Stoa Conversations: Stoicism Applied Stoa

"If a text is not offensive to anyone, it probably isn't very important."

In this conversation, Caleb speaks with Jeremy Wayne Tate, the Co-founder and President of the Classic Learning Test [https://www.cltexam.com/].

The Classic Learning Test is bringing back a focus on educating the whole human person by focusing on the great works and fundamental philosophical questions about how to live.

If you check out the CLT author bank [https://www.cltexam.com/tests/authors/] you'll find several Stoic names – which we at Stoa love to see.

This conversation focuses on the purpose of education, testing, and how to approach the classics today – all with someone who is in the arena shaping how education is done today.

https://www.cltexam.com [https://www.cltexam.com/]

https://twitter.com/JeremyTate41

(03:31) Telos and Tests

(06:06) Why Go Back To The Classics?

(08:17) The SAT

(09:09) Elite Education

(11:05) The Stoics

(12:14) Crucial Questions

(16:46) How to Approach the Great Works

(20:07) C. S. Lewis

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Subscribe to The Stoa Letter for weekly meditations, actions, and links to the best Stoic resources: www.stoaletter.com/subscribe [http://www.stoaletter.com/subscribe]

Download the Stoa app (it's a free download): stoameditation.com/pod [http://stoameditation.com/pod]

If you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we'll set you up with a free account.

Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/

Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/

Does Contemporary psychology overlap with Stoic philosophy?

In this episode, Michael and Caleb go through Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. It's a seminal book in modern cognitive psychology and behavioral economics. Most importantly for our purposes, it's discussion of two key thinking styles, can deepen one's knowledge of Stoicism and, potentially, help one think better.

(01:21) Introduction

(06:35) Book Summary

(13:44) Going Deeper

(23:21) Anchoring

(26:05) Stoic Parallels

(37:26) Walking Through The Two Systems

(50:24) Takeaways

"Happiness, as the goal of life, can be understood as the highest expression of human nature, as encapsulating the chief markers of humanity at its best, namely rationality and sociability."

In this conversation, I (Caleb) speak with Chris Gill. We kick off the conversation with topics from his most recent book Learning to Live Naturally: Stoic Ethics and its Modern Significance. It's no exaggeration to say that Chris Gill is a legend in modern Stoicism so having him on again was a real privilege.

Learning to Live Naturally [https://amzn.to/48gPEmA]

(02:19) Indifferents

(10:39) What Grounds Virtue?

(16:55) How to Think About Virtues and Nature

(26:44) Stoicism and the Natural World

(29:43) Stoic Detachment

(38:02) Does Stoicism Promote Self-sufficiency?

***

Subscribe to The Stoa Letter for weekly meditations, actions, and links to the best Stoic resources: www.stoaletter.com/subscribe [http://www.stoaletter.com/subscribe]

Download the Stoa app (it's a free download): stoameditation.com/pod [http://stoameditation.com/pod]

If you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we'll set you up with a free account.

Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/

Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/

What does a Stoic eat?

How does a Stoic think about food?

That's what Caleb and Michael discuss in this episode.

Citing all 4 of the Roman Stoics, they cover how ancient Stoics thought about food and how that can shape our behavior today.

(01:56) Intro

(05:06) Musonius Rufus on Food

(14:05) The Social Role of Food

(19:09) Seneca on Food

(24:53) Mythbusting

(28:00) What Should Other People Eat?

(33:00) Context Context 

(35:29) Implications

***

Subscribe to The Stoa Letter for weekly meditations, actions, and links to the best Stoic resources: www.stoaletter.com/subscribe [http://www.stoaletter.com/subscribe]

Download the Stoa app (it's a free download): stoameditation.com/pod [http://stoameditation.com/pod]

If you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we'll set you up with a free account.

Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/

Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/

"Iron sharpens iron"

In this conversation, Michael speaks with Gregory Sadler.

Greg is the Founder and President of ReasonIO [https://reasonio.wordpress.com/], a company dedicated to making resources of contemporary and classical philosophy available and accessible to non-philosophers. I first encountered Greg through his popular YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@GregoryBSadler], which has hundreds of videos breaking down the thinking of philosophers ranging from Epictetus and Seneca to Hegel and Hume.

In this conversation, we cover challenges to the Stoics from a range of philosophers – each criticism should sharpen your picture of Stoicism.

(02:04) Greg's Story

(06:37) What Attracted Greg to Stoicism?

(13:28) Hegel on the Stoics

(25:12) Nietzsche's Challenge

(33:36) William James on Stoicism

(43:39) Experimentation

(46:00) Shifty Stoicism

(48:15) Neo-Aristotelian Arguments

***

Subscribe to The Stoa Letter for weekly meditations, actions, and links to the best Stoic resources: www.stoaletter.com/subscribe [http://www.stoaletter.com/subscribe]

Download the Stoa app (it's a free download): stoameditation.com/pod [http://stoameditation.com/pod]

If you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we'll set you up with a free account.

Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/

Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/

The best skiers don't study ancient skiers. The best physicists don't turn to Ancient Greece in order to push their field forward. So why should philosophers look back at the work of the ancients?

In this episode, Caleb and Michael wrestle with that question. Their answers may surprise you.

(02:11) The Argument Against Studying Ancient Philosophy 

(07:00) Who is Actually Doing Philosophy Today?

(16:27) Mining for Diamonds

(25:00) The Motivational Force of Philosophy

(28:17) Communion with the Ancients

(32:08) Caleb on Why He Studies Ancient Philosophy

(35:55) An Aside on Organs

***

Subscribe to The Stoa Letter for weekly meditations, actions, and links to the best Stoic resources: www.stoaletter.com/subscribe [http://www.stoaletter.com/subscribe]

Download the Stoa app (it's a free download): stoameditation.com/pod [http://stoameditation.com/pod]

If you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we'll set you up with a free account.

Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/

Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/