The Via Stoica Podcast — A Stoic Way of Life

Benny Voncken
  • 4.7 (14)
  • Philosophy
  • Updated Weekly

Via Stoica is a podcast dedicated to Stoicism as a lived philosophy and a practical way of meeting modern life. We draw from ancient texts and apply them to real challenges, emotional reactivity, discipline, purpose, relationships, and adversity. This is not about abstract theory. It is about practice, with attention to what is within our control. Each week, we explore Stoic themes through reflections, practical topics, and interviews. The views expressed are my own and for informational purposes only. Learn more at viastoica.com.

  1. 1d ago

    So You Have an Opinion? Does Everyone Need to Know?

    Do you really need to share that opinion? In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast we look at what drives the impulse to comment, react, and weigh in online, and what Stoic philosophy says about examining that impulse before we act on it. Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. This episode is not about whether you are allowed to have opinions. It is about what you do with them and why you feel the need to share them at all. Social media rewards reaction. Every post, every event, every scroll seems to demand a response, and the algorithm feeds on the comments and replies that follow. Underneath that pressure sits something older than any platform, the quiet pull to be relevant, to be heard, to matter in the moment. The Stoics called the practice of pausing before adding judgment to an impression the discipline of assent, and it applies just as much to a reply typed in anger as it does to any other reaction. Most opinions shared online skip that step entirely. This episode also looks at what changes when you start asking a harder question before you speak: what does this opinion actually reveal about you, your values, and what you are really seeking in that moment? Support the showviastoica.comYouTube: @viastoicaProduced by: Badmic.com

  2. Jul 27

    Anger: The Stoic Way to Reclaim Your Sanity

    Anger protects us. It motivates us. It gets things done. These are the arguments people make for keeping it, and in this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast we take an honest look at why Seneca called anger momentary madness and what that means for how we live. Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. This episode examines one of the most defended emotions in modern life and what Stoic philosophy actually says about it: not that we should suppress it, but that we should understand it well enough to choose differently. The Stoics made a clear distinction between the involuntary first flash of irritation and the full emotional response that follows. That gap is where your agency lives. When we add the judgment that an injustice has occurred and that we are right to be furious, we step through a door from reason into what Seneca called momentary madness. And unlike most emotions, anger is contagious. One angry person in a room changes the room. The Stoics were deeply pro-social and cultivating anger is a direct betrayal of that responsibility toward others. This episode also looks at what replaces anger when we choose not to walk through that door. Not emptiness or passivity, but the Stoic positive emotions: joy from doing the right thing, calm from acting in line with who you are, and the kind of presence that actually changes situations rather than inflaming them. Anger will come. What you do with it is entirely yours. Support the showviastoica.comYouTube: @viastoicaProduced by: Badmic.com

  3. Jul 20

    The Blame Game: Stop Pointing the Finger and Start Growing

    When did we stop asking what we could do better and start looking for someone else to blame? In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast we examine one of the most common and costly habits in modern life: the blame game, and what Stoic philosophy says about how to break it. Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. This episode is an honest look at how blame keeps us stuck, why it feels so comfortable, and what taking real responsibility for our lives actually looks like in practice. The shift did not happen overnight. A teacher approaching retirement described how in her early years, parents would tell underperforming children to work harder. Over time, that finger moved from the child to the teacher, from the self to everything outside it. That shift is not just happening in schools. It is happening in our relationships, our careers, and our inner lives. Epictetus placed blame squarely on the discipline of assent; we are not adding the correct judgment to what is happening. The discipline of desire reminds us that chasing externals makes blaming externals inevitable. And Epictetus described three stages of progress: the beginner blames everyone else, the intermediate blames themselves, and the advanced person simply does the work. The moment you stop blaming is the moment you start growing. Support the show viastoica.com YouTube: @viastoica Produced by: Badmic.com Note: In the episode, I attributed the three stages of blame to Marcus Aurelius. This is actually from Epictetus, Enchiridion 5. The wisdom is the same; the source just needed correcting.

  4. Jul 14

    Your Life Is Not Short. You Just Don't Know How to Live It.

    "Life is too short." It is one of the most common things people say and, according to Seneca, one of the most misguided. In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast we examine what the Stoics actually thought about time and why the problem is never how much of it we have. Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. This episode draws on Seneca's On the Shortness of Life to make an argument that is uncomfortable and liberating in equal measure: life is not short. We spend most of it somewhere else. Seneca observed that people guard their money and possessions carefully but give their time to anyone who asks. Every second lost is gone for good and we do not know when the last one will come. The people who complain loudest about life being short are often the busiest, but busy with the wrong things. This episode also explores what it looks like to design your life around what actually matters. Not as a distant goal to arrive at, but as a direction you can begin moving in today. When your values and priorities are clear, every small decision becomes deliberate and the feeling that life is passing you by begins to fade. As Seneca wrote, "Life is long, if only you knew how to use it." Read the full article: https://viastoica.com/how-to-design-your-life/ Support the showviastoica.com YouTube: @viastoica Produced by: Badmic.com

  5. Jul 6

    The Real Stoic View on Emotions: What Are They Telling You?

    What are your emotions really telling you? In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast, we take a closer look at one of the most misunderstood aspects of Stoic philosophy: the real Stoic view on emotions and what they can teach you about yourself. Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. This episode challenges the popular belief that Stoicism is about suppressing emotions and replaces it with something far more useful: understanding them as a source of information about your beliefs, your fears, and who you are becoming. The Stoics made a clear distinction between the involuntary first flash of feeling and the full emotional response that follows. That gap between the two is where your agency lives. By learning to pause and examine what judgment you have added to an event, you begin to see what your emotions are actually pointing at. Not an enemy to defeat or a wave to ride out, but a signal worth reading. This episode draws on the Stoic concepts of pathos, eupatheiai and propatheia to show how emotions rooted in false judgments take us away from reason, while emotions rooted in accurate ones can guide us toward virtue, better decisions, and more authentic connections with the people around us. If you have ever felt taken over by a reaction you did not choose, this conversation is for you. Read the full article: https://viastoica.com/what-your-emotions-are-trying-to-tell-you/ Support the showviastoica.com YouTube: @viastoica Produced by: Badmic.com

  6. Jun 26

    A Stoic Conversation with Massimo Pigliucci: How to be a (Happy) Skeptic

    What does it mean to be both a Stoic and a skeptic? In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast, philosopher and author Massimo Pigliucci returns to discuss his new book How to Be a (Happy) Skeptic: a guide to building a philosophy of life rooted in Stoic virtue and the ancient art of proportioning belief to evidence. Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. Massimo Pigliucci is Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York, a former evolutionary biologist, and one of the most important voices in modern Stoic philosophy. This is his second conversation on the show. The discussion moves from the foundations of a philosophy of life to the ancient debate between the Stoics and the Academic Skeptics, and then to one of the most compelling figures in Western history: Marcus Tullius Cicero. Not a Stoic himself, but deeply shaped by Stoic ethics, Cicero lived through the fall of the Roman Republic, exile, personal grief, and death at the hands of Mark Antony's soldiers. His life, Pigliucci argues, is a model for holding strong convictions while remaining honestly uncertain about what you know and why. The episode also explores how skepticism is not the enemy of commitment but its most honest companion: that our beliefs should be proportioned to evidence, and that a life examined with intellectual humility is not weaker but more durable. Read the full article here: https://viastoica.com/a-stoic-conversation-with-massimo-pigliucci/ Support the showviastoica.comYouTube: @viastoicaProduced by: Badmic.com Episode Outline: 00:00 Introduction to Massimo Pigliucci02:30 The Importance of Personal Philosophy11:46 Key Ingredients of a Philosophy of Life15:12 The Evolution of Skepticism in Philosophy19:31 Understanding Skepticism: Pyrrhonism vs. Academic Skepticism29:52 The Evolution of Persuasion and Belief33:15 Stoicism vs. Skepticism: A Philosophical Rivalry42:49 Cicero: The Relatable Philosopher52:05 The Structure of Cicero's Philosophy58:53 Future Endeavors: Exploring New Philosophies

    A Stoic Conversation with Massimo Pigliucci: How to be a (Happy) Skeptic

  7. Jun 22

    The People Pleaser: How to Stop Living for Other People's Approval

    People pleasing is not kindness. It is fear dressed up as generosity. In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast, we look honestly at what it means to stop living for other people's approval and start showing up as yourself. Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. This episode builds directly on the previous conversation about the scripts we inherit. People pleasing is what happens when we keep performing that script out of fear rather than choice. Most of us learned early that being agreeable was rewarded and that causing discomfort came at a price. That lesson becomes a habit, the habit becomes a pattern, and the pattern quietly erodes the person underneath it. You say yes when you mean no. You manage the emotions of others at the expense of your own. You lose track of where their needs end and yours begin. Epictetus was clear: what others think of you is entirely outside your control. Handing your life over to opinions you cannot control is not kindness. It is fear with a generous face. This episode of the Via Stoica Podcast asks the question most people pleasers never stop to consider: am I doing this because it is right, or because I am afraid of what happens if I do not? The in-between is yours. Read the full arctile: https://viastoica.com/how-to-stop-being-a-people-pleaser/ Support the show viastoica.com YouTube: @viastoica Produced by: Badmic.com

  8. Jun 15

    Who Wrote Your Script? The Stoic Guide to Authentic Living

    How much of the life you are living was actually chosen by you? In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast, we explore authentic living: the practice of examining the scripts inherited from parents, culture, school, and social media, and deciding for the first time which ones are genuinely yours. Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. This episode invites you to look honestly at the voices shaping your choices, not to blame them, but to see them clearly and to begin living from your own values rather than someone else's story. Most of us were handed a script before we could read it. Family wrote the early lines. School added more. Culture and religion filled in the gaps. And now social media rewrites it daily: feeding you someone else's version of success, happiness, and what a good life looks like. The Stoics called the faculty of conscious choice prohairesis, the one thing that has always been yours. Most people spend their entire lives using it to fulfil someone else's vision without ever noticing. This episode of the Via Stoica Podcast asks one of the most important questions in Stoic philosophy and in life: who wrote your script and why are you still listening to them? If you have ever felt that the life you are living belongs to someone else, this conversation is for you. Read the article on: https://viastoica.com/how-to-stop-living-someone-elses-life/ Support the show viastoica.com YouTube: @viastoica Produced by: Badmic.com

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4.7
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

Via Stoica is a podcast dedicated to Stoicism as a lived philosophy and a practical way of meeting modern life. We draw from ancient texts and apply them to real challenges, emotional reactivity, discipline, purpose, relationships, and adversity. This is not about abstract theory. It is about practice, with attention to what is within our control. Each week, we explore Stoic themes through reflections, practical topics, and interviews. The views expressed are my own and for informational purposes only. Learn more at viastoica.com.

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