Awesome! Thanks Doug. I found this article quite insightful when I read it on Medium.
Though I’m still trying to practice Stoicism, I really appreciate well-structured challenges to my beliefs. All in search of Socratic “provisional truths” as Ward Farnsworth calls them in “The Socratic Method,” highlighting that “provisionality” is even more important than “truthfulness” in order to reduce ignorance. Ataraxia or bust, right?
This is definitely an article I’ll recommend to other Stoics. Leave the boat by the side of the river once you cross it, and all that.
This reminds me of how many people like Jordan Peterson because he recommends some good advice (make your bed in the morning, etc.) that they resonate with, but then if you look at the rest of his philosophy/psychology it gets more questionable. He’s hooking people in by writing a bunch of stuff that are really just general psychological recommendations.
I do think that’s a fair charge against Modern Stoicism, even excluding the $toicism and Broicism that are more explicitly antithetical to Stoicism. Modern Stoicism is more like various Ancient Greek practices + Stoicism, and it’s fair to point out the distinction.
I think the idea that virtue is the only good (true Stoicism) can be defended, but it does require defending! I think I read Massimo’s article back when it came out, but I can’t access it anymore since I no longer subscribe to Medium. I think he takes a more eclectic approach and incorporates some Academic Skeptic ideas regarding taking things probabilistically (whereas the Stoics did not fully have that idea and would often say only the Sage has knowledge). I don’t want to put words in his mouth though, so take what I said with a grain of salt there!
I think there’s also some reasonable debate about maybe acknowledging that “human flourishing” has value in addition to virtue (even if it isn’t required for the good life). Whether this would mean fully embracing the Aristotelian view or just saying it’s a bit eclectic between Aristotelianism and Stoicism is harder to say.
Awesome! Thanks Doug. I found this article quite insightful when I read it on Medium.
Though I’m still trying to practice Stoicism, I really appreciate well-structured challenges to my beliefs. All in search of Socratic “provisional truths” as Ward Farnsworth calls them in “The Socratic Method,” highlighting that “provisionality” is even more important than “truthfulness” in order to reduce ignorance. Ataraxia or bust, right?
This is definitely an article I’ll recommend to other Stoics. Leave the boat by the side of the river once you cross it, and all that.
That's what I get for letting the bots proofread. The spelling has been corrected.
This reminds me of how many people like Jordan Peterson because he recommends some good advice (make your bed in the morning, etc.) that they resonate with, but then if you look at the rest of his philosophy/psychology it gets more questionable. He’s hooking people in by writing a bunch of stuff that are really just general psychological recommendations.
I do think that’s a fair charge against Modern Stoicism, even excluding the $toicism and Broicism that are more explicitly antithetical to Stoicism. Modern Stoicism is more like various Ancient Greek practices + Stoicism, and it’s fair to point out the distinction.
I think the idea that virtue is the only good (true Stoicism) can be defended, but it does require defending! I think I read Massimo’s article back when it came out, but I can’t access it anymore since I no longer subscribe to Medium. I think he takes a more eclectic approach and incorporates some Academic Skeptic ideas regarding taking things probabilistically (whereas the Stoics did not fully have that idea and would often say only the Sage has knowledge). I don’t want to put words in his mouth though, so take what I said with a grain of salt there!
I think there’s also some reasonable debate about maybe acknowledging that “human flourishing” has value in addition to virtue (even if it isn’t required for the good life). Whether this would mean fully embracing the Aristotelian view or just saying it’s a bit eclectic between Aristotelianism and Stoicism is harder to say.