A discussion between John Sellars, lecturer of philosophy at Birkbeck College London, Antonia Macaro, author of Reason, Virtue and Psychotherapy, and Julian Baggini, co-founder of The Philosopher’s Magazine, on adapting Stoicism for the modern-day. What areas of Stoic philosophy are easily adaptable for the modern-day? And what are the ‘problem-areas’ of ancient Stoic philosophy which require a more careful, discerning approaching? Is ‘virtue as the only good’ too extreme a position? Should a modern Stoic adapt this, or should he or she see some external things as having inherent value? Is the Stoic psychological model of beliefs leading to emotions an accurate model? And do we have as much control over our attitudes as the Stoics claimed? And how much control do we have in life anyway? These and other questions are probed in this fascinating discussion.
What do you think on the challenges of adapting Stoicism to the modern-day?
Antonia Macaro and Julian Baggini, authors of the book The Shrink and The Sage, and of the FT column of the same name. Julian Baggini runs the website microphilosophy, on which the above discussion is hosted.
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On a different note, there will be a two-week break for posts on Stoicism Today. Our weekly posts will resume on September 7th.
Thanks for this. I like John Sellars moderate view on Stoicism!