Stoic Meditations

Massimo Pigliucci

Occasional reflections on the wisdom of Ancient Greek and Roman philosophers with Prof. Massimo Pigliucci. Complete index by author and source at https://massimopigliucci.org/stoic-podcast/. (cover art by Marek Škrabák; original music by Ian Jolin-Rasmussen).

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1,094 episodes
Updated Aug 23, 2022

Episodes1094

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Dec 23, 2019 · 2 min
514. The true nature of humanity
Human beings are neither mindless drones in a beehive nor entirely self-contained individuals. We are highly social animals, and a number of ethical implications follow from this biological fact.
Dec 20, 2019 · 2 min
513. Going on a trip? Here's what's up to you (and what isn't)
A nice analogy from Epictetus between our choices in life and those we have when we go on a trip. Even when the trip doesn't end well...
Dec 19, 2019 · 2 min
512. What really matters
Material things per se are indifferent, but the use we make of them is not indifferent.
Dec 18, 2019 · 2 min
511. The crucial importance of trust
Trust is crucial for intimate relationships, for friendships, and even among fellow citizens. Research shows that nations with the highest degree of self-reported happiness among its citizens are those in which people feel like they can trust each other.
Dec 17, 2019 · 2 min
510. Prosoche, or Stoic attention
We know how to analyze arguments, and have the skill a person needs to evaluate competent logicians. But in life what do we do? What today we say is good, tomorrow we'll swear is bad. That's because we don't pay attention.
Dec 16, 2019 · 2 min
509. Better swallow the bitter pill from the get go
When I see that one thing, virtue, is supreme and most important, I cannot say that something else is, just to make you happy.
Dec 13, 2019 · 2 min
508. Don't get lost in the details and miss the big picture
Some become captivated by all these things and don’t want to proceed further. One is captivated by deductive or equivocal arguments, someone else by yet another ‘inn’ of this kind; and there they stay and rot as if seduced by the Sirens.
Dec 12, 2019 · 2 min
507. Don't confuse a rest stop with your destination
People act like a traveller headed for home who stops at an inn and, finding it comfortable, decides to remain there. You’ve lost sight of your goal, man. You were supposed to drive through the inn, not park there.
Dec 11, 2019 · 2 min
506. Anger is a waste of time
Why should we, as though we were born to live forever, waste our tiny span of life in declaring anger against any one? Life is a matter which does not admit of waste, and we have no spare time to throw away.
Dec 10, 2019 · 2 min
505. The simplest and bets trick in life: be prepared
Is anyone surprised at being cold in winter? At being sick at sea? Or at being jostled in the street? The mind is strong enough to bear those evils for which it is prepared.
Dec 9, 2019 · 3 min
504. How to keep a philosophical journal
Seneca gives us a rationale and detailed instructions on how too keep a philosophical journal. And modern cognitive science confirms that it works in order to improve self-analysis and let go of negative emotions.
Dec 6, 2019 · 2 min
503. The problem is money
Money is what wearies out the law-courts, sows strife between father and son, concocts poisons, and gives swords to murderers just as to soldiers: it is stained with our blood.
Dec 5, 2019 · 2 min
502. Examine your balance sheet of giving and receiving
Do you ask, what is your greatest fault? It is, that you keep your accounts wrongly: you set a high value upon what you give, and a low one upon what you receive.
Dec 4, 2019 · 2 min
501. Envy is the root of much unhappiness
A person will never be well off to whom it is a torture to see any one better off than themselves. Have I less than I hoped for? Well, perhaps I hoped for more than I ought.
Dec 3, 2019 · 2 min
500. Treat fools like fools, don't get angry with them
It makes no sense to get angry with children or non-human animals, because they can't reason. So why get angry with an adult who has temporarily lost the use of reason?
Dec 2, 2019 · 2 min
499. The futility of revenge
Revenge takes up much time, and throws itself in the way of many injuries while it is smarting under one. We all retain our anger longer than we feel our hurt.
Nov 29, 2019 · 2 min
498. Understand and forgive
Let us be more gentle one to another: we are bad people, living among bad people. There is only one thing which can afford us peace, and that is to agree to forgive one another.
Nov 27, 2019 · 2 min
497. I have entrusted the guidance of my life to reason
Say to fortune: Do what you will, you are too feeble to disturb my serenity: this is forbidden by reason, to whom I have entrusted the guidance of my life: to become angry would do me more harm than your violence can do me.
Nov 26, 2019 · 2 min
496. On magnanimity
Seneca runs us through a long list of reasons why people do us wrong. And then concludes that we should be magnanimous, not vengeful, toward them, in part because they are human beings like us, and like us they make mistakes.
Nov 25, 2019 · 2 min
495. Act the opposite of anger
Let us replace all of anger’s symptoms by their opposites; let us make our countenance more composed than usual, our voice milder, our step slower. Our inward thoughts gradually become influenced by our outward demeanor.