Stoic Meditations

Latest Episodes:

884. The time Plato almost lost his life Jul 22, 2021

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Cicero tells us about a letter written by Plato during his stint in Syracuse, explaining why temperance is the most fundamental of the four cardinal virtues.

883. On walking before dinner Jul 21, 2021

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They relate, too, of Socrates, that, once when he was walking very fast till the evening, on his being asked why he did so, his reply was that he was purchasing an appetite by walking, that he might sup the better.

882. Socrates the non-consumerist Jul 20, 2021

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Socrates, when on one occasion he saw a great quantity of gold and silver carried in a procession, cried out, “How many things are there which I do not want!”

881. Three kinds of goods Jul 19, 2021

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There are three kinds of goods: the greatest being those of the mind; the next best those of the body; the third are external goods, as the Peripatetics call them, and the Old Academics differ very little from them.

880. Many schools, many takes Jul 16, 2021

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Cicero gives us a rundown of the major Hellenistic schools, which differed in the way they understood eudaimonia, the life worth living.

879. The philosophical problem with pain Jul 15, 2021

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Shall virtue, then, yield to pain? Shall the happy life of a wise person succumb to it? Good Gods! How base would this be! Spartan boys will bear to have their bodies torn by rods without uttering a groan.

878. Damocles' sword and the nature of happiness Jul 14, 2021

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Cicero tells the famous story of Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, and one of his flatterers, Damocles, who learns the hard way that what may look like a happy life is actually nothing of the sort.

877. An argument in favor of virtue as guarantor of a happy life Jul 13, 2021

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Cicero makes one of a number of arguments for why virtue is the only guarantor of a happy life. Let's examine the validity of the argument's structure and the soundness of its premises.

876. How to evaluate philosophical systems Jul 12, 2021

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We are not, therefore, to form our judgment of philosophers from detached sentences, but from their consistency with themselves, and their ordinary manner of talking.

875. Why virtue is necessary and sufficient for happiness Jul 09, 2021

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Cicero makes a strong argument, based on Socratic and Stoic positions, for why virtue is necessary and sufficient for "happiness," if we translate the Greek word eudaimonia as "the life worth living."

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