Highlights from Stoicon and Stoic Week 2025

Thank you to everyone who participated in Stoic Week and Stoicon 2025! Both events were very successful, and we appreciate the contributions of everyone who took part. Here are some highlights of these events.

Stoicon

Hosted by Brittany Polat and Phil Yanov, Stoicon brought about 400 people together to discuss Stoic engaged citizenship. See the conference video playlist here.

• To start the conference off, Chris Gill, John Sellars, and Tim Lebon discussed important points about Stoicism and engaged citizenship.
  • Chris Gill: Citizenship is a broad notion, encompassing not just nationality but family, local community, and even all of humanity.
  • John Sellars: The Stoics emphasized that social engagement is natural, not an artificially-imposed contract.
  • Tim Lebon: There is an empirical relationship (documented through research on Stoic Week) between practicing Stoicism and feeling purpose, engagement, and zest in life.
• Mick Mulroy called for a return to virtue in public policy and political life, urging leaders to follow the example of Marcus Aurelius and put the common good ahead of narrow interests.
• Lisa Hill documented the historical tradition of Stoic engaged citizenship, from Zeno to Seneca to Queen Elizabeth I. She explained how the Stoic theory of cosmopolitanism informed and continues to inform ideals of justice, social interaction, and political participation.
• Diane Kalen-Sukra discussed Socrates as a Stoic model of open and respectful dialogue, suggesting that “the harmony of discourse and virtue is Stoic engaged citizenship.” She proposed a Stoic pledge to (1) see opponents as partners in reason, (2) aim for the common good over personal victory, and (3) lead by example, not by force.
• The Reason in Society panel (moderated by Brittany Polat) explored the theoretical basis of Stoic engaged citizenship as the partnership of rationality and sociability.
  • William O. Stevens: The Stoics emphasized our natural affinity for living together: “Instead of complaining about the way the world is, what steps can we take together, cooperatively, to inch toward a better social fabric that we live in ourselves that will allow us to flourish as fellow citizens, as peers.”
  • Aldo Dinucci: An important aspect of civic engagement is teaching children to feel connected to other people, emphasizing shared similarities rather than differences.
  • Jacob Klein: Civic engagement begins with our day-to-day interactions with other people, as the example of Marcus Aurelius shows.
• In our lightning talks, nine speakers from different walks of life shared how Stoicism has impacted their lives.
• In the Stoic Civic Engagement in Action panel (moderated by Gregory Lopez), a variety of panelists explained how they engage on an everyday basis.
  • Meredith Alexander Kunz shared her volunteer work and how volunteering can make a crucial difference in the lives of people in your community, which has a ripple effect on society more broadly.
  • Allie Nava has worked extensively to help immigrants integrate into their new communities. She relies on the dichotomy of control to stay focused on the most effective route to helping people.
  • Leonidas Konstantakos studies (as a professor) and practices (as a teacher at Archimidean schools) how to integrate Stoic justice into institutions.
  • Ross Paton works as a counterterrorism official and suggests that Stoicism offers a beautiful path to self-development: “you develop so that you can help others.”
• Brigid Delaney, in a wide-ranging conversation with Phil Yanov, described her path to Stoicism as a journalist and the many ways it helped her cope with professional and personal difficulties. She pointed out that when acting in the public sphere, it’s important to stay focused on what’s in your control: “Do good work, go to the next thing.”
• James Romm discussed the difficult choices facing Seneca at the court of Nero: refuse to work with him at all (as another Stoic, Thrasea Paetus, did), or collaborate with him and try to rein in his excesses—the path that Seneca chose and which seemed to work for a few years. Ultimately, Seneca and his reputation suffered for this choice, but it’s unclear whether it was the wrong decision. As Romm’s careful historical analysis reminded us, ethical decision-making is complicated and context-dependent. The case of Seneca suggests that “our choices must be guided by circumstance” and that “Stoicism is complex and contingent enough to justify many pathways through troubled times.”

Stoic Week Provisional Findings

Organized by Tim Lebon and Eve Riches, Stoic Week 2026 welcomed more than 3300 participants from over 40 countries. Below are a few provisional findings, based purely on correlational data from over a thousand participants at the start of Stoic week. The final results, and also the findings of the impact of living like a Stoic for a week, will appear on this site in due course.

• The seven Stoic Attitudes and Behaviours (SABS) dimensions all correlate strongly with well-being. (Learn more about the development and validation of the SABS here and here.) The Virtue and Stoic Mindfulness dimensions show the strongest links with life satisfaction, flourishing, and vitality.
• The “Stoic Zest” effect is robust: higher Stoic scores predict greater energy and engagement with life on the Subjective Vitality Scale.
• Stoic Mindfulness and Virtue together account for much of the difference in flourishing, but Beliefs About Happiness also stand out—strongly predicting positive mood and satisfaction with life.
• Meditation practice amplifies Stoic benefits: those meditating daily score around 0.6–0.8 SD higher on well-being and almost a full standard deviation higher on total SABS compared with those who rarely meditate.

In short, the 2025 preliminary results strengthen the case for Stoic practice as a route to greater flourishing and vitality, particularly when coupled with mindful reflection.

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