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Why Stoicism fails when treated like self-help | Massimo Pigliucci

14,061 views • 5 months ago •via X (Twitter)

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Stoicism is a Coping Mechanism | Great Books Interview Stoicism is often just a coping mechanism and we should be alarmed by the rise of stoicism today. In the late Roman republic, Stoicism was the coping mechanism of choice for the losing side of the civil war: defeated on the battlefield Cato’s defining act of stoic defiance was suicide. His ally Cicero turned to Stoic ideals for consolation. And as the republic gave way to empire, Stoicism rose from a fringe school to the dominant philosophy as citizens saw their freedoms curtailed. Is it not an issue that Stoicism seems tailor-made to those with the least amount of control of their lives (its greatest exemplars are a slave and an emperor)? And can these ideas actually be lived out in reality? My guest, leading Columbia classicist Katharina Volk, wrestles with these questions by examining Stoicism in the late Roman Republic. In this interview, we cover: - Stoicism’s implausible understanding of happiness - Why Stoicism appealed to the losing side in Rome - How modern self-help twisted ancient Stoic wisdom - What the rise of Stoicism and Buddhism reveal about our society TIMESTAMPS: 02:35 The Stoic secret to happiness 07:31 Why the Stoics saw politics as the highest calling 09:19 The odd life of Cato the Stoic 14:04 The bizarre reason Cato divorced then remarried his wife 15:09 From Cato to Aurelius: How Stoicism changed 21:24 Did Stoicism destroy the Roman Republic? 23:24 What is a “preferred-indifferent”? 28:52 Was Cato's Stoicism just political theater? 33:41 How the Stoics coped with defeat against Caesar 36:20 Consolation as a genre of philosophy 39:01 Is Stoicism a philosophy for losers? 44:01 Why Stoicism’s popularity today is a bad sign

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