Stoic Week Is Coming!

Stoic Week Is Coming!

by Greg Sadler

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One of the high points to the year in the growing modern Stoic movement is International Stoic Week.  This year, Stoic Week runs from Monday, October 17 to Sunday, October 23, preceded by the STOICON conference in New York City on Saturday, October 15. Each year has seen growing participation worldwide in the free online Stoic Week class.  There are also a number of events and other ways in which people and institutions will be marking this international celebration of all things Stoic.
As more information about additional events, activities, and online resources related to Stoic Week becomes available, we will add them to our list and publicize them here in a second post that will appear just before Stoic Week begins. If you are hosting something Stoicism-related, and would like to let us know about it, here is the place to enter the information.
Here below is a not-yet-comprehensive list for Stoic Week 2016. Hopefully everyone interested in modern Stoicism can find at least one event near them or online in which they can participate, meet up with others who share their interests, and learn more about Stoic thought and practice!

The Stoic Week Class

17-23 October: Stoic Week Online Class – This is the one that got Stoic Week itself started! A free, online, week-long class hosted and developed by Donald Robertson (with contributions from Stoicism Today project members and many others), updated and improved each year.   Click here to find out more or to register.

Institutions or Organizations Engaging In the Class (so far)

The Stoic Week online class offers opportunities to meet, learn, and interact with people all over the world.  In some places there is also another great opportunity, provided by local organizations or institutions, to work through the class together.  At present, here are the ones we know of (if your institution or organization is doing this, and not on the list, contact me and I’ll make sure you get into the list).
Grand Valley State University Classics Department – the contact person is Peter Anderson
Marist College Honors Program – the contact person is James Snyder
Manchester Stoics Meetup – the contact person is Brenda Lanigan
Brisbane Stoics Meetup – the contact person is Alex Magee
 

In-Person Events (so far)

There are several public events scheduled during Stoic Week itself to commemorate, celebrate, and continue building community.   Here are the ones we’ve been able to find out about:
16 October, 2 PM: Post-STOICON/Pre-Stoic Week Meetup (New York City, USA). To celebrate the end of STOICON ’16 and the beginning of Stoic Week ’16, the New York City Stoics Meetup will host a Stoic Walking tour through parts of NYC, with wha promise to be some engaging thematic conversations held along the route. – the organizer/contact person is Greg Lopez.
18 October, 6 PM:  Struggling With Anger? Useful Stoic Perspectives and Practices (Milwaukee, WI, USA).  For local residents of my home city (a place where it’s clearly needed), I’ll be providing the same workshop I’m leading out at STOICON – the organizer/contact person is me, Greg Sadler.
20 October, 6:30 PM: Discussing Stoic Daily Habits (Manchester, UK). The Manchester Stoic Meetup will be holding its monthly discussion, discussing precisely that, daily habits that help one live the Stoic life – the organizer/contact person is Brenda Lanigan
22 October, 2 PM-7:30 PM: Stoic Guidance for Troubled Times (London, UK). A smaller, but looking-to-be-excellent STOICON conference at Queen Mary University, with presentations by Jules Evans, Christopher Gill, Tim LeBon, Donald Robertson, and Gabrielle Galuzzo – the organizer/contact person is Jules Evans.
 

Several Other Events Before Stoic Week

There are also some other Stoicism-connected events scheduled prior to Stoic Week that might be of interest.
30 September 7:30 PMUntroubled by Adversity: Epictetus (Cambridge, UK). The Cambridge Annual Lecture, The School of Economic Science, a lecture by Christine Lambie
10 October, 3:00 PM: Prohairesis in Epicetus’ Stoic Moral Theory (Milwaukee, WI, USA).  I’ll be giving a close reading workshop at Marquette University as part of the Midwest Seminar in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy.
10 October, 6:30 PM: The Obstacle Is The Way, part 3 (Orlando, FL, USA). Orlando Stoic Meetup will be continuing their ongoing discussion of Ryan Holiday’s work, The Obstacle Is The Way – the organizer/contact person is Dan Lampert.

2 thoughts on Stoic Week Is Coming!

  1. hoc602 says:

    Sounds great!

  2. richard maclean says:

    What is the world coming to when people are being spoon-fed stoicism in this way? It’s the stoic _life_ – lived year in year out – that counts, not stoic weeks / days / hours / moments. I feel strongly that this kind-of spoon-feeding or force-feeding of the man on the Clapham omnibus is not what maketh for substantial stoicism. Stoicism becomes just another trendy Western fad, a way of filling your empty days. A stoic is born not made. What stoic in his right mind wants to listen to boring speeches? No he wants to get in there and do his thing without being noticed, without being applauded, without desires, without reward, without all the pseudo-social shenanigans that invariably accompany such happenings as ‘stoic week’!

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