leave me, they will carry away with them nothing except themselves.

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715. Tall or short, it doesn't matter

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Health, for Aristotle, is a necessary requirement for a eudaimonic life. For the Stoics, it is preferred, other things being equal, but a life worth living is within grasp of everyone, regardless of their specific condition.

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714. Rich, and yet a philosopher?

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Wealth ought to be despised, not that we should not possess it, but that we should not possess it with fear and trembling: we do not drive it away from us, but when it leaves us, we follow after it unconcernedly.

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713. The basic precepts of a good Stoic life

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca gives us a handy list of fundamental goals to live a life worth living.

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712. When an Epicurean goes Stoic

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Diodorus has said what you do not like to hear, because you too ought to do it. “I’ve lived, I’ve run the race which Fortune set me.”

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711. Aspiring to a life of virtue while being a fallible human being

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

I shall continue to praise that life which I do not, indeed, lead, but which I know I ought to lead, loving virtue and following after her, albeit a long way behind her and with halting gait.

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710. I'm not a sage, but I get better every day

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

I am not a wise man, so do not require me to be on a level with the best of men, but merely to be better than the worst: I am satisfied, if every day I take away something from my vices and correct my faults.

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709. Between Cynicism and Aristotelianism

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Why, then, do you talk so much more bravely than you live? Why do you pay regard to common rumor, and feel annoyed by calumnious gossip? Why do you drink wine that is older than yourself?

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708. Are you controlling your pleasures, or the other way around?

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Let virtue lead the way and bear the standard: we shall have pleasure for all that, but we shall be her masters and controllers; she may win some concessions from us, but will not force us to do anything.

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707. The real problem with Epicureanism

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca strikes a sympathetic note toward Epicureanism, suggesting that it is a misunderstood philosophy, just like, in some respects, modern Stoicism turns out to be.

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706. The balance between pleasure and virtue

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

You devote yourself to pleasures, I check them; you indulge in pleasure, I use it; you think that it is the highest good, I do not even think it to be good: for the sake of pleasure I do nothing, you do everything.

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705. Why are you asking for more?

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Does this not appear great enough, when I tell you that the highest good is an unyielding strength of mind, wisdom, magnanimity, sound judgment, freedom, harmony, beauty? Do you still ask me for something greater?

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704. Virtue is its own reward

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

If exercising virtue is pleasurable, aren't the Stoics a kind of Epicureans in disguise? Not at all, because the pleasure of virtue is a byproduct, not the main goal.

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703. Harmonize your mind

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

A mind in harmony with itself is a virtuous one, because it is the vices that are at war with each other.

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702. Pleasure is the companion, not the essence, of life

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

The ancients bade us lead the highest, not the most pleasant life, in order that pleasure might not be the guide but the companion of a right-thinking and honorable mind.

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701. The difference between pleasure and virtue

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

If pleasure and virtue were entirely inseparable, we should not see some things to be pleasant, but not honorable, and others most honorable indeed, but hard and only to be attained by suffering.

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700. Reason is the only thing that will make you truly happy

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

That person is happy, whose reason recommends to them the whole posture of their affairs.

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699. There is no happiness without truth

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

For no one can be styled happy who is beyond the influence of truth.

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698. Do away with hope and fear

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

A person may be called “happy” who, thanks to reason, has ceased either to hope or to fear: but rocks also feel neither fear nor sadness, yet no one would call those things happy which cannot comprehend what happiness is.

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697. Fortune vs virtue

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

The highest good is a mind which despises the accidents of fortune, and takes pleasure in virtue.

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696. Pursue the pleasures of life, in moderation

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

A happy life must also set due value upon all the things which adorn our lives, without over-estimating any one of them, and must be able to enjoy the bounty of Fortune without becoming her slave.

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695. Don't follow blindly what other say, no matter how famous they are

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

When I say “our opinion,” I do not bind myself to any one of the chiefs of the Stoic school, for I too have a right to form my own opinion.

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694. Don't go after fool's gold

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

These good things which men gaze at in wonder, which they crowd to see, which one points out to another with speechless admiration, are outwardly brilliant, but within are miseries to those who possess them.

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693. Living by reason, not by imitation of others

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Nothing gets us into greater troubles than our subservience to common rumor, living not by reason but by imitation of others.

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692. What is happiness anyway?

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca advises his brother, and us, not to listen to the random "shouts and clamors" of people, but to reflect carefully on what happiness is and how to achieve it.

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691. Do not wish for impossible things

Mon, 07 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

We know that certain things are features of the world. Like the existence of annoying people. Do not wish them away, because that is impossible. Rather, teach them, or bear with them.

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690. Do not wait for Plato's Republic

Fri, 04 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Do not expect Plato’s Republic: but be content if the smallest thing goes on well, and consider such an event to be no small matter.

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689. Either god or randomness

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

In a word, if there is a god, all is well; and if chance rules, do not also be governed by it.

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688. Do not concern yourself with other people's opinions

Wed, 02 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Other people's opinions are not under your control, so focus instead on your own judgments and decisions to act or not to act.

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687. Negative and positive actions on behalf of the cosmopolis

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 10:00:00 GMT

As you yourself are a component part of a social system, so let every act of yours be a component part of social life.

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686. Everything changes

Mon, 31 Aug 2020 10:00:00 GMT

All things are changing: and you yourself are in continuous mutation and in a manner in continuous destruction, and the whole universe, too.

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685. The importance of our ruling faculty

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Things stand outside of us, themselves by themselves, neither knowing anything of themselves nor expressing any judgment.

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684. Objective situations and subjective judgments

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Today I have got out of all trouble, or rather I have cast out all trouble, for it was not outside, but within and in my opinions.

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683. Apply reason to social improvement

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Labor not as one who is wretched, nor yet as one who would be pitied or admired; but direct your will to one thing only: to act or not to act as social reason requires.

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682. Teach them or bear with them

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 10:00:00 GMT

If you are able, correct by teaching those who do wrong; but if you cannot, remember that indulgence is given to you for this purpose.

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681. When peope do wrong they hurt themselves first

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 10:00:00 GMT

He who does wrong does wrong against himself. He who acts unjustly acts unjustly to himself, because he makes himself bad.

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680. Pain, pleasure, and injustice

Fri, 21 Aug 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Our fear of pain and our desire for pleasure sometimes lead to injustice. Let that not be the case.

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679. The nature of injustice

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius thinks injustice is a type of impiety against the cosmos. Modern Stoics have updated the concept, since we don't believe the universe to be a sentient living being.

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678. Setting up again what chance has overthrown

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 10:00:00 GMT

From a Stoic point of view, there is absolutely nothing more important in life than to exercise our virtue in order to help our fellow brothers and sisters of the human cosmopolis.

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677. Help, instead of pity, others

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 10:00:00 GMT

The wise person will not pity others, but will help them and be of service to them, seeing that he is born to be a help to all people and a public benefit.

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676. The ideal ruler

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca details the characteristics of the ideal ruler. We should look for the same in the people who govern us. And in ourselves.

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675. Stoicism in the service of all

Fri, 14 Aug 2020 10:00:44 GMT

No school of philosophy is more gentle and benign, none is more full of love towards man or more anxious to promote the happiness of all.

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674. The opposite of mercy is cruelty

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 10:00:05 GMT

The virtues are never in contradiction with each other. The vices are never good for the people who indulge them.

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673. The nature and importance of mercy

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 10:00:40 GMT

We should all follow Seneca's advice, resisting the urge for revenge and punishment, and practicing mercy and forgiveness.

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672. When cruelty becomes pleasure

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 10:00:29 GMT

Both rulers and ordinary people sometimes turn cruelty into a pleasure. It seriously undermines the most precious thing we all have: our character.

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671. Let us be more forgiving

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 10:00:05 GMT

Seneca reminds us that the human animal is a delicate thing, forgiveness for his mistakes is often in order.

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670. The right and the wrong times to use violence

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 10:00:04 GMT

Turns out that, when the proper criteria are followed, it is almost never the time to use violence, either as a society, or as individuals.

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669. People can change, and so can we

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 10:00:28 GMT

Seneca provides a historically accurate analysis of the life of Octavian Augustus, the first Roman emperor. With implications for how to live our own lives.

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668. The tyrant will not be able to hide

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 10:00:46 GMT

A cruel reign is disordered and hidden in darkness, and while all shake with terror at the sudden explosions, not even he who caused all this disturbance escapes unharmed.

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667. Beware of the corruption of the justice system

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 10:00:28 GMT

Seneca reminds us that prosecutors and judges might be corrupted, and that we have to take this into account when we act.

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666. Do not support leaders who drag their office into the mud

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 10:00:16 GMT

Seneca issues a stern reminder to Nero about the responsibilities of government. It can all too easily be applied today.

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665. War is cruelty on a massive scale

Fri, 31 Jul 2020 10:00:23 GMT

Seneca warns that the cruelty of people in charge of government can have massive consequences.

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664. When you hurt others, you hurt yourself

Thu, 30 Jul 2020 10:00:31 GMT

Seneca reminds Nero, and us, that not doing the right thing is first and foremost injurious to ourselves.

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663. Seneca and the Peter Parker principle

Wed, 29 Jul 2020 10:00:09 GMT

With great power comes great responsibility, as both Seneca and Spider-Man agree.

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662. Let us err on the side of clemency

Tue, 28 Jul 2020 10:00:22 GMT

Seneca makes an epistemic argument to convince us that it is better to err on the side of clemency, rather than punishment.

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661. Clemency helps the innocent and the virtuous

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 10:00:23 GMT

Seneca makes an argument in favor of a broad conception of clemency, not just on behalf of the guilty, but of the innocent and the virtuous.

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660. Is Nero going to "forget" his character?

Fri, 24 Jul 2020 10:00:33 GMT

Seneca flatters Nero at the same time as he issues veiled threats to the new emperor, in case he steers from the right path.

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659. Seneca offers himself as a mirror for Nero's soul

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 10:00:42 GMT

We begin the study of the controversial On Clemency, through which Seneca tried to steer Nero's course for the good of the Roman people.

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658. Overcome your fear of death and you will be free and powerful

Wed, 22 Jul 2020 10:00:18 GMT

Epictetus and Seneca agree: our own death is the ultimate test of our character, and philosophy is a long journey to prepare us for it.

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657. What is and is not up to us

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 10:00:23 GMT

'What then, if I fall ill?' You shall bear illness well. 'Who shall tend me?' God, and your friends. 'I shall lie on a hard bed.' But you can do it like a man.

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656. Consider how much control you have, and what follows from that

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 10:00:31 GMT

When you think about it, it turns out that we have far less control over things and people than we think, and therefore far less blame.

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655. You can get better immediately, it's up to you

Fri, 17 Jul 2020 10:00:18 GMT

Epictetus says that our moral improvement is not like the Olympic Games: when we fail, we can resume immediately, not having to wait four years.

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654. If you are in Gyara, live as one who is in Gyara

Thu, 16 Jul 2020 10:00:01 GMT

Epictetus advises us to live the life we have, in the place we are, rather than indulge in regret for what we may have lost.

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653. How to practice and what to practice

Wed, 15 Jul 2020 10:00:09 GMT

Epictetus gives us a very practical pointer about how to incorporate Stoic precepts in our lives.

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652. Do not wish for figs in winter

Tue, 14 Jul 2020 10:00:44 GMT

There is a proper time for everything, including enjoying your loved ones. Keep it in mind, before they're gone.

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651. Stoics have a duty to work toward social and political change

Mon, 13 Jul 2020 10:00:40 GMT

Epictetus tells us what happens when a person is truly free. Tyrants begin to tremble.

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650. Why should we be good?

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 10:00:57 GMT

At Olympia you do not want anything else; you are content to have been crowned at Olympia. Does it seem to you so small and worthless a thing to be noble and good and happy?

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649. Enjoy figs in the summer, don't wish for them in the winter

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 10:00:57 GMT

How can you wish at the same time to grow old and not to see the death of any that you love?

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648. Practicing philosophy is like going to the doctor's office

Wed, 08 Jul 2020 10:00:30 GMT

Friends, the school of a philosopher is a hospital. When you leave, you should have suffered, not enjoyed yourself.

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647. Focus on the deed, not the praise

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 10:00:16 GMT

‘He’s a clever young man and a fan of rhetoric.’ ‘How do you know?’ ‘He praises me.’ Oh, well, that proves it, of course.

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646. Your roles in life

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 10:00:23 GMT

Let us play our roles in life well. Not acting lik a sheep, gently but at random; nor destructively, like a wild beast.

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645. The ultimate locus of your freedom

Fri, 03 Jul 2020 10:00:14 GMT

Look, can you be forced to assent to what appears to you wrong?’ ‘No.’ ‘Or to dissent from the plain truth?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then you see you do have within you a share of freedom.’

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644. Who are you, anyway?

Thu, 02 Jul 2020 10:00:20 GMT

My mind represents for me my medium – like wood to a carpenter, or leather to a shoemaker. The goal in my case is the correct use of impressions.

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643. It's about deeds, not words

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 10:00:58 GMT

So you can talk the right talk about Stoicism. But do you also walk the right walk?

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642. A philosophy needs to be digested properly, not just vomited

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 10:00:25 GMT

Those who have learnt precepts and nothing more are anxious to give them out at once, just as men with weak stomachs vomit food.

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641. Reframing problems into training exercises

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 10:00:39 GMT

I have a bad neighbor – bad, that is, for himself. For me, though, he is good: he exercises my powers of fairness and sociability.

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640. When the universe sends you a sparring partner

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 10:00:13 GMT

A boxer derives the greatest advantage from his sparring partner – and my accuser is my sparring partner. He trains me in patience, civility and even temper.

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639. Don't make yourself a salve of others

Thu, 25 Jun 2020 10:00:13 GMT

For God’s sake, stop honoring externals, quit turning yourself into the tool of mere matter, or of people who can supply you or deny you those material things.

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638. What is truly good or bad

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 10:00:24 GMT

‘Being healthy is good, being sick is bad.’ No, my friend: enjoying health in the right way is good; making bad use of your health is bad.

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637. Examine your values carefully

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 10:00:19 GMT

When people say that the unjust person is better off because he has more money, what exactly is their system of values?

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636. The character gap

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 10:00:44 GMT

Keep well out of the sun, then, so long as your principles are as pliant as wax.

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635. The fine trappings of a horse

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 10:00:01 GMT

Are you proud of things for which you don't really deserve credit? Or for things that are not important? Reflect on this, and set your priorities straight.

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634. Are you alone or lonely?

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 10:00:20 GMT

Epictetus reminds us to draw a distinction between our objective situation and the way we feel about it.

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633. Ask your impressions for the right password

Wed, 17 Jun 2020 10:00:21 GMT

We should always examine our impressions and ask whether they pass the test: are they in according with reason?

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632. How to deal with a difficult relative

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 10:00:49 GMT

'My brother ought not to have behaved so to me.' No, but it is his business to look to that; however he may behave, I will deal with him as I ought.

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631. What is always within your power

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 10:00:29 GMT

If now is the time for fever, take your fever in the right way; if for thirst, thirst in the right way, if for hunger, hunger aright. Is it not in your power? Who will hinder you?

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630. Philosophical journaling

Fri, 12 Jun 2020 10:00:11 GMT

Epictetus explains one of the most powerful techniques in the Stoic toolkit for a better and more meaningful life.

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629. The problem with wealth is that it doesn't guarantee you a sound mind

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 10:00:54 GMT

You have vessels of gold, but your reason--judgements, assent, impulse, will--is of common clay.

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628. That is tyranny, not government

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 10:00:25 GMT

Epictetus argues that rational creatures will always oppose tyrannical governments.

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627. Argue less, practice more

Tue, 09 Jun 2020 10:00:43 GMT

Epictetus draws a distinction between philosophy pursued for its own sake and philosophy as the art of life.

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626. What do you like to tend to?

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 10:00:14 GMT

Socrates liked to daily monitor his moral self-improvement. How can we do the same?

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625. Contemplating your final activity

Fri, 05 Jun 2020 10:00:47 GMT

Epictetus asks us to think about what we'd like to be doing when death will overtake us. It's an interesting exercise in self-knowledge.

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624. Facts don't come with judgments attached to them

Thu, 04 Jun 2020 10:00:28 GMT

What, after all, are sighing and crying, except opinions? What is ‘misfortune’? An opinion. And sectarian strife, dissension, blame and accusation, ranting and raving – they all are mere opinion.

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623. The raw material of the good person

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 10:00:34 GMT

Epictetus reminds us that to become a better person we need to apply our reasoning faculty to arrive at better judgments.

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622. We need to be human beings, not statues

Tue, 02 Jun 2020 10:00:17 GMT

Epictetus puts to rest the notion that Stoics are supposed to suppress their emotions.

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621. The three disciplines of Epictetus

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 10:00:38 GMT

There are three areas of training in Stoic ethics: to desire the proper things, to act properly in the world, and to arrive at the best possible judgments.

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620. Socrates and Alcibiades

Fri, 29 May 2020 10:00:06 GMT

Epictetus stresses the difference between physical and inner beauty.

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619. Give yourself a break (from externals)

Thu, 28 May 2020 10:00:54 GMT

Seneca notices that people fear old age in part because they fear irrelevance. But no one is irrelevant so long as they keep striving to be better human beings.

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618. Free yourself from the fickleness of others

Wed, 27 May 2020 10:00:56 GMT

People who seek external goods become the slaves of those who happen to have the power to grant such goods.

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617. Pay attention to the ledger of your life

Tue, 26 May 2020 10:00:18 GMT

What sort of things are truly important in your life, and why? Should you be reconsidering your current priorities?

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616. How to avoid a wretched life

Mon, 25 May 2020 10:00:38 GMT

People with misguided priorities live a wretched life, so let's get our priorities straight and aim for a serene existence instead.

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615. On the futility of war

Fri, 22 May 2020 10:00:18 GMT

Seneca writes a poignant passage reminding us of the futile waste of human life that war is.

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614. Past, present, and future

Thu, 21 May 2020 10:00:37 GMT

Seneca reminds us what is the proper Stoic attitude toward past, present, and future.

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613. The immortality of philosophy

Wed, 20 May 2020 10:00:08 GMT

Honors, statues, and wealth, don't last much after one's death. Philosophy is forever.

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612. Try some true friends instead

Tue, 19 May 2020 10:00:32 GMT

The philosophers of the past are your true friends: they give wisdom without asking for money, or imperiling your life.

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611. Have a conversation with Socrates or Epicurus

Mon, 18 May 2020 10:00:12 GMT

Seneca reminds us of the span of philosophical inquiry, and of how delightful it is to engage with the greatest minds from across time and cultures.

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610. Spend time in good company

Fri, 15 May 2020 10:00:14 GMT

Read the great minds of humanity, those that have insights on how to live a meaningful life.

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609. On the treatment of humans and animals

Thu, 14 May 2020 10:00:42 GMT

Seneca criticizes the slaughter of people and animals for the sake of entertainment. Today, the suffering continues, in slaughterhouses.

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608. How to properly go to the barber

Wed, 13 May 2020 10:00:11 GMT

Thought experiment: if you knew you were to die soon, what sort of things would you prioritize, and what let go of entirely?

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607. The three periods of life

Tue, 12 May 2020 10:00:59 GMT

The mind that is untroubled and tranquil has the power to roam into all the parts of its life.

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606. How to get to old age

Mon, 11 May 2020 10:00:05 GMT

Old age surprises people while their minds are still childish, and they come to it unprepared and unarmed, for they have made no provision for it.

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605. Live in the here and now

Fri, 08 May 2020 10:00:05 GMT

The greatest hindrance to living is expectancy, which depends upon the morrow and wastes to-day.

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604. Postponement is the greatest waste of life

Thu, 07 May 2020 10:00:26 GMT

Life will follow the path it started upon, and will neither reverse nor check its course; it will make no noise, it will not remind you of its swiftness.

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603. Are you on a voyage, or just tossed about by the currents of life?

Wed, 06 May 2020 10:00:30 GMT

There is no reason for you to think that any man has lived long because he has grey hairs or wrinkles; he has not lived long — he has existed long.

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602. Learning how to live, and how to die

Tue, 05 May 2020 10:00:39 GMT

It takes the whole of life to learn how to live, and — what will perhaps make you wonder more — it takes the whole of life to learn how to die.

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601. Set aside time to better yourself

Fri, 01 May 2020 10:00:36 GMT

Are you not ashamed to set apart for wisdom only that time which cannot be devoted to any business?

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600. Time to change your plans, right now

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 10:00:54 GMT

Examine how you spend your time, decide how to improve, and don't wait until tomorrow to chance.

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599. Time vs money

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 10:00:12 GMT

We are very careful with the management of our money, but far less so with that of our most precious commodity: time.

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598. Much of your life is not up to you

Tue, 28 Apr 2020 10:00:41 GMT

The part of life we really live is small. For all the rest of existence is not life, but merely time.

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597. Life is long enough

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 10:00:22 GMT

It is not that we have a short space of time, but that we waste much of it.

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596. On the shortness of life

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 10:00:15 GMT

Is life too short? Depends on what you do with it.

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595. We ought to take care of everyone

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 10:00:46 GMT

To do philosophy means to reason and act correctly toward others.

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594. The problem with luxury

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 10:00:20 GMT

While wealth is a preferred indifferent, luxury is more problematic, from a Stoic perspective.

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593. The importance of experience and self-control

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 10:00:35 GMT

Musonius Rufus says that the combination of experience and self-control allow us to do what is right by others and ourselves.

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592. Think about the long term consequences of your actions

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 10:00:31 GMT

Musonius Rufus contrasts the short duration of a shameful pleasure with the lingering regret that will follow.

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591. The philosophy school is like the doctor's office

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 10:00:24 GMT

The philosopher’s school is a doctor’s office. You must leave not pleased, but pained, because you do not come in healthy.

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590. You made the only mistake you could possibly make

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 10:00:16 GMT

A rare glimpse into the life of young Epictetus, when he gets criticized by his teacher, Musonius Rufus.

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589. What we should concern ourselves with

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 10:00:01 GMT

Musonius Rufus clearly states how to implement the dichotomy of control in our lives.

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588. How to save $1000 by challenging impressions.

Tue, 14 Apr 2020 10:00:30 GMT

Musonius Rufus reminds us that our most precious faculty is our ability to challenge impressions

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587. Patterning ourselves after Zeus

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 10:00:02 GMT

Musonius Rufus is confronted by a critic about what it means to live according to Zeus, or Nature.

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586. Don't try to reason with those who can't hear

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 10:00:24 GMT

Words of advice and warning administered when a person’s emotions are at their height and boiling over, accomplish little or nothing.

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585. Take care of your mind just like you do of your body

Thu, 09 Apr 2020 10:00:57 GMT

In order to protect ourselves we must live like doctors and be continually treating ourselves with reason.

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584. Practice what you preach

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 10:00:14 GMT

Don’t expect to tell others what they should do when they know that you do what you shouldn’t.

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583. On being useful to others

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 10:00:32 GMT

It is not proper for one to die who is helpful to many while he is alive, unless by dying he is helpful to more.

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582. Make your last choice while you still can

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 10:00:41 GMT

Choose to die well while you can; wait too long, and it might become impossible to do so.

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581. Shameful speech undermines your character

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 10:00:47 GMT

If we speak badly, we think badly, and we are more likely to act badly.

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580. Pain vs pleasure

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 10:00:39 GMT

Musonius Rufus reminds us to be on guard concerning the effects that both pain and pleasure may have on our character.

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579. The importance of self-control

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 10:00:15 GMT

Self-control, often referred to as the fourth cardinal virtue of temperance, is crucial to Stoicism and other philosophies of life.

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578. Criticizing tyrants is not enough

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 10:00:13 GMT

Musonius Rufus reminds us that we might have the same bad inclinations as other people, so we should start working on ourselves first.

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577. Live in the here and now

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 10:00:06 GMT

Musonius Rufus reminds us that we can, and should, only live in the present.

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576. The interplay between nature and wisdom

Fri, 27 Mar 2020 10:00:15 GMT

Cicero deploys a beautiful metaphor to encapsulate the Stoic theory of moral developmental psychology.

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575. What wisdom is for

Thu, 26 Mar 2020 10:00:37 GMT

Wisdom is what allows us to use everything well. Things like money or education have no intrinsic value, they become valuable if we use them correctly.

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574. Live according to nature

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 10:00:23 GMT

Cicero provides three interpretations of the famous Stoic motto, live according to nature.

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573. The virtues of sound reasoning and scientific understanding

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 10:00:17 GMT

The Stoics adopted four ethical virtues, but also two epistemic ones: good reasoning and scientific understanding.

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572. On friendship

Mon, 23 Mar 2020 10:00:53 GMT

Friendship is intrinsically choice-worthy, going beyond just instrumental value.

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571. Our social duties

Fri, 20 Mar 2020 10:00:37 GMT

Cicero explains how the wise person is supposed to be involved in society, politics, and family.

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570. On private property

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 10:00:04 GMT

The Stoic take on private property is that it isn't really property: it's on temporary loan from the universe.

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569. Sociability, not pleasure

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 10:00:53 GMT

Cicero proposes a simple argument for why sociability, not pleasure, is the ultimate human desire.

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568. Expanding our circle of concerns

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 10:00:35 GMT

We learn the rudiments of ethics within our family. But we cannot stop there.

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567. On suicide

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 10:00:26 GMT

Cicero explains what criterion the Stoic uses to decide whether to walk through the open door.

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566. On fame: Chrysippus agrees with Diogenes

Thu, 12 Mar 2020 10:00:17 GMT

Despite the fact that Stoics and Cynics treated externals differently, apparently both Chrysippus and Diogenes thought fame not worth stretching a finger for.

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565. Why some indifferents are preferred

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 10:00:08 GMT

Cicero tells us that some indifferents are preferred for their own sake, some for the results they bring, some for both reasons.

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564. Stoicism, Cynicism, and Aristotelianism

Tue, 10 Mar 2020 10:00:12 GMT

Stoicism occupies a logical space between the kin philosophies of Cynicism and Aristotelianism.

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563. The drowning man metaphor

Mon, 09 Mar 2020 10:00:11 GMT

Virtue is all or nothing, and yet we can make progress toward it. How does this Stoic paradox work?

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562. More on Aristotelians vs Stoics

Fri, 06 Mar 2020 11:00:14 GMT

Cicero explains how Aristotelians and Stoics treat externals, such as health, wealth, and so on.

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561. On pain and mind

Thu, 05 Mar 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero reminds us that how we experience pain -- both physical and emotional -- in part depends on how we mentally approach the experience.

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560. Aristotelianism vs Stoicism

Wed, 04 Mar 2020 11:00:13 GMT

Aristotelianism and Stoicism differ in their conceptions of eudaimonia, the kind of life we should pursue. In a sense, they are both right.

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559. Intentions vs consequences

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 11:00:43 GMT

Unlike much modern thinking in moral philosophy, Stoicism is about intentions. Which doesn't mean Stoics don't care about consequences.

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558. Living according to nature

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero reminds us of the quintessential Stoic motto: we should live in accordance with nature. It's a crucial concept, spanning the arc of ancient Stoicism, from Zeno of Citium to Marcus Aurelius.

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557. Why a good life is a moral life

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero articulates a Stoic syllogism aiming at demonstrating that the good life is a moral life. We look at whether the syllogism is valid and sound.

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556. The chief good is the moral good

Thu, 27 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

The wise person is happy because she is in complete control of the chief good in life: the moral good. Everything else is a preferred or dispreferred (moral) indifferent.

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555. The metaphor of the archer

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 14:13:25 GMT

Cicero explains the notions of preferred indifferents and of the dichotomy of control by means of one of the most famous metaphors in Stoic literature: a discussion what is and is not up to an archer attempting to hit a target.

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554. The mixed roots of virtue

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

According to Stoic moral developmental psychology we begin life as self centered organisms, whose prosocial behavior develops initially by instinct, and then proceeds further with the aid of reason.

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553. Things that have value outside of virtue

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Things like health and wealth are choiceworthy. But what gives them value is, specifically, that they are the raw materials through which we exercise our chief good: virtue.

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552. Our natural delight in the use of reason

Thu, 20 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero explains that human beings are naturally drawn to the use of reason, beginning when they are children. He also talks about the Stoic concept of katalepsis, the kind of impression so strong that it is undeniable.

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551. The root of virtue: self love

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero has Cato the Younger explain a fundamental concept of Stoic developmental psychology: how virtue is rooted in innate self love, and how we do things that are good for us regardless of pleasure and pain.

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550. The crucial importance of technical words

Tue, 18 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero explains why philosophy needs a technical vocabulary, and we look at the sort of issues this may cause when talking to people who are unfamiliar with such vocabulary.

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549. Virtue vs pleasure

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

At the onset of book III of Cicero's De Finibus, Cato the Younger explain the difference between the Epicurean and Stoic positions on the respective values of pleasure and virtue.

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548. Teach or endure

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

People exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them.

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547. Two scenarios for the after-death

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius contemplates two possible scenarios for what happens after we die. Neither one of which justifies our fears on the matter. Better to focus instead on the fact that we are alive, here and now.

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546. What is properly ours and what is not

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that just as we do not control other people's bodies, so we do not control their opinions and judgments. We should, therefore, be concerned chiefly with improving our own.

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545. Of bitter cucumbers and thorny briars

Tue, 11 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

“A cucumber is bitter.” Throw it away. “There are briars in the road.” Turn aside from them. This is enough. Do not add, “And why were such things made in the world?”

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544. The inner citadel

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

The mind that is free from passions is a citadel, for we have nothing more secure to which we can fly for refuge and repel every attack.

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543. The courage to stay

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds himself that if life is unbearable, one has the option to leave. But we have a duty, toward ourselves and others, to stay, if at all possible.

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542. Value judgments are not inherent in things

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgment now.

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541. Achieving ataraxia

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Take me and cast me where you will; for there I shall keep my divine part tranquil, that is, content, if it can feel and act conformably to its proper constitution.

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540. On fame, posthumous or not

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Those who rather pursue posthumous fame do not consider that the people of tomorrow will be exactly like these whom they cannot bear now; and both are mortal.

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539. Three things to care about

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 11:00:00 GMT

It is my delight to keep the ruling faculty sound without turning away from any of the things that happen to people, but looking at and receiving all with welcoming eyes and using everything according to its value.

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538. The nuanced conflict between pleasure and virtue

Fri, 31 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

I see no virtue that is opposed to justice; but I see a virtue that is opposed to love of pleasure, and that is temperance.

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537. How not to get overwhelmed by problems

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Do not let your thoughts at once embrace all the various troubles that you may expect to befall you: but on every occasion ask yourself, What is there in this that is intolerable and past bearing?

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536. A prepared mind is a mark of wisdom

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

All things happen in a more endurable fashion to people who are prepared for them.

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535. The true meaning of human freedom

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Freedom consists in raising one’s mind superior to injuries and becoming a person whose pleasures come from himself alone.

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534. When it comes to people insulting you, you are in complete control

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

It is a sort of revenge to spoil a man’s enjoyment of the insult he has offered to us … the success of an insult lies in the sensitiveness and rage of the victim.

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533. The insult conundrum

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Do these things befall me deservedly or undeservedly? If deservedly, it is not an insult, but a judicial sentence; if undeservedly, then he who does injustice ought to blush, not I.

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532. The best way to respond to insults

Thu, 23 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

When insulted, Cato did not flare up and revenge the outrage, he did not even pardon it, but ignored it, showing more magnanimity in not acknowledging it than if he had forgiven it.

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531. Rich people are worse than beggars

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

The wise man will not admire himself even if many rich men admire him; for he knows that they differ in no respect from beggars — nay, are even more wretched than they; for beggars want but a little, whereas rich men want a great deal.

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530. On the invulnerability of the wise person

Tue, 21 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Wise persons are without anger, which is caused by the appearance of injury. And they could not be free from anger unless they were also free from injury, which they know cannot be done to them.

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529. Is sagehood possible?

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca argues that Cato the Younger was a sage, but a modern biography casts some doubt on that. Do sages ever walk the earth? Who would you put forth as your favorite candidate?

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528. How to react to both prosperity and adversity

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Bear adversity with calm and prosperity with moderation, neither yielding to the former nor trusting to the latter.

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527. The simplified dichotomy of control

Thu, 16 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Fortune can take nothing away save what she gave. Now fortune does not give virtue; therefore she does not take it away.

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526. The meaning of invulnerability

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Invulnerable is not that which is never struck, but that which is never wounded. In this class I will show you the wise person.

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525. We are free no matter what

Tue, 14 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

"For Cato did not outlive freedom, nor did freedom outlive Cato." On the Stoic conception of suicide.

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524. The path to virtue is not as steep as some may think

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

“But the way by which we are asked to climb is steep and uneven.” What then? Can heights be reached by a level path? Yet they are not so sheer and precipitous as some think.

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523. The joke's on the thief

Fri, 10 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Nobody wants to do what is bad for them. So when the thief steals, he is under the wrong impression about what is and is not good for him. We should therefore pity him, and help him understand, if possible.

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522. The importance of logic

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

A student asks Epictetus whether we should really bother to learn logic. "Would you like me to provide you with an argument?" Yes. "How would you know if my argument is a good one, if you don't understand logic?" QED.

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521. Humanity's problems stem from ignorance

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

According to Epictetus, the root of our problems is that we don't know, or refuse to acknowledge, how the world works. As opposed as to how we wished it worked.

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520. Practice, practice, practice

Tue, 07 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

If someone gets the habit of writing ungrammatically, their art is bound to be destroyed and perish. In the same way the person of honor keeps their character by honest acts and loses it by dishonest.

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519. Don't behave like a sheep or a wild beast

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

What sets aside human beings from the rest of the animal world is our ability to reason and our propensity to be pro-social. So let's reason well, and be helpful to fellow humans.

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518. The power of using impressions

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 05:00:00 GMT

Since plants do not even have the power of perception, ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are not applicable to them. Evidently, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ presume the power of using impressions.

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517. What if you were sent to Gyara?

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 01:00:00 GMT

The island of Gyara was the exile place of choice for troublesome people during the Roman Empire. How would you handle being sent into exile?

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516. The wonder and curse of consciousness

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Because we’re the only animals who not only die but are conscious of it even while it happens, we are beset by anxiety.

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515. Microcosm and macrocosm

Thu, 26 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Because what is a human being? Part of a community – the community of gods and men, primarily, and secondarily that of the city we happen to inhabit, which is only a microcosm of the universe in toto.

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514. The true nature of humanity

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Human beings are neither mindless drones in a beehive nor entirely self-contained individuals. We are highly social animals, and a number of ethical implications follow from this biological fact.

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513. Going on a trip? Here's what's up to you (and what isn't)

Fri, 20 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

A nice analogy from Epictetus between our choices in life and those we have when we go on a trip. Even when the trip doesn't end well...

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512. What really matters

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Material things per se are indifferent, but the use we make of them is not indifferent.

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511. The crucial importance of trust

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Trust is crucial for intimate relationships, for friendships, and even among fellow citizens. Research shows that nations with the highest degree of self-reported happiness among its citizens are those in which people feel like they can trust each other.

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510. Prosoche, or Stoic attention

Tue, 17 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

We know how to analyze arguments, and have the skill a person needs to evaluate competent logicians. But in life what do we do? What today we say is good, tomorrow we'll swear is bad. That's because we don't pay attention.

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509. Better swallow the bitter pill from the get go

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

When I see that one thing, virtue, is supreme and most important, I cannot say that something else is, just to make you happy.

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508. Don't get lost in the details and miss the big picture

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Some become captivated by all these things and don’t want to proceed further. One is captivated by deductive or equivocal arguments, someone else by yet another ‘inn’ of this kind; and there they stay and rot as if seduced by the Sirens.

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507. Don't confuse a rest stop with your destination

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

People act like a traveller headed for home who stops at an inn and, finding it comfortable, decides to remain there. You’ve lost sight of your goal, man. You were supposed to drive through the inn, not park there.

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506. Anger is a waste of time

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Why should we, as though we were born to live forever, waste our tiny span of life in declaring anger against any one? Life is a matter which does not admit of waste, and we have no spare time to throw away.

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505. The simplest and bets trick in life: be prepared

Tue, 10 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Is anyone surprised at being cold in winter? At being sick at sea? Or at being jostled in the street? The mind is strong enough to bear those evils for which it is prepared.

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504. How to keep a philosophical journal

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca gives us a rationale and detailed instructions on how too keep a philosophical journal. And modern cognitive science confirms that it works in order to improve self-analysis and let go of negative emotions.

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503. The problem is money

Fri, 06 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Money is what wearies out the law-courts, sows strife between father and son, concocts poisons, and gives swords to murderers just as to soldiers: it is stained with our blood.

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502. Examine your balance sheet of giving and receiving

Thu, 05 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Do you ask, what is your greatest fault? It is, that you keep your accounts wrongly: you set a high value upon what you give, and a low one upon what you receive.

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501. Envy is the root of much unhappiness

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

A person will never be well off to whom it is a torture to see any one better off than themselves. Have I less than I hoped for? Well, perhaps I hoped for more than I ought.

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500. Treat fools like fools, don't get angry with them

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

It makes no sense to get angry with children or non-human animals, because they can't reason. So why get angry with an adult who has temporarily lost the use of reason?

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499. The futility of revenge

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Revenge takes up much time, and throws itself in the way of many injuries while it is smarting under one. We all retain our anger longer than we feel our hurt.

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498. Understand and forgive

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Let us be more gentle one to another: we are bad people, living among bad people. There is only one thing which can afford us peace, and that is to agree to forgive one another.

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497. I have entrusted the guidance of my life to reason

Wed, 27 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Say to fortune: Do what you will, you are too feeble to disturb my serenity: this is forbidden by reason, to whom I have entrusted the guidance of my life: to become angry would do me more harm than your violence can do me.

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496. On magnanimity

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca runs us through a long list of reasons why people do us wrong. And then concludes that we should be magnanimous, not vengeful, toward them, in part because they are human beings like us, and like us they make mistakes.

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495. Act the opposite of anger

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Let us replace all of anger’s symptoms by their opposites; let us make our countenance more composed than usual, our voice milder, our step slower. Our inward thoughts gradually become influenced by our outward demeanor.

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494. Abstain from action when under the spell of anger

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 11:46:26 GMT

While you are angry, you ought not to be allowed to do anything. Why?, do you ask? Because when you are angry there is nothing that you do not wish to be allowed to do.

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493. Humor, not anger

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 10:00:00 GMT

It is said that Socrates when he was given a box on the ear, merely said that it was a pity a man could not tell when he ought to wear his helmet out walking.

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492. Practical steps to curb your anger

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Do something that relaxes you, change your environment to make it soothing, and most importantly don't engage in anything major if you are tired, stressed, or hungry.

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491. Be careful with the company you keep

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

We should live with the quietest and easiest-tempered persons, not with anxious or with sullen ones: for our own habits are copied from those with whom we associate.

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490. Anger betrays what is best in humanity

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Anger pays a penalty at the same moment that it exacts one: it forswears human feelings. The latter urge us to love, anger urges us to hatred: the latter bid us do good, anger bids us do harm.

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489. The difference between anger and other negative emotions

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Other vices affect our judgment, anger affects our sanity. Its intensity is in no way regulated by its origin: for it rises to the greatest heights from the most trivial beginnings.

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488. The awful things we do when angered

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Men, frantic with rage, call upon heaven to slay their children, to reduce themselves to poverty, and to ruin their houses, and yet declare that they are not either angry or insane.

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487. It takes two to have a fight

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

If anyone is angry with you, meet their anger by returning benefits for it: a quarrel which is only taken up on one side falls to the ground: it takes two people to fight.

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486. On revenge and retaliation

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Revenge and retaliation are words which men use and even think to be righteous, yet they do not greatly differ from wrong-doing.

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485. Think of everything, expect everything

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

People think some things unjust because they ought not to suffer them, and some because they did not expect to suffer them: we think what is unexpected is beneath our deserts.

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484. Don't rush to judgment, give time to reason to do its work

Fri, 08 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Is it a good person who has wronged you? Do not believe it. Is it a bad one? Do not be surprised at this; by their sin they have already punished themselves.

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483. We have other people’s vices before our eyes, and our own behind our backs

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Someone will be said to have spoken ill of you; think whether you did not first speak ill of them; think of how many persons you have yourself spoken ill.

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482. It is foolish to be angry at your computer

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

We are so foolish that we actually get angry at inanimate objects, who neither deserve nor feel our anger. But in fact, no one deserves our anger: not animals, not children, and not even adults.

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481. Fake anger vs real anger

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Often the pretense of passion will do what the passion itself could not have done. Sometimes, it may be effective to fake anger. Just don't make the mistake of actually becoming angry.

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480. Reason and goodness are candles in the dark

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

We need a long-breathed struggle against permanent and prolific evils; not, indeed, to quell them, but merely to prevent their overpowering us.

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479. Forgiveness first and foremost

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 10:00:00 GMT

To avoid being angry with individuals, you must pardon the whole mass, you must grant forgiveness to the entire human race.

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478. The nature of emotions

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

The Stoics’ opinion is that anger can venture upon nothing by itself, without the approval of mind. It follows that we are in charge, not whatever circumstances happen to trigger our initial reactions.

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477. The difference between reason and anger

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Reason wishes to give a just decision; anger wishes its decision to be thought just.

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476. Anger is not a weapon, it's a liability

Tue, 29 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca uses Aristotle's own analogy between negative emotions and weapons to show that it is flawed: we control our weapons, but destructive emotions control us.

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475. A good judge condemns wrongful acts, but does not hate them

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

People who do wrong should be treated like sick patients. By all means, restrain them if they are liable to hurt others. But do not be angry with them. They need help.

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474. Don't be angry, be useful

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

When someone is wandering about our city because they have lost their way, it is better to place then on the right path than to drive them away.

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473. Anger is like drunkenness, it doesn't help

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca responds somewhat sarcastically to the Aristotelian suggestion that a bit of anger is good because it makes soldiers more willing to fight. So does being drunk, but no general would want a drunken army.

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472. Why are love and a sense of justice not enough?

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Defenders of the right to be angry say that we should be angered by injustice. But why is it that positive emotions, like love, concern for others, and a well developed sense of justice, aren't enough?

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471. The three movements of anger

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

The best plan is to reject straightway the first incentives to anger, to resist its very beginnings, and to take care not to be betrayed into it: for if once it begins to carry us away, it is hard to get back again into a healthy condition.

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470. Anger is a short madness

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Anger is very like a falling rock which breaks itself to pieces upon the very thing which it crushes. That you may know that they whom anger possesses are not sane, look at their appearance.

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469. Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance; and be ready to let it go

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Stoics have no problem with wealth. We are not Cynics, after all. So long as it is not ill-gotten, or ill-used, it represents yet another preferred indifferent, yet another occasion to exercise virtue.

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468. The difference between impressions and assent

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

An eye, when open, has no option but to see. The decision whether to look at a particular man’s wife, however, and how, belongs to the will.

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467. Begin to reckon age, not by years, but by virtues

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

To have lived 60 years, or 70, or 100 is an interesting factoid, but the real question is: have you lived well?

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466. No one dies too soon

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Unless you believe in miracles, you agree that events are regulated by cause and effect. In which case the notion that someone dies "too soon" is highly problematic. Not just metaphysically, but for your own mental well being.

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465. Go through life like a traveler stopping at an inn

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Life is short, and we should thread lightly, mindful of the fact that it is up to us to leave the place in good conditions, so that the next travelers will enjoy it as much as we did.

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464. Sometimes people live too long for their own good

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

If sickness had carried off that glory and support of the empire Gnaeus Pompeius, at Naples, he would have died the undoubted head of the Roman people, but as it was, a short extension of time cast him down from his pinnacle of fame.

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463. On the nature of death

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 12:43:40 GMT

If anyone pities the dead, he ought also to pity those who have not been born. Death is neither a good nor a bad thing, for that alone which is something can be a good or a bad thing.

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462. Do not fear the netherworld, don't listen to the fantasies of poets and priests

Mon, 07 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

He who dies need fear no darkness, no prison, no blazing streams of fire, no river of Lethe, no judgment seat before which he must appear, and that Death is such utter freedom that he need fear no more despots.

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461. Nature is fair in her bargains

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Whenever we decide to do something, we enter in a bargain with the cosmic web of cause-effect. The decision and effort is up to us, the outcome not so.

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460. The common lot of mortals

Thu, 03 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Every time we lose a loved one it means that we have, in fact, loved. So we should not be resentful for what the universe has taken, but rather thankful for what it has given.

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459. Women are just as capable as men of achieving eudaimonia

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Believe me -- says Seneca to Marcia -- [women] have the same intellectual power as men, and the same capacity for honorable and generous action.

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458. Which is the better lot, to be happy for a short time or not at all?

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca reminds his friend Marcia, who had lost a son a couple of years later, that it is better to be thankful for what she had, rather than resentful for what she has lost.

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457. No regrets, only thankfulness

Mon, 30 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Everything we think we have is actually on loan from the universe, so to speak, and we need to be ready to give it back whenever the universe recalls the loan, no matter in what form it does it.

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456. Pay attention to the setbacks of others

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

One way to prepare for setbacks in life is to pay attention when they happen to others. We are not exceptions to the fabric of the universe, we are an integral part of it. What happens to others may or will happen to us.

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455. Reasonable vs unreasonable grief

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Feeling grief and sorrow at the loss of a loved one is natural and inevitable. Dwelling on it to the point of becoming paralyzed and not being able to resume an active role in society is something we need to avoid.

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454. Everyone is a good pilot if the weather is fair

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

In consoling Marcia, Seneca reminds her that one's virtue is on display when the universe challenges with adversity, not when life glides easily with a favoring current.

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453. Challenging the cognitive component of our emotions

Tue, 24 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Our feelings may end up feeding upon their own bitterness, until the unhappy mind takes a morbid delight in grief. But we can challenge the cognitive component of our own emotions and move forward.

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452. The path to a life worth living

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Stoicism leads us to a life of benevolence toward other human beings, in pursuit of a constant refinement of our judgments and understanding of how the world actually works — so that we can more effectively live in it.

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451. The first rule of Stoic Club

Fri, 20 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Plato said that "every soul is deprived of the truth against its will." Which means that we need to treat people who make mistakes with sympathy, not criticize and dismiss them.

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450. Stoic epistemology and humility about knowledge

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero's reports a famous metaphor used by Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, to explain the progression from perception to assent to comprehension to knowledge. Which is then used as a reminder about the limits of our own knowledge.

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449. Chrysippus on the various philosophies of life

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

According to Chrysippus, when it's all said and done, there are only three conceptions of the chief good for human beings.

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448. Aristo, the Stoic dissenter

Tue, 17 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Aristo of Chios disagreed with the founder of Stoicism, Zeno of Citium, in pretty fundamental ways. A powerful reminder that Stoic philosophy isn't written in stone, and never was.

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447. Always challenge your impressions

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 22:00:00 GMT

The basic Stoic psychological account of our desires and actions is a powerful guide to willfully change our behavior for the better.

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446. Panaetius, the dissident Stoic

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 06:00:00 GMT

Let's learn why the middle-Stoic Panaetius disagreed on a major point of "physics" with the early Stoics: he didn't believe in divination!

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445. Skeptics vs Stoics

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

The Academic Skeptics were one of the major rival schools to Stoicism. Yet, on the nature of human knowledge, and on what it means in practice, for everyday living, the two philosophies were not very far apart.

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444. Chrysippus and the logic of paradoxes

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

If you have some sand and you start adding grains, when do you have a heap? Chrysippus' answer to this sort of paradox will leave logicians frustrated and the rest of us with something to think about.

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443. Ignorance, knowledge, and things in between

Tue, 10 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

The wisest approach is to not commit to opinions until we have strong evidence in their favor, or to hold opinions very lightly, and not attach our ego to them.

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442. Stoic materialism

Mon, 09 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

The Stoics are materialists, in the sense that they believe that anything that has causal powers must be made of stuff, whatever that stuff turns out to be.

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441. Four interesting Stoic doctrines

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Virtue can only be perfected by reason; all virtues are really just one, namely, wisdom; virtue is intrinsically good; and one needs to continuously practice in order to be virtuous.

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440. What Zeno said

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic sect, says that there are three sets of things in the world: virtue, things according or contra to nature, and neutral things. From which a solid moral compass for everyday living follows.

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439. The importance of Socrates

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Socrates was the first to draw philosophy away from matters of an abstruse character, in which all the philosophers before his time had been wholly occupied, and to have diverted it to the objects of ordinary life.

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438. The consolations of philosophy

Tue, 03 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero begins his treatise Academica by seeking a medicine for his sorrows in philosophy.

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437. Gods or atoms, you should blame no one

Mon, 02 Sep 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Blame is not a Stoic thing. We bear responsibility for what we do, of course, but to blame people isn’t particularly useful. As Marcus Aurelius says, teach them, if you can, or bear with them.

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436. The problem with Paris (not the city)

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Paris stole Menelaus' wife, Helen, thereby starting the Trojan War. He did that because he assented to the impression that it was good to pursue the wife of his host, and that misjudgment resulted in ten years of misery for so many.

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435. That which is according to nature is the beginning of the good

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

And what is this Good? I shall tell you: it is a free mind, an upright mind, subjecting other things to itself and itself to nothing.

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434. Stoics vs Epicureans

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Avoiding pain and seeking pleasure comes natural to human beings. But, so argue the Stoics, being prosocial is even more fundamental to our nature as social animals.

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433. Bad thoughts are like catchy tunes

Tue, 27 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Just like a catchy tune won't leave your mind easily, once it has gained access, so with thoughts of unvirtuous actions. So don't grant them entrance in the first place.

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432. Stoicism is not good for consumerism

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

How many things are superfluous; we merely used them not because we needed them, but because we had them. How much do we acquire simply because our neighbors have acquired such things, or because most people possess them!

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431. How to tell a Stoic

Thu, 22 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Finding yourself at a party and want to know if someone else is practicing Stoicism? Ask them what they think is the chief good and the chief bad.

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430. The right attitude about the world

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

To have whatsoever they wish is not in people's power; it is in their power not to wish for what they have not, but cheerfully to employ what comes to them.

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429. Everything tastes good if you are hungry

Tue, 20 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

“Bad bread!” you say. But just wait for it; it will become good. Hunger will make even such bread delicate and of the finest flavor. And the same goes for any other external thing, whether a necessity or a luxury.

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428. Anger is a self inflicted wound

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Nothing need provoke our anger if we do not add to our pile of troubles by getting angry.

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427. A simple way to go right, many ways to go wrong

Fri, 16 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

It's relatively easy to stay on the right track by following simple methods, but there are countless ways to go wrong if we don't pay attention. Here are three basic rules from Stoic philosophy to keep your life on the right track.

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426. The balance between inner and outer resources

Thu, 15 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

How do we strike a good balance between cultivating externals, like wealth, and focusing on the improvement of our own character? Different philosophical schools gave different answers to this question.

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425. Ethics and human nature

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Philosophers have debated for millennia the nature of ethics. Is it arbitrary? Or are there universal moral laws that we can apprehend through reason? Neither, say the Stoics. Theirs is a thoroughly naturalistic philosophy.

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424. What the virtues are for

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Desires have to be reined in, fear to be suppressed, proper actions to be arranged, debts to be paid; we therefore include self-restraint, bravery, prudence, and justice among the virtues – assigning to each quality its special function.

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423. The difference may be subtle

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

There are, as you know, vices which are next-door to virtues. Carelessness looks like ease, and rashness like bravery.

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422. Of friendship, dogs, and meat thrown in the middle

Fri, 09 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

No doubt you have seen dogs playing with, and fawning before, each other, and thought, ‘Nothing could be friendlier.’ But just throw some meat in the middle, and then you’ll know what friendship amounts to.

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421. The analogy between physical and mental health

Thu, 08 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

The Stoics understood what bodily health is, and from that they deduced the existence of a certain mental health also. They knew about bodily strength, and from that they inferred the existence of mental sturdiness.

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420. Nothing is good which can be put to wrong use by any person

Wed, 07 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

The Stoics regard nothing as good which can be put to wrong use by any person. And we can all see for ourselves to what wrong uses many people put their riches, their high position, or their physical powers.

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419. The difference separating Aristotelians, Stoics, and Cynics

Tue, 06 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Externals — such as money, possessions, and the like — are how we exercise our virtue, which cannot be expressed in a vacuum. And one of the four cardinal virtues is temperance.

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418. Where's your stopping point?

Mon, 05 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

He who has much, desires more – a proof that he has not yet acquired enough; but he who has enough has attained that which never fell to the rich man’s lot – a stopping-point.

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417. Three disciplines to live a better life

Fri, 02 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

In order to live a meaningful life (ethics) we need to reason well about things (logic), and we need to have a good grasp of how the world works (science). How are your logic and science, then?

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416. A starving man despises nothing

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 10:00:00 GMT

We take a lot of things for granted, when life is going well for us. But — fools that we are — we really appreciate what we had only once we’ve lost it. That's why the Stoics devised a series of exercises in mild self-deprivation.

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415. Are you conducting yourself virtuously in your profession?

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Here is a basic Stoic equation: external thing or activity + virtue = good, while its opposite is: external thing or activity + vice = bad. So, is your profession good or bad, according to this approach?

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414. The hedonic treadmill will not make you happy

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 10:00:00 GMT

People think that externals are good, and then, after having won their wish, and suffered much, they find them evil, or empty, or less important than they had expected.

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413. Fortune, I ask no favors of you

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 15:16:26 GMT

Fortune sometimes favors villains and turns against good people. That's why our happiness should depend on our own decisions, not the vagaries of chance.

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412. The playthings of children and the shackles of adults

Fri, 26 Jul 2019 13:46:22 GMT

External goods like fine clothing, gourmet food, and nice houses ought to be regarded as the playthings of children, not the shackles of adults.

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411. The importance of not wasting time

Thu, 25 Jul 2019 14:15:36 GMT

Nature has not given us such a generous and free-handed space of time that we can have the leisure to waste any of it.

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410. The value of money, beauty, and high social position

Wed, 24 Jul 2019 12:16:03 GMT

The Stoic concept of preferred and dispreferred indifferents always gets people confused or, the other common human response to lack of understanding, scoffing.

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409. Rationalizing is not the same thing as reasoning

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 15:34:12 GMT

We are in love with our vices; we uphold them and prefer to make excuses for them rather than shake them off. The reason is unwillingness, the excuse, inability.

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408. How to tell whether you have achieved wisdom

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Do you find yourself in the thralls of fear, jealousy, or anger? Do you act inconsistently in life? Then you ain't wise yet.

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407. Negative emotions are diseases, they are not good even in small measure

Thu, 18 Jul 2019 09:42:58 GMT

One of the major differences between Stoics and Aristotelians has always been the treatment of disruptive emotions, such as anger and fear. They are helpful, in small measure, for Aristotle, but definitely to avoid for the Stoics.

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406. The true value of things

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 10:00:00 GMT

We have become alternately merchants and merchandise, and we ask, not what a thing truly is, but what it costs.

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405. Are you a slave, a fool, or what?

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 10:07:49 GMT

From the point of view of someone who has managed to overcome his attachment for externals, people going after riches and luxuries look like fools. Are you one of them?

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404. The problem with fame, wealth and power

Thu, 11 Jul 2019 09:02:10 GMT

Seneca reminds us that in the time of Nero - just like today - famous, rich and powerful people are hiding much evil under a thin coating of titles.

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403. The problem with excessive wealth

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 08:30:36 GMT

Seneca, who knew a thing or two about wealth, warns us about pursuing it. A mind that revels in luxury, he says, is a mind that has lost its balance.

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402. Why are you doing what you are doing?

Tue, 09 Jul 2019 09:16:12 GMT

Seneca reminds us that striving to be a better person is an end in itself, not to be pursued in order to boast to others of our accomplishments.

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401. What brought down Alexander the Great

Mon, 08 Jul 2019 08:10:31 GMT

Seneca reminds us that Alexander the Great conquered everything, except his own destructive emotions, which led to endless grief for him and his friends. Beware, therefore, of reacting in anger to your problems.

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400. Who's got the time?

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 06:46:28 GMT

Doesn't it take time to practice Stoicism? We are all so busy! Here is Marcus Aurelius' response to that question. A response that applies also if you are a Christian, or a Buddhist, among other things.

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399. What's the difference between useful and useless?

Thu, 04 Jul 2019 11:41:24 GMT

Epictetus argues that things are useless or useful not in themselves, but as a result of what we do with them. As usual in Stoicism, the answer comes from within, from our own attitudes toward things.

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398. The definition of courage

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Seneca explains that courage has little to do with rushing into battle to face an enemy. It's about how we handle the good and the bad that Fortuna throws our way. Also, wanna play ball with Socrates?

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397. What are we talking about, and why?

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 11:22:58 GMT

Human beings have an unparalleled ability to communicate with each other. And yet, Seneca suggests, much of the time we talk about things that are neither improving ourselves, nor making the world a better place.

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396. On the vanity of mental gymnastics

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Philosophers can be clever. Too clever for their own sake, suggests Seneca. Indeed, one measure of wisdom is precisely the ability to tell the difference between cleverness and usefulness.

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395. Have you changed your mind yet?

Fri, 28 Jun 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Epictetus bluntly tells us that if we have not been affected by philosophy and have not changed our mind about something important as a result of it, we are simply playing a game. So, has philosophy changed your mind yet?

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394. Have you taken the easy step yet?

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Seneca says that being able to do without luxuries is but a small and easy step toward virtue. And yet so many of us have much trouble taking that step. Have you?

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393. The difference between thinking and worrying

Wed, 26 Jun 2019 11:26:00 GMT

Seneca advises Lucilius to think, but not to worry, about the future. It is reasonable to plan for things to come and to act in the best way possible. So long as we don't delude ourselves into thinking that we actually control outcomes.

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392. In a little time you will be like Hadrian and Augustus

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius takes the long view of things in order to remind himself that whatever troubles us so much right now will soon be over, one way or another. This isn't nihilism, but rather the conscious adoption of a healthier perspective on human affairs.

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391. Pick your virtue buddy

Fri, 21 Jun 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Think of practicing philosophy as going to the gym: sure, you can do a lot on your own. But if you choose a good partner to keep you focused on the task, you'll see more steady improvement. So, who's your virtue buddy?

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390. Thus the study of wisdom has become the study of words

Thu, 20 Jun 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca says that some people are interested in studying philosophy not to improve their souls, but to sharpen their wits. Time to reflect on what, exactly, we are doing and why.

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389. Consider vegetarianism

Wed, 19 Jun 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca says that we have enough sustenance without resorting to blood, and that a habit of cruelty is formed whenever butchery is practiced for pleasure. Something to meditate on a bit.

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388. On the best way to resist temptation

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca and Epictetus agree: the best way to resist temptation is to avoid it altogether, because it's hard to practice temperance, at least initially. Modern cognitive science agrees.

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387. The fortune of everyone is molded by their character

Mon, 17 Jun 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Cicero explains a classic Stoic paradox: only the wise person is free, while everyone else is a slave. To what? To externals that they think are indispensable for their happiness, and yet lay outside of their control.

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386. The true hearer is ravished and stirred by the beauty of the subject matter, not by the jingle of empty words

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca briefly tells us both how to approach philosophy, and how not to. Are you a passive consumer of the stuff, or are you looking to become a better human being?

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385. Philosophy rubs off of you

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Seneca says that associating ourselves with a philosopher we cannot help but learning something that may change our lives. So today try to get a friend or relative into philosophy. You'll be doing some good for the whole human cosmopolis.

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384. That which you cannot reform, it is best to endure

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Is Stoicism about going through life with a stiff upper lip? No, but enduring what cannot be changed is part of the philosophy. Modern Stoic Larry Becker called it the "axiom of futility."

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383. No matter what trouble you mention, it has happened to many

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca reminds us that, regardless of how terrible a problem or event appears to be right now, plenty of others have gone through something similar before. They can be an inspiration to us to overcome whatever is happening in the same way.

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382. What illusion about myself do I entertain?

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 13:34:53 GMT

Without knowing about modern psychological research, Epictetus figured out that we all too easily fool ourselves. Here are three Stoic techniques to at least partially remedy the problem.

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381. What things you can be robbed of, and what things you can't

Thu, 06 Jun 2019 14:00:10 GMT

Cicero explains that we may lose any external good, because it isn't truly ours, but rather on loan from the universe. However, our judgments, considered opinions, and consciously embraced values are truly ours and cannot be taken away.

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380. How to do a premeditation of adversity

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 13:16:40 GMT

Seneca talks about the premeditatio malorum, an exercise that allows us to be mentally prepared for possible negative outcomes of our action. The key to it is to engage your reasoning faculty, not your emotional reactions.

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379. Life is like a journey: some things that you don't like will be thrown at you

Tue, 04 Jun 2019 11:02:53 GMT

Seneca uses a metaphor of life as a journey, or as a trip to the thermal baths, to make the point that obstacles will be thrown our way, either on purpose or by accident. The question is: how do we deal with them?

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378. "Busyness" is no proof of happiness

Mon, 03 Jun 2019 13:34:12 GMT

Seneca anticipates modern social psychological research in arguing that keeping oneself busy for the sake of being busy does not lead to happiness. On the contrary.

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377. People will do the same things even though you would burst with rage

Fri, 31 May 2019 13:01:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius joins Seneca in his rejection of anger as a valid or effective motivator of human action. We should, instead, be moved to act by positive triggers, such as a sense of justice, or duty, or love.

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376. The most important contribution to peace of mind is never to do wrong

Thu, 30 May 2019 12:32:22 GMT

Seneca explains why not doing wrong is your best bet toward achieving serenity of mind. Of course, it's also the virtuous thing to do.

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375. What goads people into destroying other people?

Wed, 29 May 2019 10:32:14 GMT

Seneca gives a disturbing list of reasons why we kill each other. Most of them are precisely the kind of negative emotions that Stoic training is attempting to move away from.

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374. No need to be Cato in order to practice virtue

Tue, 28 May 2019 12:16:11 GMT

Seneca discusses the grand example of Cato the Younger, his favorite role model. But even in ordinary life we can be courageous and just, if we pay attention to what we are doing and why.

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373. The answer is always going to be "it depends"

Fri, 24 May 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero reminds us that in virtue ethics the answer to moral questions is always going to depend on circumstances, a striking contrast with modern - and arguably less useful - universalist frameworks like deontology and consequentialism.

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372. Spend some time with Zeno and Socrates instead

Thu, 23 May 2019 13:13:53 GMT

Want to become a better person? Forget about traveling, since you will bring with you the same problems you are trying to flee. Read a good book instead, enter in conversation with the best minds humanity has produced across time.

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371. The problem is that you are travelling with your emotions and are followed by your afflictions

Wed, 22 May 2019 13:30:29 GMT

Seneca continues his analysis of the relationship between traveling and self-improvement. While there are good reasons to travel (leisure and learning), self-improvement isn't one of them, because that requires critical reflection, wherever one happens to be.

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370. If you travel in order to escape yourself, don't

Tue, 21 May 2019 13:25:11 GMT

As Socrates said to someone who was complaining that traveling brought him no benefits: "It serves you right! You travelled in your own company!"

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369. We must suffer for the sake of those we love

Mon, 20 May 2019 13:32:12 GMT

Seneca dispels the stereotype of Stoics going through life with a stiff upper lip by explicitly advocating suffering for those we love. What marks the Stoic is not that she doesn't suffer, but how she handles suffering.

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368. Theory is fine, but useless if you don't practice

Fri, 17 May 2019 15:18:34 GMT

Epictetus complains about something that hasn't changed much in two millennia: people who are happy to discuss the fine logical points of ethical dilemmas, but are apparently not that interested in becoming better human beings.

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367. Remember what you should offer and what you should withhold

Thu, 16 May 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca reminds us how to behave with fellow human beings, but also that, from a Stoic perspective, what is and is not to be valued (one's good and bad judgments) is not quite what most people value, focused as they often are on externals.

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366. Humanity is what it is, not what we would like it to be

Wed, 15 May 2019 13:07:05 GMT

Seneca reminds us that our fellow human beings aren't always trustworthy or well intentioned. Nevertheless, we have a duty to treat others, and ourselves, with forgiveness, to be helpful when we can, and to endure when we cannot.

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365. Your role model may be closer than you think

Tue, 14 May 2019 14:22:20 GMT

In which I compare my adoptive grandfather to Cato the Younger. Not because he fought battles against tyrants, but because he was a decent and kind human being.

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364. Virtue is all-or-nothing, and yet, we can make progress

Mon, 13 May 2019 11:55:56 GMT

Cicero talks about one of the classic Stoic paradoxes: virtue is all-or-nothing, and yet one can make progress toward it. How is this possible? In this episode we explain, by way of a geometrical analogy.

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363. Do the right thing because it is the right thing to do

Fri, 10 May 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius argues that when we do something right we shouldn't expect either recognition or a return. Otherwise, we are doing the right thing for the wrong reason.

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362. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s account every day.

Thu, 09 May 2019 12:48:07 GMT

Seneca reminds us that we do not actually know when "the remorseless law of Fate" has fixed the time of our death. Therefore, we should prioritize what's important, postpone nothing, and balance our life’s account every day.

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361. No sensation of evil can reach one who is dead

Wed, 08 May 2019 12:25:16 GMT

Seneca agrees with Epicurus: there is no sense in fearing what happens after death, since we won't be there to experience it. Therefore, we should not allow religious and political authorities to manipulate us through that fear.

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360. Not feeling pain would make us inhuman, not sages

Tue, 07 May 2019 12:57:50 GMT

Seneca talks to his friend Lucilius about how to console the bereaved, dispelling the stereotype of Stoics as individuals who go through life with a stiff upper lip.

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359. The universe is morally neutral

Mon, 06 May 2019 11:38:55 GMT

Seneca says that good and evil are not in the world per se, but in our judgments about the world, and the actions we take as a consequence of those judgments. Which is why training ourselves to arrive at better judgments is so crucial.

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358. Challenge your impressions, don't "just do it"

Fri, 03 May 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Epictetus tells us about a fundamental Stoic technique: never act on first impressions and implied judgments. Always pause, challenge your impressions, make the judgments explicit, and see whether they were on target or not.

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357. The view from above, Seneca style

Thu, 02 May 2019 12:23:29 GMT

Here is Seneca's version of an exercise most often associated with Marcus Aurelius: when you feel overwhelmed by your problems, take a minute to consider a broader perspective. When your mind is calmer, come back to earth and tackle the problems.

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356. What ought to be done must be learned from one who does it

Wed, 01 May 2019 13:07:18 GMT

Seneca suggests we pick a role model to help us become better persons. This ancient practice actually gets some empirical confirmation from modern psychology. So, who's your model, and why?

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355. If someone can withstand fire or exile, surely you can overcome something...

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 14:28:16 GMT

Seneca lists an impressive gallery of ancient Roman role models, who have done brave things to safeguard their ideals. Surely, then, we can find the courage to overcome our comparatively small problems in everyday life, no?

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354. Don't suffer before it is necessary

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 12:39:10 GMT

Seneca reminds us that the future is not under our control, and that the best way to prepare for it is to act here and now, where we actually have causal efficacy.

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353. The skill of the pilot is independent of the value of the cargo

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 13:04:19 GMT

Cicero uses a metaphor involving ship pilots and their cargo to remind us that a more or less valuable "cargo" doesn't make us better or worse "pilots." It is our skills, that is our virtue, that make the difference.

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352. The universe is morally neutral

Thu, 25 Apr 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca, differing from Epictetus in a metaphysical sense, says that the universe is - as we would put it - morally neutral to us. What matters, then, is how we handle so-called "good" and "bad" things.

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351. A long life is like a long journey: there is bound to be rain and mud on the way

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 12:18:14 GMT

Seneca uses a colorful analogy between life and a journey. Sure, we'd like to live longer, but when the journey is longer a number of unpleasant things are bound to happen, like rain and mud. Just bring good gear with you for the trip.

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350. Want to be alive? Pay the taxes of life

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 12:30:49 GMT

Seneca uses an interesting economic analogy to remind us that the privilege of being alive comes with the tax of suffering setbacks and losses. Understanding this helps us to cope with problems and even to look forward to them as further exercises in virtue.

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349. Expand your circles of concern

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 12:37:37 GMT

Seneca says that it is natural for us to be virtuous. Modern scientists say that it is natural for us to be prosocial. Either way, it is reason that allows us to expand our instinctive circles of ethical concern.

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348. It's far easier to change yourself than others

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 12:57:59 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that we spend far too much time trying to change other people, which is outside of our control, and too little time attempting to improve ourselves, which we certainly have the power to do.

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347. The problem with expensive meals

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 12:47:46 GMT

Seneca echoes the advice of Musonius Rufus when he says that we don't need to pay for extravagant meals with ingredients brought from all over the world. Every time we sit at the table to eat we have a chance to exercise temperance.

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346. We should prosecute our politicians and generals

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Continuing his criticism of the state's war machine, Seneca exhorts us to prosecute our politicians and generals for the crimes they commit in our own name.

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345. Seneca on war as human folly

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 13:40:40 GMT

Seneca writes words about the foolishness of war that were surprisingly modern for his time, and unfortunately very much still pertinent to us today.

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344. A surprisingly difficult simple precept

Mon, 15 Apr 2019 15:56:24 GMT

Seneca tells us something that may appear to be a no-brainer, and yet is difficult to apply: never believe that you can be happy through the unhappiness of another.

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343. Happiness is an inside job

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Cicero reminds us that happiness - meaning our satisfaction with our own life - is guaranteed if we don't hitch it to external events, but only to our own reasoned judgments.

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342. The proximity of good people is good for you

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca reminds us that it is important to associate with good people. Their goodness is both an inspiration and a guide to make ourselves better human beings.

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341. Repetition is useful

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca says that we should remind ourselves of things we know, because all too often we don't pay attention to them.

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340. Approach your life all things considered

Tue, 09 Apr 2019 12:56:07 GMT

Modern Stoic Larry Becker, building on Seneca, advises us to approach the problems we encounter not one at a time, but within the context of our life treated as a whole dynamic project.

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339. Seneca agrees with Ricky Gervais on the afterlife and the meaning of existence

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 12:33:47 GMT

Seneca points out that it doesn't matter if there is no continuation of life after death. Just like British comedian Ricky Gervais did recently in his series, aptly entitled "After Life."

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338. Cut off anger at its inception

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Epictetus treats anger as an addiction: we should suppress the urge as soon as we begin to feel it, and celebrate the days we have managed to stay away from this temporary madness.

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337. How long you live is not up to you, how you live is

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 12:57:45 GMT

Seneca uses the dichotomy of control to get us to move away from our obsession with living longer, and toward paying attention to living better.

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336. Marcus Regulus and the hard core of Stoicism

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 13:12:34 GMT

A good Stoic can be "happy" even on the rack. This phrase happened to be true in the case of the Roman general Marcus Regulus. And his story is worth pondering to see that we can be helpful and find meaning in so many small ways.

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335. Virtue is like the sun behind a cloud

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 13:27:34 GMT

Seneca says that when negative developments affect our lives, virtue is like the sun behind a cloud: it keeps shining, and eventually dissipates the clouds.

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334. The fanciness of your scabbard says nothing about the effectiveness of your sword

Mon, 01 Apr 2019 13:11:09 GMT

Seneca uses the analogy of a scabbard and a sword to remind us that external goods, like wealth or health, are indeed preferable, but only in a limited fashion. What's truly important is the shape of our character.

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333. What does it mean to live every day as if it were your last?

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius advises us to live by avoiding both violent emotions and torpor, and by not being a hypocrite. But also, to treat every day as if it were our last. What does that mean?

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332. The importance of sound judgment

Thu, 28 Mar 2019 13:38:13 GMT

Seneca provides a very clear explanation of the Stoic distinction between virtue and external things, leading to the surprising conclusion that even health is not an unquestionable good.

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331. How to achieve serenity

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 15:24:34 GMT

Seneca talks about a major "side effect," so to speak, of the Stoic stance: achieving tranquillity of mind through the development of an attitude of equanimity.

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330. Virtue is the only good, naturally

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 13:06:14 GMT

Cicero asserts the standard, and apparently paradoxical, Stoic position that virtue is the onyl true good. Let's see why.

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329. Be aware of what you can and cannot change

Mon, 25 Mar 2019 11:55:37 GMT

Seneca says that Nature does not discriminate, it hands out suffering and death to everyone, eventually. But we can still make our life better by developing equanimity toward what we cannot change while trying to change what we can.

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328. How to shape your character

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Epictetus reminds us that character is a matter of habit. Willfully change your habits, and you will be on your way toward becoming a better human being.

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327. Welcoming Cicero to our line up

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 13:50:49 GMT

This episode features our first discussion of Cicero. While not a Stoic (he considered himself an Academic Skeptic), he was sympathetic to Stoic philosophy, and frequently borrowed from it to create his own eclectic blend of moral philosophy.

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326. These are your choices

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 13:20:35 GMT

Seneca, building on the Stoic concept of universal causation, reminds us that we don't get to say how the universe works. Our only choices are to accept it (and work within it), or take "the open door," as Epictetus puts it.

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325. Can we really improve ourselves?

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 14:06:23 GMT

Seneca reminds us that although some people are naturally more virtuous than others, and that much depends on our family upbringing, we are capable of making rational decisions as adults. So make the decision to practice every day to become a better human being.

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324. Wisdom as a better filter to examine your life

Mon, 18 Mar 2019 12:47:33 GMT

Seneca provides us with one of the best definitions of wisdom. Let's see what it means, and how to apply it to our daily life.

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323. Marcus Aurelius and the chocolate cake

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius exhorts us to not just do it, but slow down, think about it, and then see if we really want to do it.

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322. Stoicism and war

Thu, 14 Mar 2019 13:07:21 GMT

Seneca says it no uncertain terms: it is not wisdom that contrives arms, or walls, or instruments useful in war; nay, her voice is for peace, and she summons all mankind to concord.

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321. The three parts of philosophy

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 13:29:36 GMT

Seneca summarizes the reasons why to live a good life (the domain of Ethics) one has to learn how to reason well (Logic) and how to better understand the world (Physics).

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320. Concern yourself with careful living

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 13:58:43 GMT

Seneca criticizes the tendency of some philosophers to spend a lot of time trying to develop more careful ways of speaking, at the expense of figuring out more careful ways of living.

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319. Here's your top priority in life

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 13:07:52 GMT

Seneca says that it causes far too much discomfort to the ears of others to be recognized as a learned person. Better for us and everyone else to be recognized as a good person.

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318. In order to learn something new you need to forget what you think you already know

Fri, 08 Mar 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Epictetus advises his students, and all of us, to drop our preconceptions and actually open our minds to new notions. Try to practice that the next time you engage in a "conversation" on social media.

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317. Seneca criticizes the institution of war

Thu, 07 Mar 2019 13:14:22 GMT

In a rather forceful passage Seneca makes a strong political statement, referring to Roman imperialism as "sacrilege on a grand scale." Unfortunately, two millennia later, we still honor that sort of sacrilege, which flies in the face of the virtue of justice and the concept of cosmopolitanism.

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316. Wealth doesn't make you a better person

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 14:40:36 GMT

Seneca constructs another logical argument to make the point that wealth is not an intrinsic good. Rather, it is how it is used that can be good or bad. Know any virtuous billionaires, by chance?

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315. Chance events are not good for you

Tue, 05 Mar 2019 13:43:18 GMT

Seneca builds a simple argument to show that random events, like winning a lottery, are actually not good for you, despite appearances to the contrary.

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314. Much of what we have is superfluous

Mon, 04 Mar 2019 14:03:29 GMT

Seneca says that his life's journey taught him that much of what we possess is superfluous, and indeed positively gets in the way of living a good life. He ought to know, as we discuss in this episode.

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313. When to care, or not, about other people's opinions

Fri, 01 Mar 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that all too often we care far too much about the opinions of people we do not actually hold in high esteem. If they judge us badly according to mistaken values, the problem is theirs, not ours.

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312. Make your life the best it can be given the materials you are given

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 13:28:30 GMT

Seneca brings up a parallel between the life of virtue and the art of a sculptor like Phidias. Just like a good sculptor will make the best art that the materials at his disposal permit, so we can be good human beings regardless of the specific circumstances of our lives.

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311. Everyone is a good pilot on a calm sea

Wed, 27 Feb 2019 14:10:28 GMT

Seneca uses a sailing metaphor to remind us that hardship in life, just like a storm at sea, is what truly tests our virtue, as the storm tests the pilot's skills.

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310. Treat yourself as you would a sick friend

Tue, 26 Feb 2019 13:21:01 GMT

Seneca dispels the stereotype of Stoics as going through life with a stiff upper lip. Stoic training doesn't insulate us from sufferings. It gives us tools to deal with suffering.

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309. Moderate insanity is not a good thing

Mon, 25 Feb 2019 14:34:46 GMT

Seneca directly takes on the Peripatetics, followers of Aristotle, and criticizes their notion that virtue always lies in the middle. Some things, like insanity, or anger, are not good even in small quantities.

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308. Planning is more important than worrying about outcomes

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Epictetus wonders why people pay attention to outcomes, which are outside of their control, and not so much to planning, which very much is under their control.

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307. The orchestra of your mind

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 14:06:55 GMT

Seneca draws a beautiful analogy between the harmonious sounds of an orchestra and the harmonious thinking of a well structured mind.

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306. If you want to understand things, write them down

Wed, 20 Feb 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Seneca suggests that we should alternate between reading and writing in order to truly understand and internalize new concepts. Which, of course, is yet another way to achieve a major goal of Stoic training: arrive at better and better judgments.

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305. Read books, it's good for you

Tue, 19 Feb 2019 14:02:04 GMT

Seneca gives this most sensical of advices: read books by others, especially if they disagree with you. Turns out, it's a good way to improve our judgments of things, a major goal of Stoic training.

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304. Pay attention to the past in order to tackle the future

Mon, 18 Feb 2019 15:21:06 GMT

Seneca reminds us that -- although we live in the here and now -- we profit from reflecting on our mistakes, so long as we do not indulge emotionally on them. Regret is not a Stoic value. Learning is.

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303. Life is more like wrestling than dancing

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 12:00:00 GMT

We take a look at one of the most famous metaphors in Stoicism, the notion put forth by Marcus Aurelius that life is a bit like wrestling: we need to be prepared and alert, because the next move may be unexpected.

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302. Too much logic is not good for your health

Thu, 14 Feb 2019 13:20:34 GMT

Seneca reminds us that logic is crucial in order to figure out how to live a good life. But logic chopping is actually deleterious to it.

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301. Not all indifferents are created equal

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 14:22:38 GMT

Seneca reminds us that there is a difference among the so-called indifferents. Life, health, and education, for instance, are a bit more highly ranked than your favorite gelato flavor.

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300. The difference between Stoicism and stoicism

Tue, 12 Feb 2019 17:02:33 GMT

In our 300th episode we look at how Seneca very clearly separates Stoicism (the philosophy) from stoicism (the attitude of going through life with a stiff upper lip).

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299. Be magnanimous toward others

Mon, 11 Feb 2019 14:35:30 GMT

Seneca reminds us that we should interpret other people's actions and words in a generous manner, instead of conjuring the worst possible scenario. It is, after all, the way we would like to be treated.

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298. Do you still need somebody to wipe your nose?

Fri, 08 Feb 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Epictetus, with his sarcastic sense of humor, reminds a student that he doesn't need to pray to deal with a bad situation. He already has all the tools he needs: courage, fortitude, and endurance.

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297. Virtue is its own reward

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 12:35:40 GMT

If the Pope or the Dalai Lama say that being good is its own reward, usually people take it at face value. But if a Stoic says it, they demand logical proof. Let's discuss this.

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296. How much are you worth?

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 14:24:29 GMT

Seneca gets to the bottom line of Stoic philosophy: If you wish to set a value on yourself, put away your money, your estates, your honors, and look into your own character.

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295. Get rid of fear of death and poverty

Tue, 05 Feb 2019 14:04:04 GMT

Seneca agrees with Epicurus: fear of death and poverty is crippling, and we need to work toward overcoming it.

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294. Three simple steps to live a good life

Mon, 04 Feb 2019 14:27:37 GMT

Seneca reminds us that the tools for becoming a better person are simple and inexpensive. In this episode we discuss the three basic tools of the Stoic practitioner.

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293. Why we need to focus on our own improvement

Fri, 01 Feb 2019 12:00:00 GMT

A quote from Marcus Aurelius sounds a lot like what Ayn Rand would say. But it couldn't be further from it.

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292. Fortuna is your sparring partner

Thu, 31 Jan 2019 13:43:20 GMT

Seneca reminds us that it may be just as difficult to deal with good fortune as with the bad variety. Regardless, everything life throws at us is an opportunity to exercise our virtue.

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291. Practical exercises in self-deprivation

Wed, 30 Jan 2019 14:19:07 GMT

Seneca says that doing without things for a while renews our appreciation for them. In this episode we examine five exercises in mild self-deprivation guaranteed to reset your hedonic treadmill.

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290. Are you sick? You can be brave about it

Tue, 29 Jan 2019 14:16:08 GMT

Seneca reminds us that courage is not just for the battlefield, but for the everyday difficulties of life, like being sick.

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289. Pay attention to the good parts of your life

Mon, 28 Jan 2019 14:31:53 GMT

A contemporary theory of consciousness, proposed by philosopher Jesse Prinz, recalls Seneca's treatment of the emotions, and teaches us how to avert painful thoughts by focusing on the good things that happen to us.

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288. Your "happiness" is up to you, really

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Epictetus reminds us that the only things that are truly good or bad for us are our judgments, which are under our control. It follows that "happiness," in the sense of a life worth living, is also under our control.

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287. What's a good reason to endure hardship?

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 16:56:46 GMT

Seneca reminds us that athletes willingly subject themselves to harsh regimes in order to succeed. But when it comes to becoming a better person most of us think it's just too difficult.

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286. Turn regrets into learning opportunities

Wed, 23 Jan 2019 14:15:29 GMT

Seneca reminds us that to indulge in regret is irrational, as the past is outside of our control. That doesn't mean we can't learn from it, though.

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285. Everything depends on opinion

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 15:22:16 GMT

Seneca tells us that our happiness, or lack thereof, is a matter of our own opinion. No, he's not making a relativist or post-modernist argument on the nature of knowledge.

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284. 40 years or 10,000, makes little difference

Mon, 21 Jan 2019 06:00:00 GMT

Marcus says that once we have observed human affairs for 40 years, it's the same as having observed them for 10,000 years. Surely he is wrong? Not necessarily...

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283. On the importance of friendship

Fri, 18 Jan 2019 05:59:59 GMT

The Stoics, the Epicureans, and Aristotle all agreed on one thing: friends are important. In this episode we talk about why, and how the Stoics differ from the other two schools on this topic.

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282. Life's a play, act well

Thu, 17 Jan 2019 11:03:14 GMT

Seneca uses a metaphor that later became famous with Shakespeare: life is like a play, so what counts is not its length, but how well we act our parts.

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281. The asymmetry of being dead

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 11:07:04 GMT

Seneca points out that people regret not being alive a thousand years from now, and yet are not bothered by the thought of not having been alive for the past thousand years.

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280. Distribute your wealth like after a banquet

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 10:35:46 GMT

Seneca recalls an ancient Roman custom according to which the host of a banquet would distribute gifts to his friends at the end. Consider doing the same after your life has ended.

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279. A little philosophy is a dangerous thing

Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:45:54 GMT

Epictetus warn us that a little knowledge of philosophy, without proper guidance, can actually turn us onto even more stubborn fools than we were before.

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278. Every good life is complete

Fri, 11 Jan 2019 06:00:00 GMT

Seneca argues that life is not like a journey. Whenever it is interrupted it is a whole life, if we have been living it virtuously.

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277. A prepared mind tackles adversity better

Thu, 10 Jan 2019 10:20:08 GMT

Today's quote from Seneca is the root of the modern Stoic technique of premeditatio malorum, a meditation in which we try to get mentally prepared to tackle adversity.

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276. The real stature of people

Wed, 09 Jan 2019 10:20:28 GMT

Seneca uses a beautiful analogy to argue that some people may look impressive while they aren't, and other people truly are impressive and yet remain overlooked.

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275. Navigating between good and bad fortune

Tue, 08 Jan 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Seneca tells us that virtue is useful not just in order to handle bad fortune, but also, counter intuitively, to deal with good fortune.

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274. We are all going to die, but until then?

Mon, 07 Jan 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius takes for granted that death is a natural and unavoidable end. The real question is what you are going to do between now and then.

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273. Would you buy a car based on its color?

Fri, 04 Jan 2019 14:33:02 GMT

Seneca explains that there are certain attributes of things and people that are important, and others that are irrelevant. Somehow, we keep focusing on the irrelevant ones.

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272. Why virtue is the only good

Thu, 03 Jan 2019 12:24:02 GMT

In this episode we explore a quote from Seneca presenting the Stoic argument for why virtue is the only true good. And if it is, then shouldn't you pursue it above all else?

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271. Virtue will not fall upon you by chance

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 12:35:06 GMT

Seneca already understood two millennia ago that there is no such thing as a self-made man, because luck is needed for externals. But not in order to be virtuous.

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270. Bad judgment is a disease, Stoic practice is the cure

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 14:25:22 GMT

Seneca says that people arrive at wrong judgments about what is valuable or desirable, and a major goal of Stoic training is, accordingly, to make us less unwise about values and desires.

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269. Change your mind, if reason prompts you

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 14:13:22 GMT

Epictetus chastises one of his students for wanting to stick with a decision just because he said he would. Which leads us to a discussion of the roles of reason and emotion.

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268. Practice, practice, practice

Fri, 28 Dec 2018 13:19:57 GMT

Stoicism is a practical philosophy, but how does that work, exactly? Not very differently from the practice of religions like Christianity and Buddhism. Find out in this episode!

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267. Here and now

Thu, 27 Dec 2018 14:29:45 GMT

Seneca reminds us that the past is not under our control, and neither is the future. Our only locus of action is the present, and that's where our attention should be.

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266. How to behave during a storm at sea

Wed, 26 Dec 2018 14:36:01 GMT

Seneca reminds us that those who study philosophy are human beings, subject to the physiological responses and emotions of the case. The difference is in how they reflect on and react to circumstances.

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265. Retreat into your Inner Citadel

Mon, 24 Dec 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that, when we need to regain serenity, we may retreat into ourselves and recharge our batteries. In this episode, learn about the ruling faculty and its neural correlates.

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264. Virtue, virtue, everywhere!

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 14:53:49 GMT

Seneca tells us that virtue can be present at all levels, from nations to individuals, and in all circumstances, from wealth to poverty. Let's find out what, precisely, the Stoics meant by virtue and why it's so important.

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263. The length of a virtuous life does not matter

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Seneca reminds us that a life can be virtuous regardless of its length. And since we have no idea how long we are going to live, the question is: what are you going to do between now and then?

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262. Love reason!

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 15:07:53 GMT

Seneca warmly invites us to love reason, which will arm us against the greatest hardships. These days, though, reason doesn't have a great reputation. Find out why we should go back to it.

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261. Don't be proud of things you didn't accomplish

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 14:36:17 GMT

Seneca gives a splendidly clear and cogent description of the Stoic concept of preferred "indifferents," external things that are not under our complete control, and which Fortuna can take away at any moment.

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260. And off they go, alleging slander!

Mon, 17 Dec 2018 14:33:06 GMT

Epictetus notes that nobody tells a doctor that they are rude if the doctor says they are sick and need medicine. But if the philosopher does that with one's moral health...

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259. What are you going to do with your luck?

Fri, 14 Dec 2018 14:38:42 GMT

Seneca conjures a vivid image of the goddess Fortuna showering mortals with gifts, which are ruined by the eager crowd, or badly used, and that at any rate do not produce happiness. That's because people lack wisdom, necessary to truly enjoy Fortuna's gifts.

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258. Try inward happiness

Thu, 13 Dec 2018 15:00:02 GMT

Seneca explains that if our happiness depends on externals, like fame or money, we are in the hands of Fortuna, who could take those things away at any moment. But if we are happy because we are good, then Fortuna is powerless.

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257. Don't judge a pilot by the size of her ship

Wed, 12 Dec 2018 16:27:12 GMT

Seneca states very clearly that wealth is an indifferent, in Stoic terms. It can be pursued if it allows us to do good, but it should be avoided if it corrupts our moral fiber, making us greedy toward luxury and power.

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256. It is either extinction or change

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 14:28:18 GMT

Marcus Aurelius contemplates whether death is a resolution of atoms or a final annihilation. He doesn't seem bothered by either possibility.

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255. Ambition is not a Stoic value

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Seneca warns us against ambition, understood not as the will to accomplish things, but as the pursuit of fame, money, and power. Modern politicians should be like Cato the Younger, not Alcibiades.

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254. Avoid busyness

Thu, 06 Dec 2018 14:24:30 GMT

Seneca advises us to be careful how we spend our time, and especially how we respond to other people's demands for it. Life is short, surely you won't regret, on your deathbed, not having attended one more useless office meeting...

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253. Don't be like a dog waiting for another morsel of meat

Wed, 05 Dec 2018 16:11:55 GMT

Seneca says that people are like dogs who eagerly await the next tasty morsel from Fortuna, swallow it quickly, then eagerly await the next one. Don't be like a dog, that way lies perennial dissatisfaction with life.

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252. Of sickness and wisdom

Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:55:50 GMT

Seneca says that lacking wisdom is like being sick. Although we can imagine what it would be like to be perfectly healthy, in reality we can be happy if we manage to be less sick than before. That's progress, folks!

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251. Theory is easy, practice requires effort

Mon, 03 Dec 2018 14:11:25 GMT

Epictetus reminds us that one does not become a good carpenter, or pilot, by simply studying the theory of carpentry or piloting. Mindful, repeated effort is needed to see results. The same goes with one's philosophy of life.

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250. Philosophy is a lifelong commitment

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Seneca makes the startling claim that philosophy is a lifelong commitment that cannot be indulged only in our spare time. He doesn't mean academic studies, but rather practice, just like a Christian or Buddhist would do it.

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249. Instead of conquering the world, conquer yourself

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 16:03:09 GMT

Seneca says that he hasn't conquered any enemy but his own greed, ambition, and fear of death. If more people, especially the leaders of the world, were to take that attitude, perhaps there would be no need to conquer enemies.

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248. In order to make progress you have to desire progress

Wed, 28 Nov 2018 14:18:30 GMT

The goal of Stoic training is to become a better person, not a perfect one. But the first step, as always in life, is to want to make progress. If you wish to better yourself, the game is afoot, you need to start now.

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247. In a few words: virtue is the only good

Tue, 27 Nov 2018 14:26:45 GMT

Seneca provides us with a very short and to the point summary of Stoic philosophy: virtue is the only good, it depends on our ability to reason correctly, and it leads to good judgment.

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246. Be grateful for what you have, but don't get too attached to it

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 14:25:22 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds himself to be grateful for the things he has, which he would long for if he didn't have them. At the same time, everything is impermanent, so we should be prepared for our losses.

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245. Sagehood is rare, but progress is up to us

Fri, 23 Nov 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Seneca tells Lucilius that he himself is far from being a wise person, which is as rare as the mythical phoenix. Nevertheless, we can all be "proficientes," those who make progress. Which is the whole point of Stoic training.

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244. Stoicism is not a "manly" philosophy

Wed, 21 Nov 2018 12:00:00 GMT

We hear a lot of nonsense about Stoicism being tough and therefore only for men. But Seneca clearly explains that virtue doesn't make us invulnerable to pain and suffering, and that women are just as capable as men to become virtuous. Go figure.

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243. Dining with a tyrant, are you?

Tue, 20 Nov 2018 14:11:58 GMT

Seneca gives us another Stoic "paradox": it may be better to be tortured than to sit at the dinner table. Well, not normally, but surely if you are being tortured to protect innocent lives, or sit at dinner with a tyrant. It all depends on context.

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242. No need to be anxious even in front of a king

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 16:37:48 GMT

Epictetus explains why king Antigonus was anxious to meet Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, and not vice versa. The king had not yet internalized the fundamental principle of the dichotomy of control: making a good impression on others is not up to us.

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241. Take the view from above

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 12:00:00 GMT

A quote from Seneca leads us into a discussion of the difference between Stoicism and modern philosophies of despair. For the Stoic, knowledge of the vastness of time and space is no excuse for nihilism, but simply a way to put things in perspective and get back to the task of living well.

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240. Not just endurance, but tranquillity of mind

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 13:23:43 GMT

Seneca tells Lucilius how Cato, after losing an election, went out to play; and how, before taking his own life, he retired to his room to read a book. Stoicism isn't just about enduring things, it's about achieving serenity in the face of ill fortune.

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239. Philosophy is serious business

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 12:45:10 GMT

Seneca invites his friend Lucilius to consider that philosophy is too serious a business to be left only to professional philosophers, especially those who engage in clever wordplay and logic chopping just to show how smart they are.

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238. Decide on the big picture, the details come later

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Seneca makes an argument for why we should adopt a philosophy of life (be it Stoicism or something else). It provides us a framework to make decisions and prioritize things. The rest is details.

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237. Seneca on suicide

Mon, 12 Nov 2018 13:22:03 GMT

Seneca elaborates on how the Stoics see suicide: nature gave us one entrance into life, but many exits. And it is the existence of these exits that guarantees our freedom.

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236. The Stoic argument for the right to suicide

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Seneca continues his discussion of suicide with his friend Lucilius, arguing that maintaining agency and exercising our judgments are fundamental ingredients of a good life. It follows that we should be in charge of when and how to quit.

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235. Life: it isn't about length, it's about quality

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 14:10:38 GMT

Seneca makes a point that is still controversial two millennia later. The important thing about life is not its length, but its quality. And it is up to the individual to judge the quality of her own life.

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234. How to avoid temptation and practice virtue

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 16:14:44 GMT

Seneca gives some very commonsensical advice, backed up by modern psychological research, on how to best avoid temptation. Which leads us to a discussion of what we should avoid, and what, by contrast, we should seek out in order to act virtuously.

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233. We are all sick, but we can help each other

Tue, 06 Nov 2018 14:49:56 GMT

Seneca says to his friend Lucilius that he is no wise man or doctor, but rather an unwise and sick person. Which brings us to a discussion of Stoic humility and how it is that we can all make progress toward wisdom.

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232. The difference between tranquillity and flat calm

Mon, 05 Nov 2018 14:03:42 GMT

Seneca argues that tranquillity of mind is the result of an active, but realistic, engagement with the problems posed by life. By contrast, refusing to rise up to challenges simply leads to a flat and meaningless calm.

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231. Racism and Stoic compassion

Fri, 02 Nov 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that people do and say things not because they are evil, but because they are mistaken. The proper response, then, is education and pity, not hatred.

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230. Gelato and the Cynic wing of Stoicism

Thu, 01 Nov 2018 13:15:12 GMT

Musonius Rufus advises us to follow a minimalist life style, closer to the so-called "Cynic" wing of the Stoic movement. Why is that? Because reducing temptations helps us practicing virtue, as we'll see by way of an example featuring gelato.

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229. The most important mental trick of your life

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 15:33:46 GMT

Epictetus says that a lyre player plays beautifully when he practices on his own. But gets very nervous in front of an audience. That's because he wants something that is not under his control. Learn and internalize this lesson and your life will be happy and serene.

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228. The unity of virtue thesis

Tue, 30 Oct 2018 13:26:20 GMT

Seneca argues that the four cardinal virtues are a tightly coordinated council, which makes the best possible decisions for us. In this episode we explore the Stoic concept of the unity of virtue, and make sense of it by analogy with going to the gym to improve our health.

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227. Tackle illness with virtue

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 15:27:50 GMT

Illness is not something to look forward to, as Stoics are not mad. But it is a fact of life, and so it becomes a question of how we deal with it: by kicking and screming, or as a test of our virtue of temperance?

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226. Be prepared to endure prosperity

Fri, 26 Oct 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca argues that, strange as it may seem, prosperity is to be endured, just as bad times are. It's yet another Stoic "paradox," of which we make sense in this episode.

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225. Epictetus gets punched on the nose

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Epictetus tells the story of when he first started preaching, instead of teaching, philosophy. It did not go well, and he got punched on the nose. He quickly learned the difference between preaching and teaching.

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224. The last day of Epicurus

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 12:19:08 GMT

Seneca recounts the last, painful day, of the life of the rival philosopher Epicurus, who claimed that even that day he was happy. Which leads us into a discussion of what the Stoics and Epicureans meant by happiness.

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223. All good people are equally worthy

Tue, 23 Oct 2018 14:29:44 GMT

Seneca states the fundamental Stoic principle that the measure of a person has nothing to do with externals like wealth, health or good looks. It depends on one thing and one thing only: goodness of character.

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222. Virtue is nothing but right reason

Mon, 22 Oct 2018 15:27:51 GMT

Seneca gives a straightforward, simple, yet rich definition of virtue to his friend Lucilius. It has huge consequences for every one of us, every day.

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221. Be charitable toward others

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 15:12:14 GMT

Marcus Aurelius says that other people do wrong out of lack of wisdom, and so do we, which means we should be forgiving toward others. Besides, life is short, and others can't harm the most important thing: our faculty of judgment.

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220. Do like Socrates, have a dialogue instead of a dispute

Tue, 16 Oct 2018 13:46:14 GMT

Epictetus reminds us that Socrates made an effort to talk to people while avoiding rudeness and invectives. Imagine if we did the same today, instead of indulging in the current climate of acrimony about social and political issues.

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219. Love requires virtue, not externals

Mon, 15 Oct 2018 13:20:16 GMT

Seneca says that one shouldn't love a person because they are rich, or strong, but because they are virtuous. Which gets us into a discussion of the meaning of the word "axia," referring to things that have value but are not crucial.

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218. Rich vs poor

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca says that being rich does not make you a good person, nor does being poor make you a bad one. We then use this quote to explore the relationship between externals and virtue.

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217. Joy vs pain

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca says that it is natural to seek joy and avoid pain. But the virtue involved in both cases is the same. In the quote we examine today, then, there are a lot of crucial Stoic concepts to be parsed out.

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216. What is virtue, anyway?

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca tells us that virtue lies in how you handle things, both good and bad. If you are sick, be gentle with those who are taking care of you. If you get a promotion, don't brag to your colleagues. It's the virtuous thing to do.

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215. Talk to people like Socrates would

Tue, 09 Oct 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Epictetus reminds us that it is senseless to talk to others just in order to score points. That way we don't learn, understand, or persuade; we just puff ourselves up and waste opportunities.

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214. All virtues are related

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca states the classic Stoic view that all virtues are aspects of a single underlying one: wisdom. In this episode we explore what that means in practice, every day.

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213. What matters is how you handle things

Fri, 05 Oct 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca tells us of one of the well known Stoic paradoxes (i.e., uncommon opinions): it is equally good to be joyful or to endure torture. How can we make sense of this? Find out in this episode.

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212. Death is change and not to be feared

Thu, 04 Oct 2018 13:37:55 GMT

Seneca is at peace with the notion of death, and in this episode we talk about why the Stoic attitude toward this natural process of cosmic recycling makes a lot of sense.

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211. Let us celebrate those truly worth celebrating

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 14:45:45 GMT

Seneca suggests that we should remember and honor the people that have made positive contributions to humanity, and I add that perhaps, conversely, we should get away from modern "celebrity" culture.

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210. I want something on which I may test my endurance

Tue, 02 Oct 2018 13:45:38 GMT

Seneca is asking for trouble. Well, not exactly. But he reminds us that Stoicism is about constant practice, so we shouldn't just be prepared to meet a challenge, but positively welcome it.

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209. Whatever can happen at any time can happen today

Mon, 01 Oct 2018 12:53:58 GMT

Seneca says that we have no idea when Fortuna will take friends and loved ones away from us, so the sensible way to live our lives is to take full advantage of every moment we spend with them.

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208. Make friends, oppose Fortuna

Fri, 28 Sep 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca says that making friends is one way to counter the doings of Fortuna, because having friends is one of the great consolations in life, no matter what happens to us.

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207. Nothing good comes out of a static universe

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reflects on the famous concept the Stoics inherited from the pre-Socratic Heraclitus: panta rhei, everything changes. What would happen if we took this seriously, in our everyday life?

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206. Don't make fun of others, be helpful

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Epictetus says that if we encounter someone who is lost we don't make fun of him, but give him directions. Why, then, do we engage in sarcasm against people who disagree with us?

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205. Practice self control to become more virtuous

Tue, 25 Sep 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Musonius Rufus reminds us that self control is a crucial component of the cardinal virtue of temperance. This doesn't mean we cannot enjoy pleasures, only that we need to do it in proper measure.

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204. Enjoy your friends and loved ones, now

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca says that we should greedily enjoy our loved ones, right now. Because we have no idea how long we will enjoy the privilege of their company and affection. Pay attention to the here and now.

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203. The Stoic approach to grief

Fri, 21 Sep 2018 11:51:56 GMT

Stoicism is often accused of counseling to suppress emotions. This quote from Seneca clearly shows it doesn't. Then again, we don't want to wallow in grief and let it paralyze us, because we have duties toward the living.

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202. Converse with the best minds, read a book

Thu, 20 Sep 2018 13:42:27 GMT

Seneca reminds us that one of the simplest and cheapest of pleasures is to engage in a continuous conversation with the best minds humanity has ever produced. By reading a (good) book.

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201. Are you really that busy?

Wed, 19 Sep 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca suggests that we should change our attitude toward being busy: don't surrender yourself to your affairs, but loan yourself to them and you will live a happier life.

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200. Greed leads to unhappiness

Tue, 18 Sep 2018 13:24:37 GMT

Seneca says that for many people the furnishings of their lives are more than enough, but they keep wanting more, thus dooming themselves to unhappiness and turmoil.

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199. How to think about life and death

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 13:43:17 GMT

Seneca clarifies one of the famous Stoic paradoxes: no, you shouldn't live every day as if it were your last. But you should live every day to the fullest because you don't know which one will be your last.

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198. Are you dead before the time, by your own choice?

Fri, 14 Sep 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca reminds Lucilius that a full human life is about being useful, and particularly about helping others. Sure, you can withdraw from the world and live in peace, but then you are arguably already dead.

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197. No matter what, keep your emerald color

Thu, 13 Sep 2018 13:30:40 GMT

Marcus tells us that, regardless of how people around us behave, we should keep following our moral compass, just like an emerald keeps its color regardless of what others are doing.

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196. Epictetus asks a student a trick question...

Wed, 12 Sep 2018 14:42:38 GMT

Epictetus engages in a short dialogue with one of his students, asking him a trick question. How would you answer the question of whether pleasure is a good thing, something to be proud of?

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195. The right thing to do is often painful

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Musonius Rufus articulates the Stoic equivalent of "no pain, no gain," in part as a rebuke to the Epicureans. Engaging in social and political life is painful, but it's the right thing to do.

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194. On exotic food consumption

Mon, 10 Sep 2018 13:41:26 GMT

Seneca is critical of the fact that many ships are required to convey the requisites for a single meal, bringing them from no single sea. Still today so many people indulge in pleasures that cost a lot and cause much environmental damage. Time to revise our priorities about where our food comes from?

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193. That which Fortuna has not given, she cannot take away

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Let's talk about the ancient Roman goddess Fortuna, or what the Greeks called Tyche, to whom Seneca often refers in his letters to Lucilius. Why does she play such an important role in Stoic philosophy?

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192. We all want lasting joy

Thu, 06 Sep 2018 13:31:23 GMT

Seneca argues that we want joy in life, and we want it to last. And yet, we insist in seeking it in all the wrong places, from ephemeral pleasures to the fickle praise of others.

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191. Beware of flattery, it gets in the way of genuine progress

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 13:42:01 GMT

Seneca claims that flattery is a subtle enemy of our work toward becoming better persons. Too readily we agree with those who tell us that we are good, sensible, holy even. What's a good attitude toward praise, then?

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190. Practicing philosophy is like going to spiritual gym

Tue, 04 Sep 2018 14:42:27 GMT

Seneca reminds Lucilius that we can't relegate our quest for becoming better persons to intervals between indulgences. It's like going to the gym: you have to do it regularly and often, or you won't get the benefits.

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189. Adversity is just a gym to exercise your virtue

Mon, 03 Sep 2018 14:19:37 GMT

Seneca says that the wise person (and, by extension, the practitioner of Stoicism) will deal with poverty, sorrow, disgrace or pain, because she is alert and fortified, ready to treat adversity as a way to improve her character.

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188. Old age, frail and not

Fri, 31 Aug 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca tells Lucilius that old age is natural and to be welcomed. So long as it maintains our mind in working order. If that's not the case, then the Stoics prefer to exit through the open door, as virtue itself becomes impossible to practice.

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187. Take care of your body, with temperance

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 12:14:39 GMT

Seneca reminds us that we have some power to make our body last longer, by exercising temperance in our pleasures. Enjoy your next meal, just don't over do it. And remember, Stoics drink wine, but they don't get drunk.

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186. How to excel at being human

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:29:33 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that there is no difference between acting according to nature and according to reason. What did he mean?

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185. Where philosophy begins

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:16:24 GMT

According to Epictetus philosophy gets started when we are genuinely interested in why people disagree about things. Not in terms of factual matters, which empirical evidence can settle, but about values and how we should think about the world and therefore act in it.

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184. We should study broadly in order to increase understanding

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 12:27:25 GMT

Seneca tells Lucilius that he welcomes knowledge from all fields, not just philosophy. That's why he wrote books on natural questions, including on the nature of comets, earthquakes, thunderstorms, and the causes of the flooding of the Nile.

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183. Choose your entertainment virtuously

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca tells Lucilius that we need rest and relaxation, but we can exercise virtue even in our choice of how we relax and entertain ourselves. Consider how you refresh your mind, the next time you pick a movie or organize a vacation!

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182. Everything flows, so don't get attached

Thu, 23 Aug 2018 12:48:08 GMT

Seneca quotes the Pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus to the effect that everything changes all the time, panta rhei. It follows that it is futile to get attached to things, including our own bodies. Enjoy what you have, but consider it a temporary loan from the cosmos.

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181. Always do what is in harmony with the common interest

Wed, 22 Aug 2018 13:22:08 GMT

Marcus Aurelius talks about being helpful to society. And yet he was an emperor who waged war and presided over slavery. How do we reconcile his actions with his Stoicism? At least in three ways, explored in this episode.

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180. Do you think you know the difference between good and bad?

Tue, 21 Aug 2018 13:08:34 GMT

A splendid example of Epictetus' sarcasm by way of a bit of dialogue with one of his students. In the course of which we learn about the virtue of practical wisdom, the discipline of desire, and the dichotomy of control.

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179. The difference between proto-emotions and fully formed ones

Mon, 20 Aug 2018 13:08:15 GMT

Seneca nicely explains what a proto-emotion is, and we discuss how proto-emotions can then develop into fully formed healthy or unhealthy emotions. It all comes down to what cognitive judgment we apply to our initial response.

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178. How to get a good night's sleep

Fri, 17 Aug 2018 13:39:19 GMT

Seneca reminds us that real tranquillity comes from a relaxed mind with a clear conscience. Which is why Stoics engage in an evening meditation on the major events of the day, learning from their mistakes, and filing them away before going to sleep.

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177. Self-sufficiency comes from inside, not from externals

Thu, 16 Aug 2018 13:32:54 GMT

Seneca challenges the common assumption that someone is self-sufficient if he has enough money, a nice place to live, and so forth. True self-sufficiency requires serenity, which comes from inner strength, not from externals.

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176. Death is like pre-birth: there is nothing to be feared

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 13:30:15 GMT

Seneca agrees with Epicurus: death is a state of non-existence, therefore we do not feel anything, and there is nothing to be afraid of. Moreover, it is no different from the aeons before we were born, and we don't regret those, do we?

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175. Practice philosophy constantly, life doesn't stop

Tue, 14 Aug 2018 13:23:57 GMT

Seneca tells us that philosophy, understood as a way of life, cannot be relegated to spare moments. Just like someone can't be a Christian only on Sunday mornings, so a Stoic applies her principles at every opportunity, big or small.

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174. Learn from teachers who do, not just talk

Mon, 13 Aug 2018 13:23:26 GMT

Seneca advices his friend Lucilius to pay attention to people who act right, not just talk right. When we pick a role model to improve our character, let's pick someone whose actions we want to imitate, they are a better guidance to virtue.

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173. Compel Fortuna to play on equal terms

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 13:56:04 GMT

Seneca argues that we can force Fortuna, the goddess of luck, to deal with us on equal terms, by not being slaves to external things we cannot control. Cultivate equanimity, and Fortuna will play fair with you.

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172. Pay attention to what others say, inhabit their minds

Thu, 09 Aug 2018 13:21:09 GMT

Marcus Aurelius gives some commonsensical advice on how to interact with other people, which leads us to a brief discussion of what counts as "Stoic" advice in the first place.

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171. Revenge is not justice

Wed, 08 Aug 2018 13:29:03 GMT

Epictetus reminds his students that engaging in a wrong act, even one done in response to an injustice, stains our own character, and therefore hurts us first and foremost. Stoics don't favor retributive justice systems.

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170. What's the problem with the passions?

Tue, 07 Aug 2018 13:54:06 GMT

Seneca reminds us of the distinction between unhealthy and healthy emotions: being overwhelmed by the first ones tears us apart internally, while cultivating the second ones brings harmony to our psyche.

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169. No pain no gain, says Musonius

Mon, 06 Aug 2018 14:07:41 GMT

Musonius Rufus, in an implicit rebuttal to the Epicureans, reminds us of all the things that is worth experiencing pain to achieve, most importantly being a good, just, and temperate person.

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168. You should live neither in a place of torture nor in a cafe

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 13:09:43 GMT

Seneca gives rare advice on one's abode. It should be a place that does not get in the way of practicing virtue, which means neither too uncomfortable (if we can avoid it) nor too luxurious or distracting.

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167. Philosophy may be painful or a pleasure, but it's worth it

Thu, 02 Aug 2018 12:40:36 GMT

Seneca disagrees with Epictetus: the first says that philosophy is a pleasant medicine, the second that it is a painful one. And yet they agree that it is a remedy that, taken regularly, makes for a wholesome life.

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166. Is the problem with the place, or with you?

Wed, 01 Aug 2018 12:47:26 GMT

Seneca says that more often than we realize we blame our problems on the time and place we live in, without understanding that the fault may be with us, and that we should work on ourselves, instead of finding excuses.

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165. You want to change the world? Begin by changing yourself

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 12:21:58 GMT

Seneca argues that we are born with the ability to reason and to improve our reasoning. We are also naturally social, and prefer virtue over vice. Hard to believe, right? And yet, he's got a point.

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164. A good life depends not on length, but on our use of it

Mon, 30 Jul 2018 12:47:16 GMT

Seneca argues that it is the quality, not the duration, of one's life that is important, and that we often live long when measured in years, and yet too little in terms of what we accomplish.

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163. What's really important in your life?

Fri, 27 Jul 2018 13:30:52 GMT

A straightforward quote by Epictetus allows us to reflect on what a philosophy of life is, and why everyone needs one.

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162. On the difference between philosophy and logic chopping

Thu, 26 Jul 2018 12:27:18 GMT

Seneca says that he'd prefer to be told how to help people, rather than how many different meanings of the word "people" there may be.

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161. Things themselves have no power to form our judgments

Wed, 25 Jul 2018 13:28:34 GMT

Life is hard as it is, says Marcus Aurelius, there is no need to make ourselves more miserable by adding unnecessary opinions that increase our suffering.

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160. Reflect on the roles you play, and play them well

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 13:20:29 GMT

Epictetus introduced a major innovation in Stoic ethics with his theory of roles. We are first and foremost members of the human cosmopolis. But also fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends, colleagues. How do we balance the conflicting demands of such diverse roles in life?

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159. Won't you be my neighbor?

Mon, 23 Jul 2018 13:27:44 GMT

Seneca reminds us that we can't live happily if we transform everything into a question of our own utility. We must live for your neighbour in order to live for ourselves.

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158. What do you think is truly good for you?

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 13:16:40 GMT

Marcus provides us three options for what sort of thing is truly good for you, and argues that a person of understanding will go for the third one. Have you reflected on what is good for you, and why?

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157. On family matters, take the high moral ground

Thu, 19 Jul 2018 12:45:27 GMT

Epictetus advises us to forgo issues of material resources and remember that family relationships in great part define who we are. After all, if we can't practice virtue with our brothers, sisters, and parents, with whom can we practice it?

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156. Everyone who craves externals is a slave to them

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 12:51:26 GMT

Seneca says that if we are going after the satisfaction of lust, greed, ambition, and so forth, we make ourselves slaves to fortune. Not so if we regard what we have as loans from the universe, which the universe can take back at any moment, by any means.

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155. Calibrate your desires, achieve serenity

Tue, 17 Jul 2018 12:42:18 GMT

Musonius Rufus reminds us that it is far easier to curb our desire for our neighbor's wife than to pursue it Not to mention that it is the right thing to do.

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154. Don't buy a horse on the basis of its saddle

Fri, 13 Jul 2018 07:07:08 GMT

Seneca reminds us that all too often we judge people on the basis of what they wear, or of their social rank, mistakenly assuming that those are good indicators of their character.

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153. “They are slaves,” nay, rather they are people

Thu, 12 Jul 2018 07:21:30 GMT

Seneca reminds his contemporaries that slaves are human beings like everyone else. In this episode, we talk about slavery in the ancient world, what the Stoics thought about it, and what follows from their philosophy.

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152. Beware of the difference between friendship and flattery

Wed, 11 Jul 2018 07:11:47 GMT

Seneca warns us to be careful with people who pretend to be our friends, or simply feed our narcissism. Like, you know, most of the "friends" you likely have on social media...

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151. Philosophy did not find Plato a nobleman, it made him one

Tue, 10 Jul 2018 07:36:53 GMT

Seneca reminds us that philosophy is open to all, no matter what our background and means. Engage the philosophical life and you will get to converse with noble minds across time and cultures.

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150. What does your inner daimon say?

Mon, 09 Jul 2018 07:43:12 GMT

Seneca observes our tendency to boast of the good things we do and to keep quiet about the not-so-good ones. As if our own judgment, the judgment of our conscience, didn't matter.

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149. How on earth did I get here?

Fri, 06 Jul 2018 05:32:43 GMT

Seneca says that Stoic mindfulness is about paying attention to what is happening to us. We need to keep charting and re-charting our way forward, as our mind needs to be prepared for the vagaries of Fortune.

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148. Fortune has no jurisdiction over character

Thu, 05 Jul 2018 07:48:57 GMT

Seneca says that Fortune may take just as much, and as suddenly, as she can give. But we can work on improving our character so that we can accept with equanimity both the good and the bad stuff in life.

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147. Observe the goodness of those around you

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 07:40:17 GMT

Marcus Aurelius suggests some simple therapy for our troubled souls: pause and observe some good things done by people around you. Appreciate what they are doing. And use it as an inspiration for becoming better yourself.

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146. Whenever you yield to externals, you become their slave

Tue, 03 Jul 2018 08:08:37 GMT

Epictetus warns us that if we let an external take precedence over the integrity of our character we are doomed to become slaves for life. And who wants to be a slave, right?

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145. Our predecessors are our guides, not our masters

Mon, 02 Jul 2018 07:55:34 GMT

Seneca reminds us that Stoicism is a live philosophy, which must evolve over time in order to incorporate new truths and, if needed, reject old ideas that turned out to be wrong.

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144. Be forgiving of liars and unjust people

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 12:16:14 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that Stoicism is both self forgiving and forgiving of others, and that while we should take the path of truth and justice, we should also be tolerant of people who are even further from wisdom and are gooing the wrong way.

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143. But I couldn't do otherwise! Yes, you could...

Thu, 28 Jun 2018 12:52:01 GMT

Epictetus tells us that nobody can force us to agree to a judgment we think is incorrect. Surprisingly, this has countless applications to everyday life.

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142. Make yourself happy through your own efforts

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 12:28:53 GMT

Seneca reminds us that, regardless of external circumstances, the only life worth living is one of virtue, and the only life to avoid is one dominated by vice.

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141. Above all, we are citizens of the world

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 13:22:55 GMT

Marcus Aurelius recognizes that, as Antoninus, he is a citizen of Rome. But more fundamentally, he is a citizen of the human cosmopolis. Some pretty radical consequences immediately follow...

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140. Only the truly educated person is free

Mon, 25 Jun 2018 12:35:43 GMT

Epictetus reminds us that education, which involves the ability to shape our moral values, is the only ticket to achieving freedom. Something to remember, in these days in which people freely elect tyrants and autocracts.

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139. Would the Stoics approve of assisted suicide?

Fri, 22 Jun 2018 11:56:41 GMT

In this episode we discuss a quote from Seneca which, together with several other passages in other authors, clearly points to the conclusion that the Stoics were in favor of suicide in the case of disease and frailty in old age. Which does not mean they took suicide lightly at all.

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138. Being bad requires a lot of work

Thu, 21 Jun 2018 12:03:53 GMT

Musonius Rufus rather sarcastically reminds us that being bad requires just as much work as being good, so why not choose the latter instead?

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137. Teach them then, and show them without being angry

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 10:28:20 GMT

Marcus Aurelius says that people make mistakes because they don't know better. So there is no point in getting self-rigtheous and angry about it, instead we need to teach them where they go wrong.

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136. Go hug a philosopher, will you?

Tue, 19 Jun 2018 11:31:32 GMT

Epictetus defends the apparently strange notion that philosophy, like mathematics (or science, or lots of other things) is a profession, requiring expertise. He is not being elitist, he's just being reasonable.

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135. We belong to the world, not to a particular corner of it

Mon, 18 Jun 2018 12:21:19 GMT

Seneca reminds us that even though we belong to different social groups, religions, ethnicities and so forth, we are, most fundamentally, members of the human cosmopolis.

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134. It's either gods or atoms...

Fri, 15 Jun 2018 13:03:03 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reflects on what happens to us when we die: either we are absorbed in the seminal principle of the universe, or we become atoms scattered in the void. Either way, we still need to behave decently toward other human beings.

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133. Ethics is a practice, so do it

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 12:41:28 GMT

Epictetus asks us a simple question: if we didn’t learn these things in order to demonstrate them in practice, what did we learn them for?

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132. Moving will not help you, if your trouble is internal

Wed, 13 Jun 2018 12:20:09 GMT

Seneca tells Lucilius that moving to the other end of the world will not be helpful if his troubles are generated by his own attitudes, because he will carry the same person around the globe, if he doesn't address the real issue.

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131. The truth does you no harm, but error does

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 12:35:21 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds himself of something that modern politicians need to pay attention to: if someone shows you that you are in error, the right thing to do is to admit it and learn from the other.

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130. How Epictetus lost his lamp and the thief became a brute

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 11:37:55 GMT

Epictetus tells the story of a thief stealing his lamp at night, and reflects on what each of them lost in the process. He concludes that he came ahead of the thief.

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129. Sound minds are hard to find, or buy

Fri, 08 Jun 2018 12:39:39 GMT

Seneca, with rather uncharacteristic sense of humor, says that one can't buy a sound mind, and even if that were possible, there would be no market for them.

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128. Annoyed by people? It's an opportunity to practice virtue

Thu, 07 Jun 2018 12:22:59 GMT

Marcus Aurelius suggests we think of others as partners at the gym: don't hate or hold grudges against them, think of them as opportunities to improve your virtue.

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127. Good judgments improve your character

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 12:34:04 GMT

Epictetus says that the way we improve our character is by paying attention and making good judgments, while if we keep making bad ones we make our character worse. So today reflect carefully on your decisions, and ask yourself what would Epictetus do.

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126. I may become poor, then I shall be among many

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 12:28:41 GMT

Seneca lists the worst things that could happen to him, and that we all fear, and reminds himself that the only truly terrible thing is being a bad person who holds to bad values and makes bad decisions.

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125. Always examine your assumptions

Mon, 04 Jun 2018 11:29:26 GMT

Musonius Rufus reminds us that we often act out of simple habit, without paying attention to what we are doing and why. Not the best way to proceed in life.

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124. Why do you care for the opinion of posterity?

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 06:04:21 GMT

Marcus Aurelius observes that some people are obsessed with what posterity will think of them, even though they have no idea what sort of individuals will make that judgment. Meanwhile, how about taking care of those we know here and now?

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123. Good and evil are entirely up to you

Thu, 31 May 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Epictetus says that externals (health, wealth, education, good looks) are the means by which we do good or evil in the world. So it is entirely up to us, really.

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122. The glass is neither half full nor half empty, it just is

Wed, 30 May 2018 12:55:45 GMT

Seneca reminds Lucilius that we ought to hope for justice, but brace ourselves for injustice. This is just the way the world works, which doesn't absolve us from our responsibility to do something about it.

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121. Do not seek fame, seek to be useful to others

Tue, 29 May 2018 13:11:52 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reflects on what is worth doing, and decides that it's not seeking fame, but rather being helpful to fellow human beings.

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120. Nobody wants to believe falsehoods, and yet...

Mon, 28 May 2018 13:07:51 GMT

Epictetus says that people cannot assent to what they think is false. We always want to be right, but we are often not, which is why we rationalize things. That's why we need to improve our ability to arrive at correct judgments about things.

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119. Think about bad stuff happening, get comfortable with it

Fri, 25 May 2018 13:24:40 GMT

Seneca introduces a classic Stoic exercise, the premeditatio malorum, thinking about bad things happening, playing them in your head, so you get comfortable with accepting whatever may come.

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118. After every disturbance, re-center yourself

Thu, 24 May 2018 12:53:09 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that all sorts of things will disturb our rational soul, and that we therefore need to practice re-centering it in order to respond to situations with reason and equanimity.

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117. Can you tell the difference between the baths and the mill?

Wed, 23 May 2018 13:16:22 GMT

Epictetus has a little bit of fun with the Skeptics, who denied the possibility of human knowledge. If that's the case, he says, how is it that you reliably go to the thermal baths when you want to relax, and to the mill when you want bread?

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116. Some people get to the end without having lived at all

Tue, 22 May 2018 12:45:28 GMT

Seneca observes that some people begin to really live their life only near the end. And some never begin at all. So what's sort of life you want to live, and have you started already?

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115. Take care of your body, it helps your virtue

Mon, 21 May 2018 12:42:09 GMT

Our body is a preferred indifferent, but Musonius Rufus tells us to take whatever care we can of it, as it is also an instrument of virtue. In other words, go to the gym...

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114. No matter what, do your duty as a human being

Fri, 18 May 2018 12:42:23 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that whether we are cold or warm, ill-spoken of or praised, and dead or "doing something else," we still have a duty to make this a better world.

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113. Where are you going to hide from death?

Thu, 17 May 2018 12:37:17 GMT

Epictetus uses his dark sense of humor to remind us that death is inevitable. At the same time, though, fear of it is not. Moreover, awareness of death is what, in a sense, gives meaning to our life.

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112. Are you on the right path, or do you need a correction?

Wed, 16 May 2018 11:56:59 GMT

Seneca says that the right path in life consists in a good conscience, honourable purposes, right actions, contempt of luck, and an attitude of equanimity toward whatever the universe throws our way.

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111. Think and act the right way, happiness will flow

Tue, 15 May 2018 12:17:37 GMT

Marcus Aurelius maintains that if we think and act the right way our life will be an equable flow of happiness. This is because we will do our best, but look at outcomes with equanimity.

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110. What is philosophy, anyway?

Mon, 14 May 2018 12:52:01 GMT

Epictetus says that philosophy begins with awareness of one's mental fitness. So let's work on that, shall we?

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109. What about pleasure?

Fri, 11 May 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca says the problem with pleasure is that if one is too much into it, it rushes us into the abyss of sorrow. So it's time to discuss what pleasure means for a practitioner of Stoicism.

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108. If this were you last day, what would you be proud of?

Thu, 10 May 2018 12:33:23 GMT

Marcus writes near the end of his life about the sort of things he did that he values, from discounting honors and other externals to having been kind even toward people who were not kind to him.

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107. Respond to insults as if you were a rock

Wed, 09 May 2018 12:00:22 GMT

Epictetus counsels us to react to insults as if we were a rock, that is, by ignoring them. An insult is only effective if you let it be, and that power resides exclusively in your own faculty of judgment.

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106. Above all, learn how to feel joy

Tue, 08 May 2018 11:47:08 GMT

Rather unusual advise from Seneca to his friend Lucilius: learn how to feel joy. Which doesn't sound Stoic only if one buys into the incorrect stereotype of Stoicism as a practice to suppress emotions. Let's learn how to feel joy, then.

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105. The duty of a social animal capable of reason

Mon, 07 May 2018 12:19:10 GMT

Marcus says that we have a duty to do what a social animal capable of reason ought to do. And that's to practice virtue for the betterment of humankind.

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104. Epictetus and the open door policy: Stoicism and suicide

Fri, 04 May 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Tough topic for this episode: what is known as Epictetus' open door policy, that is, the Stoic idea that suicide is permissible, under certain circumstances. And indeed, that it is its possibility that gives us freedom and courage to fight on.

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103. Take truth wherever you find it, it's public property

Thu, 03 May 2018 11:37:19 GMT

Seneca explains that one doesn't have to be an Epicurean in order to find value in the words of Epicurus. It's like in the Senate: you vote for the parts of a motion you approve of, and reject the rest.

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102. How to calibrate your moral compass

Wed, 02 May 2018 12:31:32 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that justice is a crucial virtue in Stoicism, and we need to constantly keep it at the forefront. He also says that we need to evaluate our impressions of things, before acting. Don't just do it, stop and think about it first!

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101. The universe is your trainer, get ready for the Olympics

Tue, 01 May 2018 12:13:51 GMT

Epictetus uses a nice metaphor in which the universe is our trainer, sending us tough stuff to deal with so that we get used to breaking a sweat and prepare for the Olympics of life.

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100. Changing your life doesn't happen by magic

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 12:35:23 GMT

Musonius Rufus tells us that it isn't enough to know that we should be virtuous, we need to constantly practice virtue. Stoicism is not a magic wand, but it will change your life, and is well worth the effort.

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99. Practice poverty as an exercise in endurance and gratitude

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca tells Lucilius that it is crucial, from time to time, to engage in exercises of self deprivation, so to prepare ourselves for whenever luck will turn, and also to be grateful and appreciative of what we normally have and may take for granted.

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98. Praise or blame do not make a thing better or worse

Thu, 26 Apr 2018 11:26:03 GMT

On the day of Marcus Aurelius' birthday, April 26, let's reflect on a simple Stoic precept: good or bad lie in actions, thoughts, and words, not in the praise or blame that those things get from others.

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97. Focus on what is up to you, the rest may or may not come

Wed, 25 Apr 2018 12:57:25 GMT

Epictetus clearly states one of the fundamental principles of Stoicism: the dichotomy of control. Once we realize that some things are up to us and other things aren't, it follows that we should focus on the first ones and cultivate equanimity toward the latter ones.

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96. Are you practicing, or just talking?

Tue, 24 Apr 2018 11:00:00 GMT

Seneca says that talk is easy, but the real measure of whether we are making progress lies in our practice. Have our desires for the wrong things decreased? Are we focusing on what is truly important?

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95. 15 minutes of fame? Why would you want that?

Mon, 23 Apr 2018 12:19:41 GMT

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that fame is ephemeral and intrinsically meaningless. What we do for others and to improve ourselves here and now is what really counts.

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