“What is up to me, what is not up to me?” – Epictetus
“You can’t control the weather, you can’t control other people, you can’t control the society around you” – Dr Michael Sugrue
There is a fault line running through Stoic philosophy. This faultline was present in its ancient Greek and Roman origins, but in the modern world it has become pronounced. The faultline is that, despite the protestations of its founders and some of its advocates today, Stoicism can lead to political quietism – a withdrawal from the sphere of political life, and public life more generally, exclusively into the realm of the individual and personal. My argument is that this tendency towards quietism is a foundational flaw in Stoicism which co-exists uneasily with much more powerful and useful Stoic meditations on self-mastery as a prerequisite of virtuous intervention in the world.
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Denne historien er fra August/September 2021-utgaven av Philosophy Now.
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The Two Dennises
Hannah Mortimer observes a close encounter of the same kind.
Heraclitus (c.500 BC)
Harry Keith lets flow a stream of ideas about permanence and change.
Does the Cosmos Have a Purpose?
Raymond Tallis argues intently against universal intention.
Is Driving Fossil-Fuelled Cars Immoral?
Rufus Duits asks when we can justify driving our carbon contributors.
Abelard & Carneades Yes & No
Frank Breslin says 'yes and no' to presenting both sides of an argument.
Frankl & Sartre in Search of Meaning
Georgia Arkell compares logotherapy and atheistic existentialism.
Luce Irigaray
Luce Irigaray, now ninety-two years old, was, among many other things, one of the most impactful feminists of the 1970s liberation movements - before she was marginalised, then ostracised, from the francophone intellectual sphere.
Significance
Ruben David Azevedo tells us why, in a limitless universe, we’re not insignificant.
The Present Is Not All There Is To Happiness
Rob Glacier says don’t just live in the now.
Philosophers Exploring The Good Life
Jim Mepham quests with philosophers to discover what makes a life good.