In my series on Ways of the World, my aim is to let the founder of each way tell us of their way in their words: the destination that they suggest we all seek; the directions that they offer to help us to reach the destination, and the strategies that they offer to help us to successfully follow their directions. I find it marvelous that we can listen to people, such as Epictetus, who lived thousands of years ago; people whose words can help us to improve our ways. You would be right if you have guessed that the books I recommend are primary sources.
I wrote
Exploring the Way of Epictetus: His Destination, Directions, and Strategies
A good place to start the exploration into Stoicism. This book introduces the main characters of Stoicism, and the main areas they focused on, such as Physics and Ethics. Importantly, the book provides sources from ancient sources to expound the different areas.
This volume gathers together the most important evidence about Stoic thought surviving from the ancient world. It is an expanded version of the section on Stoicism in Inwood and Gerson's Hellenistic Philosophy, consolidating related texts into larger, more continuous selections, adding material on the skeptical attack on Stoicism, and a short section that introduces the reader to some of the more interesting texts on Stoic ethics from the Roman imperial period. Inwood and Gerson provide lucid, accurate translations, an Introduction that sets the works included in historical and philosophical context, a glossary of terms, a glossary of philosophers and philosophicalâŚ
It is by listening to Epictetus that we best learn the way of the ancient Stoics. Epictetusâ Discourses and Handbook are, arguably, the works that have most shaped Stoicism for the last two thousand years. Listening to Epictetus, we become aware of our ways (our thoughts, beliefs, concepts, and behaviours) that have been shaped by the ancient Stoics. Listening to Epictetus, we learn of a way that offers much that can still help us to improve our own way to a better life.
'About things that are within our power and those that are not.'
Epictetus's Discourses have been the most widely read and influential of all writings of Stoic philosophy, from antiquity onwards. They set out the core ethical principles of Stoicism in a form designed to help people put them into practice and to use them as a basis for leading a good human life. Epictetus was a teacher, and a freed slave, whose discourses have a vivid informality, animated by anecdotes and dialogue. Forceful, direct, and challenging, their central message is that the basis of happiness is up to us,âŚ
Winner of the Robert F. Lucid Award for Mailer Studies.
Celebrating Mailer's centenary and the seventy-fifth publication of The Naked and the Dead, the book illustrates how Mailer remains a provocative presence in American letters.
From the debates of the nation's founders, to the revolutionary traditions of western romanticism,âŚ
Lucius Seneca was the most prolific writer of the later Stoics. Included in his works are one hundred and twenty-four letters that he wrote to his friend Lucilius which not only offer many insights into stoicism, but also insights into the mind of Seneca and more generally into the then Roman way of life.
'It is philosophy that has the duty of protecting us ... without it no one can lead a life free of fear or worry'
For several years of his turbulent life, in which he was dogged by ill health, exile and danger, Seneca was the guiding hand of the Roman Empire. This selection of Seneca's letters shows him upholding the ideals of Stoicism - the wisdom of the self-possessed person immune to life's setbacks - while valuing friendship and courage, and criticizing the harsh treatment of slaves and the cruelties in the gladiatorial arena. The humanity and wit revealed inâŚ
Meditations is a collection of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, a Stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor (at the other extreme, Epictetus was born a slave). The original title is unknown, and over the years many titles have be used, such as âThe Book of Marcusâ and âThings to oneâs selfâ. I suggest that the latter title, more accurately reflect its contents.
A timely book for today's world, Marcus Aurelius's Meditations explores how to endure hardship, how to cope with change and how to find something positive out of adversity.
Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is translated by A. S. L. Farquharson and features an introduction by John Sellars.
The Meditations are a set of personal reflections by Marcus Aurelius. He writes about the vicissitudes of his own life and explores howâŚ
Radical Friend highlights the remarkable life of Amy Kirby Post, a nineteenth-century abolitionist and women's rights activist who created deep friendships across the color line to promote social justice. Her relationships with Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Sojourner Truth, William C. Nell, and other Black activists from the 1840s to theâŚ
This book not only provides excellent texts of early Stoicism, but also provides texts of Epicureanism, and Scepticism, the other dominant philosophies at the time, and thus places Stoicism in the context of the time.
This new edition of Hellenistic Philosophy --including nearly 100 pages of additional materia--offers the first English translation of the account of Stoic ethics by Arius Didymus, substantial new sources on Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Scepticism, expanded representation of Plutarch and Cicero, and a fuller presentation of papyrological evidence. Inwood and Gerson maintain the standard of consistency and accuracy that distinguished their translations in the first edition, while regrouping some material into larger, more thematically connected passages. This edition is further enhanced by a new, more spacious page design.
Epictetus was born a slave in Hierapolis (in present-day Turkey). He studied Stoic philosophy while still a slave. After attaining his freedom, he taught philosophy in Rome before being banished by Emperor Domitian (along with other philosophers) in 89 CE. Epictetus went to Nicopolis (in present-day Greece) where he continued to teach philosophy. I suggest it is to Epictetus that we must turn to best understand the way of the Stoic.
This biography for middle-grade readers and up explains who Jane Addams was and why she caused such a stir worldwide. The story follows Addams' first childhood realization of how poverty limits lives, livelihoods, and health to her becoming one of the most belovedâand dislikedâwomen of her day. She worked toâŚ
Ancient Evenings is a study of consciousness presented as a series of fictional philosophical dialogues set at the height of the Roman Empire. These dialoguesâon good and evil, truth and falsehood, life and deathâare historical re-enactments of what persons representing the major Hellenistic schools of philosophy might actually have saidâŚ
