1064. Stoic non-attachment
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.”
Jun 13, 2022•3 min
Stoic Meditations
Occasional reflections on the wisdom of Ancient Greek and Roman philosophers with Prof. Massimo Pigliucci. Complete index by author and source at https://massimopigliucci.org/stoic-podcast/. (cover art by Marek Škrabák; original music by Ian Jolin-Rasmussen).
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1063. The reserve clause
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.
May 31, 2022•3 min
1062. The problem with busyness
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.”
May 30, 2022•3 min
1061. What do we labor for?
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.
May 27, 2022•2 min
1060. The premeditatio malorum
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?
May 26, 2022•3 min
1059. It's a matter of attitude
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.
May 25, 2022•3 min
1058. How many books? How many authors?
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.
May 24, 2022•3 min
1057. The real value of things
Let us accustom ourselves to set aside mere outward show, and to measure things by their uses, not by their ornamental trappings.
May 23, 2022•3 min
1056. Whereby Seneca praises Diogenes
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.
May 20, 2022•3 min
1055. The problem with too much wealth
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.
May 19, 2022•3 min
1054. Be careful the company you keep
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.
May 18, 2022•3 min
1053. What we do is a preferred indifferent, how we do it is not
No good is done by forcing one’s mind to engage in uncongenial work: it is vain to struggle against Nature.
May 17, 2022•3 min
1052. Careful about what and why you commit yourself to
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.
May 16, 2022•3 min
1051. Consider how much or how little you can do
We ought therefore, to expand or contract ourselves according as the state of things presents itself to us, or as Fortune offers us opportunities.
May 06, 2022•2 min
1050. Be a good citizen
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.
May 05, 2022•3 min
1049. Wisdom and age
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.
May 04, 2022•2 min
1048. Serving the cosmopolis
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.
May 03, 2022•3 min
1047. A very good question
How long are we to go on doing the same thing?
May 02, 2022•2 min
1046. Don't flee from yourself
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.”
Apr 28, 2022•2 min
1045. Is tranquillity of mind really a good thing?
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.
Apr 27, 2022•3 min
1044. On public service
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.
Apr 26, 2022•3 min
1043. Seneca's life style
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."
Apr 25, 2022•3 min
1042. Chrysippus' cylinder
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.
Apr 22, 2022•3 min
1041. The three basic positions on free will
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.
Apr 21, 2022•3 min
1040. Carneades on free will
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.
Apr 20, 2022•3 min
1039. Co-causality
Cicero explains Chrysippus' theory of co-causality, which plays a crucial role in his rejection of the so-called lazy argument concerning free will.
Apr 19, 2022•3 min
1038. The lazy argument
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.
Apr 15, 2022•3 min
1037. Self-caused free will?
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.
Apr 14, 2022•2 min
1036. The Epicurean swerve
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.
Apr 13, 2022•3 min
1035. Different kinds of causality?
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?
Apr 12, 2022•4 min
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