#417 — Philosophy for Life

What do J.K. Rowling, LL Cool J, and George Washington have in common? Stoic philosophy. For generations, Stoicism has motivated scores of people to live well.

In The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday and translator Stephen Hanselman share insights from the ancient Stoic philosophers on how you too can live a good life. It was a bestseller in 2016 and has since been expanded into a thriving podcast and website.

At the core of Stoicism is the belief that the cardinal virtues—self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom—are the source of internal stability and the measure of a good life.

Our guide explores three categories of Stoic practices the authors cover in The Daily Stoic, including viewing life with self-control, responding to life with justice and courage, and managing our lives with wisdom. Within each category, we look at essential principles that support these Stoic practices. Our commentary explores other perspectives on these principles and offers more insights from Stoic philosophy and modern psychology.

Every one of us experiences hardship, often on a daily basis. But what if we didn’t have to suffer it? In The Stoic Challenge, William B. Irvine argues that minimizing suffering isn’t just possible—it’s something that people have been doing since the Stoics, a group of ancient Greco-Roman philosophers, pioneered a strategy to approach adversity as opportunity.

Our guide explains how you can do the same by following Irvine’s explanations of Stoicism’s central strategy—reframing—to live with more equanimity, effectiveness, and even delight. We’ll explain Irvine’s core assertion that we can change our lives by changing how we relate to adversity, and we’ll detail how you can implement this strategy through a variety of actionable training methods. In our commentary, we’ll compare Irvine’s perspective on Stoicism to other philosophies and approaches that address the same challenges.

What’s a good life—and how can you live one? In A Guide to the Good Life, philosophy professor William B. Irvine argues that the ancient Greek and Roman philosophy of Stoicism holds the answers. Along with a brief history of Stoicism and an overview of its basic tenets, Irvine offers a simple step-by-step guide to developing a Stoic practice, which he claims will make you happier, calmer, and more fulfilled.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the benefits of Stoicism and walk you through a set of Stoic techniques that promise happiness through such counterintuitive methods as imagining losing everything you love or deliberately exposing yourself to discomfort. We’ll build on Irvine’s recommendations by connecting them to other ancient and modern Stoic texts as well as to ideas from traditions such as Buddhism and Christianity.

What do J.K. Rowling, LL Cool J, and George Washington have in common? Stoic philosophy. For generations, Stoicism has motivated scores of people to live well.

In The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday and translator Stephen Hanselman share insights from the ancient Stoic philosophers on how you too can live a good life. It was a bestseller in 2016 and has since been expanded into a thriving podcast and website.

At the core of Stoicism is the belief that the cardinal virtues—self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom—are the source of internal stability and the measure of a good life.

Our guide explores three categories of Stoic practices the authors cover in The Daily Stoic, including viewing life with self-control, responding to life with justice and courage, and managing our lives with wisdom. Within each category, we look at essential principles that support these Stoic practices. Our commentary explores other perspectives on these principles and offers more insights from Stoic philosophy and modern psychology.

Every one of us experiences hardship, often on a daily basis. But what if we didn’t have to suffer it? In The Stoic Challenge, William B. Irvine argues that minimizing suffering isn’t just possible—it’s something that people have been doing since the Stoics, a group of ancient Greco-Roman philosophers, pioneered a strategy to approach adversity as opportunity.

Our guide explains how you can do the same by following Irvine’s explanations of Stoicism’s central strategy—reframing—to live with more equanimity, effectiveness, and even delight. We’ll explain Irvine’s core assertion that we can change our lives by changing how we relate to adversity, and we’ll detail how you can implement this strategy through a variety of actionable training methods. In our commentary, we’ll compare Irvine’s perspective on Stoicism to other philosophies and approaches that address the same challenges.

We take it as a given that we want to be happy, but how do we achieve happiness, or even define it? Derren Brown suggests that the answers can be found in the teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers for whom the quest for a happy, well-lived life was a practical problem to be solved. Brown says that by adopting a philosophy based on those of the Stoics and Epicureans, we can lead thoughtful, balanced, and more well-rounded lives.

As a magician, Brown isn’t a stereotypical self-help guru. However, his understanding of how stories misdirect us led to his belief that we can reshape our own narratives to be happy in the here and now while maintaining a positive outlook toward our own mortality. This guide will examine Brown’s definition of happiness and the philosophical building blocks he claims can achieve it. We’ll compare Brown’s ideas to those of modern psychology and contrast his views with those of other happiness experts, some of whom he argues directly against.

What do J.K. Rowling, LL Cool J, and George Washington have in common? Stoic philosophy. For generations, Stoicism has motivated scores of people to live well.

In The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday and translator Stephen Hanselman share insights from the ancient Stoic philosophers on how you too can live a good life. It was a bestseller in 2016 and has since been expanded into a thriving podcast and website.

At the core of Stoicism is the belief that the cardinal virtues—self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom—are the source of internal stability and the measure of a good life.

Our guide explores three categories of Stoic practices the authors cover in The Daily Stoic, including viewing life with self-control, responding to life with justice and courage, and managing our lives with wisdom. Within each category, we look at essential principles that support these Stoic practices. Our commentary explores other perspectives on these principles and offers more insights from Stoic philosophy and modern psychology.

We take it as a given that we want to be happy, but how do we achieve happiness, or even define it? Derren Brown suggests that the answers can be found in the teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers for whom the quest for a happy, well-lived life was a practical problem to be solved. Brown says that by adopting a philosophy based on those of the Stoics and Epicureans, we can lead thoughtful, balanced, and more well-rounded lives.

As a magician, Brown isn’t a stereotypical self-help guru. However, his understanding of how stories misdirect us led to his belief that we can reshape our own narratives to be happy in the here and now while maintaining a positive outlook toward our own mortality. This guide will examine Brown’s definition of happiness and the philosophical building blocks he claims can achieve it. We’ll compare Brown’s ideas to those of modern psychology and contrast his views with those of other happiness experts, some of whom he argues directly against.

Many people suffer from learned helplessness: the belief that they don’t have the power to make positive changes in their own lives or in the world around them. Martin Seligman’s Learned Optimism will teach you how to break out of that pessimistic, powerless mindset and replace it with an empowered mindset of optimism and confidence. Seligman is a professional psychologist, teacher, and author. His theories of learned helplessness and learned optimism are based on his own laboratory studies. He began these studies in the 1960s and has continued tweaking and reexamining them to the present day.

Seligman’s theory of learned helplessness has become widespread, both in the field of psychology and among laypeople. However, Learned Optimism was published in 1990, and there have been significant advances in the field of psychology since then. Our commentary will explore those new developments as needed, provide a grounding in core concepts of psychology, and offer actionable advice.

Every one of us experiences hardship, often on a daily basis. But what if we didn’t have to suffer it? In The Stoic Challenge, William B. Irvine argues that minimizing suffering isn’t just possible—it’s something that people have been doing since the Stoics, a group of ancient Greco-Roman philosophers, pioneered a strategy to approach adversity as opportunity.

Our guide explains how you can do the same by following Irvine’s explanations of Stoicism’s central strategy—reframing—to live with more equanimity, effectiveness, and even delight. We’ll explain Irvine’s core assertion that we can change our lives by changing how we relate to adversity, and we’ll detail how you can implement this strategy through a variety of actionable training methods. In our commentary, we’ll compare Irvine’s perspective on Stoicism to other philosophies and approaches that address the same challenges.

What do J.K. Rowling, LL Cool J, and George Washington have in common? Stoic philosophy. For generations, Stoicism has motivated scores of people to live well.

In The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday and translator Stephen Hanselman share insights from the ancient Stoic philosophers on how you too can live a good life. It was a bestseller in 2016 and has since been expanded into a thriving podcast and website.

At the core of Stoicism is the belief that the cardinal virtues—self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom—are the source of internal stability and the measure of a good life.

Our guide explores three categories of Stoic practices the authors cover in The Daily Stoic, including viewing life with self-control, responding to life with justice and courage, and managing our lives with wisdom. Within each category, we look at essential principles that support these Stoic practices. Our commentary explores other perspectives on these principles and offers more insights from Stoic philosophy and modern psychology.

What’s a good life—and how can you live one? In A Guide to the Good Life, philosophy professor William B. Irvine argues that the ancient Greek and Roman philosophy of Stoicism holds the answers. Along with a brief history of Stoicism and an overview of its basic tenets, Irvine offers a simple step-by-step guide to developing a Stoic practice, which he claims will make you happier, calmer, and more fulfilled.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the benefits of Stoicism and walk you through a set of Stoic techniques that promise happiness through such counterintuitive methods as imagining losing everything you love or deliberately exposing yourself to discomfort. We’ll build on Irvine’s recommendations by connecting them to other ancient and modern Stoic texts as well as to ideas from traditions such as Buddhism and Christianity.