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 311: 311. Everyone is a good pilot on a calm sea
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 312: 312. Make your life the best it can be given the materials you are given
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 313: 313. When to care, or not, about other people's opinions
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 314: 314. Much of what we have is superfluous
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 315: 315. Chance events are not good for you
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 316: 316. Wealth doesn't make you a better person
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?
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 317: 317. Seneca criticizes the institution of war
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 318: 318. In order to learn something new you need to forget what you think you already know
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 319: 319. Here's your top priority in life
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.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/supportepisode 320: 320. Concern yourself with careful living
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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