Introduction to "Socrates and the Stoics"

What's it all about?

The focus of the project is the ancient Greek and Roman philosophy of happiness (eudaimonia) which was the most widespread philosophical tradition in the Western world from when it was first extensively introduced in the philosophical dialogues of Plato in Athens in the fourth century BC at least all the way up to the writings of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the late second century CE. In other words, a period of more than five hundred years. Since the core concepts and questions in this tradition was defined by the Socrates we meet in Plato's dialogues - and since all the following thinkers in the tradition saw themselves as followers of Socrates - it seems to be both fair and informative to call it the Socratic tradition.

I firmly believe that this philosophy of happiness has nailed essential truths about human nature and the nature human beings live in - but I am also firmly convinced that we are long way from a comprehsive understanding how this philosophy actually works. It’s wonderful to see the enormous interest for it that seemingly just keeps growing year after year - in particular in relation to Stoicism.

It is also disheartening, though, to see what passes as “stoicism” in bestseller books and on major blogs. What you will be getting on this blog is a very determined attempted (going on for more than thirty years now) to make sense of even the more outrageous claims of Socrates, Plato and traditional Stoicism - not least in relation to their understanding of the nature we live in.

"Not to deviate from nature, but to be formed according to its law and example—that is wisdom. Happy, therefore, is the life in agreement with its own nature".

- Seneca, On the happy life, 3.3

So why do I focus almost exclusively on Socrates and Stoicism rather than, say, Aristotle or Epicurus?

In my opinion, Socrates laid out the basic framework for understanding eudaimonia. I also believe that Plato wrote within that framework throughout his life. In other words, if we want to get the best understanding of happiness, we have to be Socratics more than anything else and study Plato and Xenophon very carefully. I further believe that Stoicism are more loyal to the Socratic philosophy of happiness than, for example, Aristotle or the Sceptics. In my opinion, Stoicism is - until now - the most sophisticated version of the ancient philosophy of eudaimonia.

Regarding Stoicism, why do I focus almost exclusively on the Roman Stoic Seneca and not on, say,  Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius?

Here are parts of the answer:

"Seneca remains, for us today no less than for the revivers of Stoicism in the sixteenth century, our best representative of ancient Stoicism. In his case as in few others we have the luxury of reading, with their full contexts, whole works of philosophy by a Stoic. He is still an excellent, indeed indispensable, source for those who may wish to learn about, and learn from, Stoicism and its outlook on life"

Seneca - Moral and Political Essays. Edited and translated by John M. Cooper and J. F. Procopé, Cambridge University Press, 1995, location 446

"Seneca’s writings constitute the fullest surviving evidence for the Stoic view of the emotions"

David Konstan, "Senecan emotions", in "The Cambridge Companion to Seneca", ed. by Shadi Bartsch, Cambridge University Press, 2015, p. 174

I think of Seneca's writings to Lucilius - his letters and the work "On Natural Questions" - as one very comprehensive introduction to Stoicism and I am currently mostly focusing on the letters in this collection. I highly recommend the complete translation of the letters done by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long for Chicago University Press in 2015.

Does all this mean that I believe that Seneca is right about everything concerning Stoicism?

The answer is no :-) I don't even think it is enough to read Seneca to get a full picture of Stoicism. Cicero is extremely important as well - both as a source for orthodox Stoicism and as a very intelligent writer thinking about Stoicism.

The other sources for Greek Stoicism are extremely important as well. I highly recommend Brad Inwood's collection of sources for early Stoicism, "The Stoics Reader". It's a very comprehensive selection of texts with great comments and notes.

Who is the intended audience of this blog?

Basically every human being :-) Stoicism is a philosophy of life - and, as, Seneca write, philosophy shines for all. My daily, shorter posts (called “threads”) are mostly short quotes with a short comment from me. I don’t think that a quote here and there is enough to truly make progress in life - but we all need all the nudging we can get to keep us focused and a good quote from Plato or the Stoics is superb nudging.

Approximately once a week I write longer posts about topics related to Socrates and the Stoics. Those posts will often be aimed at people with a more specialized interest in Stoicism.

I try to use images with Creative Commons License. If you see something here, that you believe I use contrary to copyright, please let me know.

Regarding citations text I follow fair use practices and try to indicate the exact edition of classic works I am quoting from. Please let me know, if you have found something, I quote contrary to fair use.

Best wishes

Jannik

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Thoughts and notes on the ancient Greek and Roman philosophy of happiness (eudaimonia).

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The ancient Greek and Roman philosophy of happiness (eudaimonia) - from Socrates to the Stoics - made relevant for today through in-depth analyses of the original sources.