After my first book, How to Be a Stoic, I co-wrote with Gregory Lopez A Handbook for New Stoics (British Title: Living Like a Stoic), which is quite a unique entry in the modern canon. What are they and how would you describe your books? You’ve also published a couple of books dealing with Stoic topics. It is brief and organized around seven basic and very useful concepts: the philosopher as a doctor, what we control, the problem of emotions, facing adversity, our place in nature, life and death, and how to live together. there is very good empirical evidence that this actually helps significantly.Ī third book I’d like to mention is Lectures in Stoicism by John Sellars, written by one of the leading scholars of ancient and modern Stoic philosophy. track how well you respond to the challenge, including using a self-assessment rubric, and when you feel the challenge is over, give yourself a thorough assessment. When something happens that isn’t according to your plans, like, you know, being stuck at home for months due to a pandemic, reframe the situation in your mind as a challenge thrown at you by the universe. Then there is William Irvine’s Stoic Challenge, which uses a crucial tool in Stoicism, what modern psychologists call the framing effect, to change the way we think about setbacks. Yeah, the last few years have seemed like quite a few new entries! i would start by mentioning how to think like a roman emperor by donald robertson, a philosophical biography of marcus aurelius, which uses key moments in the emperor’s life to introduce readers to the principles and practice of stoicism, updated based on the author’s experience as a cognitive behavioral therapist.
Diogenes quotes funny series#
the first group organizes the annual stoic week and stoicon events, and has been fostering a series of smaller local “stoicon-x” gatherings the second is aimed at helping people create local “stoas”, connecting in person, as much as currently possible due to covid of course.Īre there any new books on Stoicism that you find particularly interesting? Ultimately, there has been the deliberate and concerted effort of a relatively small number of people, largely amalgamated around two organizations: Modern Stoicism and the Stoic Brotherhood.
the main stoic interest group on facebook now has over 82,000 members, and other similar groups have sprung up for people interested in practicing stoicism locally (italy, france, portugal, brazil, india, etc.), or for those wishing to look for particular aspects or applications of philosophy (stoicism and military stoicism, politically progressive, and of course stoic quotes!).
Third, despite all the negative comments we can spout about social media, it makes it so much easier to discover new ideas and especially share them with others. people need some kind of ethical compass to live and maybe even thrive through this kind of thing. Although our focus is currently on a pandemic, we must not forget that we still face the prospect of climate breakdown, are under constant threat of nuclear armageddon, and continue to experience dramatic political upheaval and civil unrest. This is the situation we are experiencing now, in the second decade of the 21st century. Secondly, Stoicism originated and became popular, way back in the Hellenistic period, at a time of upheaval, when society was changing dramatically and people felt they had no control over what was happening. so it’s no surprise that at a time when mainstream religion is losing its appeal, people are turning to secular or at least theologically neutral approaches to living the good life. someone should do a sociology thesis on this! I guess it has to do with a combination of factors.įirst of all, Stoicism is a strong philosophy of life, analogous to, for example, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. why do you think stoicism is proving so popular? It’s been more than four years since I interviewed you about Stoicism, and since then quite a few new books have been published on the subject.
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