Details

Stoicism For Dummies

1. Aufl.

von: Tom Morris, Gregory Bassham
17,99 €
Verlag:	Wiley
Format:	PDF
Veröffentl.:	30.11.2023
ISBN/EAN:	9781394206285
Sprache:	englisch
Anzahl Seiten:	400

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Beschreibungen

Titelbeschreibung

The philosophy that will help you become more resilient in the face of life’s challenges Stoicism For Dummies will teach you the basic principles of stoic philosophy and show you how it can help you navigate the ups and downs of life. We all face challenges and setbacks, and, if we have the right mindset, we can sail through them with ease. This book offers a comprehensive look at Stoic philosophy, uncovering its strengths and attractions and shedding light on its limitations, both in the ancient world where it was developed, and in our world today. Learn how you can apply stoic principles for personal growth and better living, and how you can adapt this philosophical outlook to your unique circumstances. Written in terms anyone can understand, this friendly Dummies guide helps you understand stoicism, and also apply it in your life. <ul> <li>Understand the basics of stoic philosophy, including virtues and practices</li> <li>Learn how to keep calm and carry on when life throws you curveballs</li> <li>Apply stoic principles to improve your relationships and quality of life</li> <li>Discover the history of stoicism and how its principles can apply to today’s world </li></ul>This book is great for anyone who wants to learn more about stoicism and its benefits.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Ancient Stoicism 5 Chapter 1: Stoicism: A Philosophy for Our Time 7 A Way of Thought for Our Time 8 Hot philosophy in America 9 The Stoic formula 9 What Does “Philosophy” Even Mean? 10 What Wisdom Is and Is Not 11 Two sides of philosophy 12 Philosophy and life 14 Using Wisdom with the Stoics 17 Happiness and freedom 18 When to go to philosophy 20 Chapter 2: Socrates and the Beginnings of Western Philosophy 21 Heraclitus the (Cranky and) Obscure 22 Socrates: The Barefoot Gadfly and General Pain-in-the-Patootie of Ancient Athens 24 Care for the soul 25 Virtue is sufficient for happiness 26 No harm can come to a good person 26 Virtue is knowledge 27 No one does wrong willingly 27 Diogenes of Sinope: Socrates on Steroids 27 Virtue is the only true good 28 Virtue is sufficient for happiness 28 “Follow nature” 29 Be a citizen of the world 29 Chapter 3: The First Stoics 31 The Basic Teachings of Zeno and His Stoic Followers 32 Materialists through and through 32 Belief in Logos 33 Strict determinists 35 Belief in an afterlife 35 Live rationally 36 The good, the evil, and the indifferent 36 Only virtue leads to happiness 37 Why Stoicism Had Its Moment in Ancient Greece and Rome 39 Chapter 4: Stoicism Comes to Rome 41 Seneca and Epictetus 42 Seneca: Wealthy but Frugal 42 Philosophy as a therapy for the emotions 43 Coping with life’s hard knocks 44 Controlling anger 45 Epictetus: Slave Turned Philosopher 47 True freedom 48 The dichotomy of control 49 Radical acceptance 50 Chapter 5: Marcus Aurelius: Philosopher-Emperor 53 A Stoic Philosopher Comes to the Throne 53 Early influences 54 Conversion to Stoicism 55 Reign as emperor 55 Personal tragedies and death 56 Two Themes in Marcus’s Philosophy 58 Impermanence: Reality is flux 58 Pessimism 59 The Demise of Ancient Stoicism 63 The demise of “the old gods” of paganism 63 The rise of competing philosophies 63 Failure to appeal to the masses 63 Attacks by rival philosophical schools 64 Down but not out 64 Part 2: the Stoic Worldview 65 Chapter 6: The Stoic View of Reality 67 Everything Is Made of Matter 68 God and Nature 69 Stoic pantheism 69 The Earth’s place in the universe 70 Stoic arguments for God 70 Stoic belief in periodic conflagrations 72 The Place of Humanity in the Cosmos 73 An anthropocentric view 73 Belief in a (temporary) afterlife 74 Finding truth in outdated notions 76 Chapter 7: Providence, Fate, and Free Will 77 “Everything Is Fated” 78 Fatalism gone rogue 79 Free will and responsibility 81 Is God to Blame for Evil? 85 Seneca’s response 85 Natural evils and animal pain 86 Are sin and evil caused by God? 87 Stoic Fate and Passivity 88 Divine Providence 89 Part 3: Stoic Ethics 93 Chapter 8: Virtue as the Goal of Life 95 Virtus and Arete 96 Virtus 96 Arete 97 Virtue at the Center 98 May the Force be with you 98 Vice: The opposite of virtue 99 Can you progress toward virtue? 99 Happiness and Virtue 101 The surface complexity of happiness 103 The Stoic simplification of it all 105 Virtue and happiness coincide 105 Only virtue is good, and only vice is bad 106 The Good, Bad, and Indifferent 107 What’s different about the Stoic indifferent 109 Inner and outer things 113 A good person can’t be harmed 114 Use and value 115 Chapter 9: Things We Can Control 119 The Dichotomy of Control 120 Your wants and your power 121 Exploring the Concept of Control 124 Value judgments, desires, and goals 125 More options about control 126 The inner citadel or fortress 128 Another spectrum 130 The Problem of External Goals 131 Relationships, reason, and common good 131 A modern Stoic’s strategy 133 Trying Our Best 137 An Alternate Strategy 138 Our emotional relationship to goals 139 The proper path of action 140 Chapter 10: Desire and the Happy Life 143 Getting Clear about Desire 144 Commitments 144 Thought, desire, and action 145 Managing desires 147 Whatever should be will be 147 Desiring only what is true 148 The problem of evil 149 Desire and Happiness 150 The Desire Satisfaction View of Happiness 151 Finding the real flaws here 154 An Opportunity for Hope 156 The gap is good 157 Can you rid yourself of desires? 158 The many facets of happiness 160 Desire for that which is 160 Happiness comes from within 162 Chapter 11: Pleasure and Pain 163 The Epicurean Pull of Pleasure 163 Epicurus on pleasure 164 Stoic objections to Epicureanism 166 Pleasure and Pain with the Stoics 167 Epictetus has his say 168 Marcus Aurelius weighs in 170 Seneca joins the fray 175 Using Sensations and Situations 178 Chapter 12: Natural Law 183 What Is Natural Law? 184 Cicero on natural law 185 Basic elements of natural law 186 Natural Law in Roman Law 189 Modern Stoicism and Natural Law 190 Natural law: Pros and cons 191 Chapter 13: Building Strong Communities 197 Philosophers as Social Advisors 197 The Two Roots of Community 199 Reason and relationality 199 The self and society 200 Plato and Aristotle Behind It All 202 Our need to belong 203 Aristotle on the power of partnership 203 Platonic perspectives 205 Community and political virtues 206 Circles of Community and Care 207 The rings of our lives 207 Making the most of our circles 209 The Four Foundations 210 The demands of love 211 Citizens of the world 213 Part 4: Passions and Emotions 217 Chapter 14: Stoic Apathy: Why You Should Care 219 Two Ideas of Apathy 220 Two big problems 220 An ancient idea and a modern translation 220 Definitions and Images in Film 221 Digging Deeper into Stoic Apathy 222 The Discipline We Need 224 The Nature of Emotions 225 Apathy and Ataraxia 227 Stoic serenity 228 The extremes of Epictetus 229 Finding Sensible Peace 232 Concluding Thoughts on Apathy 234 Chapter 15: Love and Friendship 235 Two Big Ideas for Friendship and Love 235 The Stoic idea of agreement 236 The idea of appropriation 237 True Friendship 238 Aristotle on friendship 238 Stoic friends 240 The Interpenetrating Unity of Souls 245 Is the self a walled fortress? 245 Distributed cognition 246 A unique virtue 247 Virtue or vulnerability? 248 Stoics in Love and on It 249 Sex and Love with the Stoics 251 Chapter 16: The Fear of Death 257 Matters of Life and Death 257 Philosophy as Preparation for Death 258 The Socratic acceptance of mortality 259 The Stoics’ concerns 259 Two Epicurean Efforts to Calm Us Down 261 The Symmetry Argument 261 The Impossibility of Harm Argument 262 Epictetus Against Fearing Death 264 The Judgment Argument 266 The Avoidance Argument 268 The Ignorance Argument 271 The Acceptance Argument 271 Marcus Aurelius Weighs in on Death 274 The Sameness Argument 275 The Natural and Liberating Argument 276 The Normal Change Argument 279 Seneca’s Quantity or Quality Argument 281 Part 5: Stoic Virtues 285 Chapter 17: The Master Virtues 287 The Nature of Virtue 287 Arete, or excellence 288 Good habits 288 The Stoic View of Virtue 289 From the Cynics 289 From Socrates 290 Stoic paradoxes relating to virtue 290 The Four Cardinal Virtues 291 Courage 292 Self-control 294 Justice 296 Wisdom 297 Evaluating the four cardinal virtues 298 Chapter 18: Finding Resilience and Inner Peace 299 Resilience: The Art of Bouncing Back 300 Live in the present moment 300 Adopt the view from above 301 Look at the situation objectively 302 Cut people some slack 303 Take a walk on the wild side 304 Keep Stoic basics ready to hand 304 The Stoic Quest for Inner Peace 306 Anticipate possible adversities 306 Practice morning and evening meditations 307 Start journaling 308 Act with a reserve clause 308 Practice voluntary discomfort 309 Contemplate impermanence 310 Adopt good role models 312 Focus on what you can control 312 Curb your desires for externals 313 Practice Amor Fati 314 Part 6: Stoicism Today 317 Chapter 19: The Stoic Next Door: The Popular Revival of Stoicism Today 319 The Rise of Modern Stoicism 320 The therapists 321 The sixties 322 Existentialism 323 Virtue ethics 323 A renewal of scholarly work 324 Cultural attention 324 Leading Figures in Modern Stoicism 327 William B Irvine 327 Donald Robertson 331 Massimo Pigliucci 333 Ryan Holiday 335 Chapter 20: Modern Stoicism 339 What Is Modern Stoicism? 339 Key Differences: Ancient and Modern 341 Theoretical ambitions 342 Intellectual foundations 342 Attitude toward religion 343 Plausibility 343 Central focus 345 Intended audience 346 Argumentative and rhetorical styles 346 Modern Stoicism: Down and Upsides 349 Modern Stoicism: The cons 349 Modern Stoicism: The pros 353 Part 7: the Part of Tens 357 Chapter 21: Ten Books Every (Budding) Stoic Should Read 359 The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius 360 A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy 360 The Stoic Art of Living: Inner Resilience and Outer Results 361 How To Be a Stoic 361 How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius 362 The Stoics (2nd edition) 362 The Obstacle Is the Way 363 The Daily Stoic 363 Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide 363 Breakfast with Seneca: A Stoic Guide to the Art of Living 364 Chapter 22: Ten Great Stoic Blogs and Podcasts 365 Daily Stoic Blog 365 Stoicism Today Blog 366 Figs in Winter Blog 366 Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life 366 Traditional Stoicism Blog 367 Daily Stoic Podcast 367 The Walled Garden Podcast 367 Stoic Meditations Podcast 368 Stoicism: Philosophy As a Way of Life Podcast 368 Stoic Coffee Break Podcast 368 Index 369

Autorenportrait

Tom Morris is author of Philosophy For Dummies and 30 other books. He was a philosophy professor at The University of Notre Dame and now heads The Morris Institute for Human Values. Gregory Bassham is author of The Philosophy Book, an illustrated history of philosophy, and 10 other books. Gregory was a professor of philosophy at King’s College.

Back cover copy

Live a more peaceful life with Stoicism Stoicism is the time-honored art of navigating life’s ups and downs with moral strength and serenity. Every bit as relevant today as when it was founded in ancient Greece, the Stoic mindset can help you stay calm and balanced no matter what life throws your way. Stoicism For Dummies introduces you to the original ideas of the ancient Stoics and shows how you can adapt them to improve your life in the present. Written in terms anyone can understand, this book offers a simple, practical way of being your best self while dealing with challenges and setbacks. Inside… <ul><li>How Stoicism got started</li> <li>Contemporary Stoic thinkers</li> <li>Stoicism in everyday life</li> <li>Staying sane in times of crisis</li> <li>Growing in inner strength and gratitude</li> <li>Pros and cons of Stoic thought</li> <li>Letting go of negativity</li></ul>