Stoicism: Foundations

What three Romans actually taught — the discipline of assent, of desire, and of action.

A course on the thought of The Stoics.

Course outline

1. The Dichotomy, and What It Costs — Everything begins with one division: what is up to you and what is not. It sounds like a comfort. It is actually the most demanding claim in ancient philosophy, and it takes almost everything you…
2. The Discipline of Assent — Between what happens and what you suffer there is a gap, and something of yours moves in it. Learn to catch it moving, and you have the first discipline.
3. The Discipline of Desire — The hardest of the three. Not wanting less, but wanting what actually happened — and the reason the Stoics thought this was reasonable rather than mad.
4. The Discipline of Action — The discipline nobody quotes. Stoicism is not a retreat into the self — it is an argument that you owe the people who will annoy you today.
5. Seneca at Nero's Court — The most famous Stoic was tutor and minister to Nero, became enormously rich in the post, wrote the letter defending a murder, and was finally ordered to open his veins. This module does not resolve…
6. Does It Work? — The charge of resignation, at full strength. What the practice actually promised — and why the Stoicism you meet online is quoting a translator rather than a Stoic.

Part of the Symposium course library.