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). Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support
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Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 1 day 23 hours 40 minutes
episode 375: 375. What goads people into destroying other people?
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 374: 374. No need to be Cato in order to practice virtue
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 373: 373. The answer is always going to be "it depends"
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 372: 372. Spend some time with Zeno and Socrates instead
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 371: 371. The problem is that you are travelling with your emotions and are followed by your afflictions
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 370: 370. If you travel in order to escape yourself, don't
As Socrates said to someone who was complaining that traveling brought him no benefits: "It serves you right! You travelled in your own company!"
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 369: 369. We must suffer for the sake of those we love
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 368: 368. Theory is fine, but useless if you don't practice
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 367: 367. Remember what you should offer and what you should withhold
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 366: 366. Humanity is what it is, not what we would like it to be
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support