Philosophy as a Way of Life
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Ward Farnsworth is the dean of the University of Texas School of Law and holds the John Jeffers Research Chair in Law. He is the author of books on law, rhetoric, and philosophy, including The Practising Stoic.
“…the Socratic style of thought is what our culture needs right now. It’s an antidote to social media and to the toxic state of our politics.”
Ward Farnsworth
Two reasons. First, the Socratic style of thought is what our culture needs right now. It’s an antidote to social media and to the toxic state of our politics. Despite the fame of Socrates, though, most people nowadays don’t have a very clear idea of what his method was. It deserves better. It’s one of the great legacies of the classical world, and it’s useful for everyone. The book explains how it works.
For one thing, humility. The Socratic Method is a process of asking hard questions but also of welcoming disagreement. Socrates wasn’t said to be the wisest person in Athens because he had answers to the big questions. He was the wisest because he knew he didn’t have them.
Socrates also gives us helpful rules for good dialogue—things like saying what you really think, trying not to give offense but also not taking offense, and showing charity when you interpret what others say. I’ve proposed twelve Socratic rules of engagement, which you can download and read.
A few years ago, I wrote a book called The Practicing Stoic. It’s about the practical teachings that Stoicism has to offer and what the different ancient philosophers said about them. This book is a prequel to that one. It tells the origin story of Stoicism.
The approach that Socrates took to reasoning, and the conclusions he reached, are the start of Stoic philosophy. So, if you like Stoicism, learning about Socrates will help you understand it better. It takes you back to the roots.
Socratic dialogue is mostly an effort to test your consistency—to see if your surface reactions to things can be squared with what else you know and think.
Ward Farnsworth
Socrates was a hero and model to the Stoics. They viewed his attitude toward his death and other attacks as examples of one of their key ideas—that things are made good or bad by how we think about them and handle them.
The idea that virtue is the only really good thing is another that they got from Socrates. And Socratic dialogue is mostly an effort to test your consistency—to see if your surface reactions to things can be squared with what else you know and think. That was the approach Epictetus used in his classroom, too. Epictetus was a great teacher, and he regarded Socrates as his teacher.
Yes, its real use for most of us isn’t for teaching or putting questions to other people. It’s a way to think. That’s the spirit in which Plato offered it. Socrates says in the dialogues that thinking—at least good thinking—is like an internal conversation. You have a skeptical dialogue with yourself.
That’s the best way to look at the Socratic method. It’s a discipline for the mind and a path toward wisdom, even if it also helps us see that we’ll never get all the way there.
The four main principles of Stoicism — wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance — are best used to conduct self-assessments, not to “preach” to others. Stoics should therefore not insist that Stoicism is superior to other philosophies. Instead, these principles should be employed as personal markers to improve continually.
With the hope of being helpful to others, the remainder of this writing details some things I have done and the standards that I try and hold to that help me do that. No matter where you are on your personal development, everyone is better off if we are all trying to better ourselves. Being a self-assessing Stoic will also help prevent you from becoming what may be the worst — a hypocrite.
Wisdom is not just knowing lots of information. Artificial intelligence and Google are making that ability less and less important. Instead, true wisdom is all about the ability to be creative and innovative. To be creative and innovative, you have to be able to admit when you are wrong and adjust as you receive new information.
Being adaptable is becoming a rare skill in today’s world, where people have developed immutable beliefs based on information pushed for political or self-serving reasons. If you cannot admit you are wrong, you will essentially never be innovative, especially when circumstances change. When was the last time you admitted you were wrong to someone?
Courage is knowingly deciding to act for the good of others regardless of the consequences to yourself — even if those consequences could be dire. I have seen courage in traditional settings (e.g., in the military and on the battlefield). But courageousness is found in many other capacities every day.
Do you walk past the person being bullied or attacked on the street? Do you look the other way when someone is wrongfully discriminated against or do you stand up for them — even if it means those discriminating turn on you? Do you pull someone out of a burning car on the highway or do you standby watching it burn? Every day is a test, whether you like it or not.
The true pursuit of justice should be for others regardless of whether they are like you or not.
Mick Mulroy
Look at justice and your pursuit of it. What are you doing for others? Yes, you should fight for your rights and the rights of those like you. But, that is basically righteous self-interest. The true pursuit of justice should be for others regardless of whether they are like you or not.
Human rights after all should be, by definition, universal. We should strive to promote human rights for others regardless of whether we personally benefit. This is what it means to be a true proponent of justice, to be a humanitarian. When is the last time you took a stand for something that did not benefit you for someone that wasn’t like you?
As an Irish-American myself, I have a theory on the Irish. During the famine and the troubles in Ireland, many families had to send some of their children to the “New World” to try and make enough to survive for the whole family.
Yet, the United States was not very receptive to the Irish. In fact, they it was in many ways hostile. Most Irish chosen to be sent across the ocean were selected based on their tenacity and boldness (there are other names I could use but I am trying to be polite). They weren’t necessarily sent abroad for their temperance.
Whether this theory is true, I have always viewed temperance as the most challenging. Aristotle may have said moderation in all things, but that is easier said than done for many people, Irish or not.
I have found that the best way to improve in this category is to well, cheat. If you eat and drink too much at night, go to bed early. If you turn hostile every time you talk politics with your parents or a certain friend, even after you tried to have a civil discussion, talk about something else. But a person’s temper may not be in their total control.
Deciding to go into situations that trigger your temper is in your control. To be blunt, if it is your choice to avoid, then the consequences of not avoiding it are your fault. When was the last time you were the one that walked away from an unproductive argument?
These principles are the building blocks that make up a more complicated whole — your integrity. Your integrity is the only thing that can’t be taken from you and is, therefore, the only thing you truly own. Self-assessment, if done honestly, is an investment in your integrity.
Like climbing a mountain, there will be hardships, there will be peaks and valleys, and there may even be some false summits, but it is worth the effort for you and everyone you know.
Whether you agree with or use what I utilize for self-assessment is not what’s important. What is important is looking carefully at yourself in the Stoic’s mirror. Many people are their own greatest fans. Be your own harshest critic.
Mick Mulroy, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, retired CIA officer, and U.S. Marine, on the board of advisors for the Plato’s Academy Centre.
Sir John Templeton (1912 – 2008), an American by birth who later became naturalised as a UK citizen, was an extremely successful investor and fund manager. He was also one of the 20th century’s most notable philanthropists, reputedly giving away over a billion dollars to charity. In 1987, he founded The Templeton Foundation, describing its goal as follows:
We are trying to persuade people that no human has yet grasped 1% of what can be known about spiritual realities. So we are encouraging people to start using the same methods of science that have been so productive in other areas, in order to discover spiritual realities.
John Templeton
Templeton was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church. He had a very diverse interest, though, in spiritual and philosophical classics from other traditions. His writings are full of quotes from famous Stoics such as Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. He also quotes frequently from Cicero, an orator and Academic philosopher who was himself heavily influenced by Stoicism. Templeton also liked to refer to Socrates, the most famous Greek philosopher of all, who preceded and greatly influenced the Stoic school.
I counted about 22 references to Stoicism in Worldwide Laws of Life, his most popular book on Amazon. To save me repeating “Templeton quotes xyz as saying”, incidentally, bear in mind that every one of the quotations below is used by Templeton in this book.
Templeton derived two major themes from his reading of the Stoics, which run throughout his writings:
We’ll explore each of these in turn before discussing a third Stoic theme, death reflection, which Templeton only touches upon indirectly.
Templeton uses this quote from Marcus Aurelius as the title of one of his Worldwide Laws of Life. He also includes another quote, which better explains its meaning: “Such as are thy habitual thoughts,” says Marcus, “such also will be the character of thy soul—for the soul is dyed by thy thoughts.” Marcus is also quoted as saying:
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thought: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus was steeped in the teachings of Epictetus, an earlier Stoic philosopher, whose most famous saying was:
Men are disturbed not by things that happen but by their opinion of the things that happen.
Epictetus
Templeton quoted Epictetus because he understood that our emotional life depends much more on our opinions than we normally tend to realise. Our spiritual progress requires taking responsibility for our own thinking, and bringing our actions more into alignment with the goal of living wisely and virtuously.
Recalling that we can always view events differently helps us to cope with setbacks in a wiser, more constructive manner. Epictetus is quoted as saying, “On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.” One who has mastered this ability has overcome fortune.
Happy is the man who can endure the highest and the lowest fortune. He who has endured such vicissitudes with equanimity has deprived misfortune of its power.
Seneca
Templeton also quoted with approval Epictetus’ remark:
Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things are either what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man’s task.
Epictetus
We are unlikely to be deceived when things are as they appear to be. However, often the contrary is true. Something might be healthy, on the one hand, without appearing to be so. On the other, something may appear to be healthy, without, in fact, being so. Appearances, in short, are distinct from reality, and can therefore be quite misleading. This might seem obvious but we’re naturally inclined to forget the distinction between appearance and reality. Philosophers like Epictetus want us to be more mindful of this distinction throughout our daily lives, as a safeguard against being deceived by superficial impressions.
We have to make a commitment to the truth as it requires intelligence and effort to see clearly, without letting our feelings get in the way.
The great teacher Seneca said, “Eyes will not see when the heart wishes them to be blind.”
John Templeton
He also quotes Seneca saying “Live among men as if God beheld you; speak to God as if men were listening.”
Socrates, the godfather of Stoicism, as it were, was the first to really emphasize that we need to question our own thinking very deeply, every day, if we want to achieve wisdom and learn to see life clearly. Templeton relates the famous story of the Delphic Oracle, or priestess of Apollo, also known as the Pythia. She once, controversially, announced that Socrates was the wisest of all men. This prompted Socrates to respond by insisting that he was only wise because he realized that he knew nothing, at least nothing certain about things of great importance. “Surely,” writes Templeton, “these are the words of a teachable man.”
Socrates reputedly said at his trial “The unexamined life is not worth living”, words which Templeton also notes approvingly. After the Delphic Oracle’s remarkable proclamation of Socrates’ wisdom, the Athenian philosopher dedicated his life to following the most famous prescription engraved outside her shrine. It consisted of two simple words: Know thyself. For Templeton this was emblematic of Socrates’ mission to urged Athenians “to live noble lives, to think critically and logically, and to have probing minds”, although as we’ll see it also has another meaning.
Templeton used this quote from Epictetus as another of his Worldwide Laws of Life. Philosophy, philosophia in Greek, literally means “love of wisdom”, including the wisdom that comes from studying our own nature. Striving to truly know ourselves, following the maxim of the Delphic Oracle, is the essence of Socratic philosophy, and of Stoicism. It means realizing that our minds shape our emotions and that our happiness therefore depends, fundamentally, upon our thinking, our beliefs, and our overall philosophy of life. Knowing yourself is the key to your freedom, in other words. Templeton quotes Seneca on this: “A good mind is lord of a kingdom.” That’s because self-knowledge leads to self-control, which we need in order to free ourselves from our own unhealthy desires and emotions. “No man is free”, according to Epictetus, “who is not master of himself.”
Ancient philosophy, particularly Stoicism, was not an abstract bookish or “academic” diversion but a whole way of life, similar in some ways to a religion such as Buddhism. Templeton knew this and used the words of another Stoic to illustrate the point.
Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life—in firmness of mind and mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and action all of a color.
Seneca
Of course this requires an unusual degree of dedication to the goal of living wisely. “No man”, says Epictetus, “is able to make progress when he is wavering between opposite things.” We all too easily risk wasting our time otherwise. “Part of our time is snatched from us,” as Seneca puts it, “part is gently subtracted, and part slides insensibly away.” Yet when we focus ourselves on our fundamental goal in life, the goal of attaining wisdom and virtue, we can achieve a great deal. “Better to do a little well,” says Socrates, “than a great deal badly.” Templeton also liked to quote Cicero, who was influenced by the Stoics, in this regard:
Diligence is to be particularly cultivated by us, it is to be constantly exerted; it is capable of effecting almost everything.
Cicero
The secret to achieving this level of diligence and focus lies in self-knowledge, though, and the realization that we already have an overriding goal in life: the goal of wisdom. For Socrates and the Stoics, wisdom and virtue are the same. The supreme goal in life is to become wise and good, or to improve and ultimately perfect ourselves. Nature gave us the capacity for reason and self-awareness, and left us to finish her work by using these faculties well throughout life. “A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature”, as Seneca put it. We’re constantly tempted to stray from the path, though, by endless diversions in life. “No longer talk at all about the kind of man a good man ought to be,” says Marcus Aurelius therefore, “but be such.” We know we’re on the right track when we can look back on our life and feel that we’ve actually spent our precious time well. “The life given us by nature is short,” said Cicero, “but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal.”
The goal of life is to act consistently in accord with our fundamental goal, of seeking wisdom and virtue. The Stoics doubted whether any mortal had ever achieved perfection but they still thought it was a goal worth aspiring toward, although we should be grateful for making even small steps in the right direction. Templeton quotes a stunning passage from Seneca on this:
The greatest man is he who chooses right with the most invincible resolution; who resists the sorest temptation from within and without; who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully; who is calmest in storms, and most fearless under menaces and frowns; whose reliance on truth, on virtue, and on god is most unfaltering.
Seneca
This is the famous “Sage” or Sophos of the Stoic philosophical tradition: their knowingly idealistic definition of the potential for greatness implicit in human nature.
As we’ve seen, the words “Know thyself” were engraved at the entrance of the temple of Apollo at Delphi, near Athens. Inside was seated the Pythia, who not only spoke on behalf of her patron god, but channelled his very presence, so it was believed, through a form of possession. Those standing outside the temple were reminded, therefore, to show humility because they were about enter the presence of an immortal being, the god Apollo himself. In other words, the inscription “Know yourself” originally meant “Know your place” or “Remember that you are a mortal.”
Here’s a quote from the ancient Stoics, which you don’t find inTempleton’s books:
Those whom you love and those whom you despise will both be made equal in the same ashes. This is the meaning of that command, “Know thyself”, which is written on the shrine of the Pythian oracle. — Seneca, Moral Letters, 11
“What is man?”, asks Seneca. Nothing more than a potter’s vase, which can be shattered into pieces by the slightest knock.
You were born a mortal, and you have given birth to mortals: yourself a weak and fragile body, liable to all diseases, can you have hoped to produce anything strong and lasting from such unstable material? — Moral Letters, 11
Contemplation of our own mortality is a major theme in Stoicism. It was known in Greek as melete thanatou, or training for death, following a saying of Socrates. It’s better-known today, perhaps, by the Latin phrase memento mori meaning “remember thou must die”. This phrase, as Epictetus noted, was one of several traditionally whispered in the ears of victorious Roman generals and emperors, by attendant slaves, in order to protect them against delusions of immortality and godhood. The Stoics believed that by contemplating our own mortality on a daily basis, in the right way, we could overcome our fear of death, and this would liberate us from many other unhealthy desires and emotions in life.
We can choose to flow gracefully or to resist and become immobilized in fear.
John Templeton
John Templeton does, in fact, describe a similar practice. “Many people have a fear of change”, he says. He therefore advises his readers that, in the form of a spiritual practice, they may come to accept change and loss, without upset, by learning to view such things as part of nature. We should remember that “nature’s great scheme involves change”, as Templeton puts it. This sounds just like Stoicism as does Templeton’s remark: “We can choose to flow gracefully or to resist and become immobilized in fear.” In part, this comes from accepting change as natural and inevitable, as the Stoics say. Our suffering can also be helped, according to Templeton, by viewing every ending as also a beginning.
We generally like beginnings—we celebrate the new. On the other hand, many people resist endings and attempt to delay them. Much of our resistance to endings stems from our unawareness, or inability, to realize that we are one with nature. Often we don’t feel the joy of an ending, perhaps because we forget that in each ending are the seeds of beginning. Although endings can be painful, they are less so if, instead of resisting them, we look at time as a natural process of nature: as leaves budding in the spring, coming to full leaf in the summer, turning red and gold in autumn, and dropping from the trees in winter. It can be comforting to comprehend that we are an integral part of the great scheme of nature.
John Templeton
This leads to Templeton’s sage advice with regard to losses we experience in the course of life: “The more we allow ourselves to trust that every ending is a new beginning, the less likely we are to resist letting go of old ideas and attitudes.” His own Christian faith, however, meant that he also viewed death as a new beginning, because he had faith, personally, in an afterlife. He compares human life to the existence of a lowly caterpillar, and death to our soul’s emergence from a spiritual cocoon, into a more resplendent life in Heaven.
Yet, if you are willing to trust, as caterpillars seem able to do, the end of your life as an earthbound worm may be the beginning of your life as a beautiful winged creature of the sky.
John Templeton
Death is not something to be feared, therefore, because we may be reborn as beings of pure spirit, living on in a better place.
We can see each ending as a tragedy and lament and resist it, or we can see each ending as a new beginning and a new birth into greater opportunities. What the caterpillar sees as the tragedy of death, the butterfly sees as the miracle of birth.
John Templeton
That belief is not as widely held today, though, at least in those countries where agnosticism and atheism are common.
In the ancient world, perhaps surprisingly, a somewhat more agnostic attitude toward death was also quite common. Socrates, in Plato’s Apology, expresses belief in the gods and hope that he will enjoy a happy existence in the afterlife. However, he admits his uncertainty about such things, and adopts a philosophical attitude, preparing himself for the possibility that death may, instead, resemble an endless sleep, a state of total nonexistence or oblivion.
Many people share Templeton’s interest in using “the same methods of science that have been so productive in other areas, in order to discover spiritual realities”. They don’t all share his Christian faith in spiritual life after death, though. Some of these individuals would struggle to interpret their own death as the “seeds of beginning” an afterlife in Heaven. I think this is an area where the Stoic position could arguably serve Templeton’s overall aim of a rational and “scientific” investigation of spirituality better.
As we saw earlier, Templeton used perhaps the most widely quoted of all passages from the Stoics… Epictetus says that it is our own opinions, ultimately, that disturb us. In the next sentence, though, Epictetus applied this insight to the fear of death, using the example of Socrates, because he considered this the most important fear of all to overcome.
Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things: for example, death is nothing terrible, for if it were, it would have seemed so to Socrates; for the opinion about death, that it is terrible, is the terrible thing.
Epictetus, Handbook 5
It’s easier for some non-Christians, especially the atheists and agnostics, to accept uncertainty about life after death. The guidance they’re usually seeking from ancient spiritual traditions today is more about maintaining their values while coming to terms with that very uncertainty, and adopting a philosophical attitude toward their own mortality, such as the one exemplified by Socrates and the Stoics.
Anya Leonard is the founder and director of Classical Wisdom, a publishing business dedicated to bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds. Anya majored in philosophy and the history of science and math with a minor in comparative literature at St. John’s college in Annapolis and received her Master’s in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh. Born in Norway, Anya has lived in 12 countries, visited 85 and is currently residing in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She recently published a children’s book about the ancient Greek poetess, called Sappho: The Lost Poetess.
It was my older brother who first introduced me to thinking about philosophy. When I was a teenager, we used to spend our summers visiting my father in Kazakhstan. My dad had studied astronomy in college, so we would all go up to the Tien-Shan observatory high up in the mountains and sleep on the stone benches after spending hours looking at the stars. I remember after one such night my brother purposefully asked a series of questions…
Where did we come from? How should we live? What is the purpose of life?
I no doubt provided an embarrassingly average, nonchalant 14-year-old response… to which he replied, “This is important. You need to think about these things.” And so I did.
While I enjoyed the philosophy segments in my high school (we had a class named “Man and his Measure”), my more formal training, so to speak, began at St. John’s college in Annapolis. There we studied ancient Greek, read the originals, discussed the texts for hours both in and out of the classroom. You can’t unlearn that experience if you tried! It was a full decade later I founded Classical Wisdom and now dedicate my full time to ancient philosophy, along with literature, history and mythology from the Classical world.
Generally speaking, the most important concept that we promote at Classical Wisdom is that there is real, meaningful value in learning ancient history, philosophy and literature. That the words and ideas that have survived thousands of years have worth in our here and now, if only we are willing to listen. Moreover, there is a beautiful tradition, a great conversation about how we should be that has involved the most inspiring minds from all over the world, from all walks of life, that has occurred throughout the centuries… and that we too can be part of that conversation.
Not only that, but we should continue the discussion. History can inspire, humble, warn, advise, as well as give an amazing perspective on how to live a purposeful life. Our mission at Classical Wisdom is to bring ancient wisdom to modern minds – so we really try to illustrate the importance of the ancient world.
…always continue learning and to make learning a habit. We try to show the value and enjoyment of continuing one’s education, but more than that, to live a life of the mind.
Anya Leonard
We do promote a lot of Stoic philosophy and ideas and I love the practical aspects of that. However, another philosophy that I like to bring up because I think it is very useful for dealing with our current political environment is Skepticism. Of course, the word skeptic has many modern connotations that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the ancient philosophy, so the first hurdle is to explain the original meanings. The practical advice is to listen to another idea, though (even one that you feel you will really hate and dislike) with a truly open mind in order to ‘suspend judgment’. You can only form your own ideas with knowledge if you are able to listen to your opponent. Better still, if you really try to see it from your opposition’s view, you will either learn something and be the better for it or you will better understand your own position. Either way, you win.
Now, I’m not certain if that is the most important advice, simply because it is so specific. If I were to choose something more general it would be to always continue learning and to make learning a habit. We try to show the value and enjoyment of continuing one’s education, but more than that, to live a life of the mind.
The pleasures arising from thinking and learning will make us think and learn the more.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
I love this quote because it both illustrates the enjoyment of learning and the beautiful positive cycle that it inspires. The formation of meaningful habits starts with a thought, which becomes an action, a lifestyle, a character, a virtue. The beginning is gloriously simple and effective: think and learn.
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To actually talk on the exact location of Plato’s Academy would be a real honor. One aspect that I really love about this project of restoring Plato’s academy is to bring to life the history and wisdom of Plato and his world. By walking in his footsteps and finding archeological artifacts as well as reading the original texts, we can traverse through time. It connects us in almost a magical way to history’s ancestors and reminds us that we are the continuation of a great tradition called human civilization.
We’re delighted to announce that the Plato’s Academy Centre’s virtual community has already reached over one thousand members, within two weeks of launching. We’ve been astounded at the support we’ve received. Thanks everyone!
At the moment, the platform we’ve chosen is Facebook where our community is hosted in a Facebook discussion group. However, we have been considering alternative options for those who don’t use Facebook.
The community is posting news and articles for now. Soon, though, we’ll be introducing trained moderators who will be facilitating tolerant and constructive discussion about philosophy, in the spirit of the original Platonic Academy!
You can also follow our other social media accounts or subscribe to our blog or newsletter for updates and announcements regarding the project.
Anita L. Allen is the Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. At Penn, she is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition, the Warren Center for Network & Data Sciences and a Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics. A graduate of Harvard Law School with a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Michigan, Allen is an expert on privacy and data protection law, bioethics and public philosophy. She holds an honorary doctorate from Tilburg University. In 2019 Allen was President of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association. In 2021 she was awarded the Quinn Prize for service to philosophy and philosophers. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Allen served under President Obama as a member of the National Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Allen currently serves on the boards of the National Constitution Center, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Future of Privacy Forum. Allen has lectured on privacy in Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and Israel; published five books and over 120 scholarly articles; contributed to and been featured in popular newspapers, magazines, podcasts and blogs; and appeared on numerous television and radio programs. In 2024 Allen will give the H.L. A. Hart Memorial Lecture at the University of Oxford.
My childhood was boring. As the Italians say, it was all “casa, scuola, chiesa”. To relieve boredom, I read. I read a lot of novels, romance magazines, and encyclopedias before discovering philosophy and theology somewhere around age 12 or 13. Because I have read so widely and for a long time, my thinking has been diversely shaped by analytic, phenomenological, existentialist, critical, and feminist thought. Sadly, I was not exposed to Native American, Latin American, African or Asian philosophy in school. In college and graduate school, I was educated solely in American pragmatism, along with British, French, German and, of course, Greek philosophy.
The most important idea I teach is that privacy has ethical and legal value highly relevant to the digital age. In a less formal sense, I hope I teach by the example of my conduct, service and commitments, the importance of equality, self-respect and resilience.
Anita L. Allen
As an academic lawyer and philosopher working in a major research university, the most important concept I teach is the concept of privacy. The most important idea I teach is that privacy has ethical and legal value highly relevant to the digital age. In a less formal sense, I hope I teach by the example of my conduct, service and commitments, the importance of equality, self-respect and resilience.
In recent work scheduled for publication in the Yale Law Review Forum, I discuss the problems of racial discrimination, hate and political manipulation perpetrated by online platforms – such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Uber – their algorithms, advertisers and users. I offer practical advice about using privacy and data protection law, along with industry self-regulation and other approaches, to address platform ills. I argue that there is promise but challenge in European Union GDPR-influenced US state and federal law and proposed laws.
One of my favorite quotes comes from an American state court opinion recognizing the right to privacy, Pavesich v New England Life Insurance Co. in 1906. I seem to quote it in nearly everything I write about privacy. A judge analogizes invasions of privacy to slavery, the condition of bondage that brought my African ancestors to North America against their wills. The quote reads:
The knowledge that one’s features and form are being used for such a purpose, and displayed in such places as such advertisements are often liable to be found, brings not only the person of an extremely sensitive nature, but even the individual of ordinary sensibility, to a realization that his liberty has been taken away from him; and, as long as the advertiser uses him for these purposes, he cannot be otherwise than conscious of the fact that he is for the time being under the control of another, that he is no longer free, and that he is in reality a slave, without hope of freedom, held to service by a merciless master.
Anyone interested in learning more about my work in law, the nonprofit sector, government service or philosophy can always grab my cv from my University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law webpage or Google me. I note that there is a wonderful book that came out in 2019, edited by Rebecca Buxton and Lisa Whiting, which includes a chapter about me, Philosopher Queens: The Lives and Legacies of Philosophy’s Unsung Women. I recommend it! There is also a discussion of me placed in historical context in Carlin Romano’s book, America the Philosophical; and published interviews with me including in The New York Times and What It’s Like to be a Philosopher.
I think the ghost of Plato might be surprised, but not disapproving, to see a black American woman hanging out in Athens doing what Socrates did.
Anita L. Allen
It would be awesome to have the opportunity to offer a workshop at the original location of Plato’s Academy in Athens. I use the “Socratic method” in my law school teaching. Over the years I have become skilled at teaching through the process of posing questions and building knowledge dialectically through series of questions and answers, rather than through pedantic lecturing from behind a podium. (However, the fact that Socrates was sentenced to death for allegedly corrupting the minds of youth has to give one pause!)
I have also become pretty good at educating other professionals using the Socratic method. I have designed and led professional development workshops at the University of Pennsylvania for university administrators (deans, department chairs, center heads) on the ethical exercise of discretion using a Socratic format. I think the ghost of Plato might be surprised, but not disapproving, to see a black American woman hanging out in Athens doing what Socrates did. Quoting from the Benjamin Jowett translation of Plato’s Republic:
Women are the same in kind as men and have the same aptitude or want of aptitude… . [T]here is no longer anything unnatural or impossible in a woman learning… . [H]e who laughs at them is a fool…
Plato, The Republic
Anita L. Allen, Presidential Address, “The Philosophy of Privacy and Digital Life,” 93 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association 21-38 (2019).
Anita L. Allen, “Ideas and Ideals: Honoring Joyce Mitchell Cook,” Think, volume 20, issue 59, Autumn 2021.
Anita L. Allen, Protecting One’s Own Privacy in a Big Data Economy, 130 Harvard Law Review Forum 71 (2016).
The Academy’s name is synonymous with the philosophy of Plato but it also plays a part in the history of Stoic philosophy. Zeno of Citium studied at the Platonic Academy for at least a decade before founding his own Stoic school, located in the Agora of Athens. Toward the end of his life a monument was erected in the grounds of the Academy. It was a pillar with an inscription commemorating Zeno’s exemplary virtue and temperance, and honouring his contributions to philosophy.
The Academy was one of Athens’ ancient gymnasia or recreational grounds. It contained a wrestling school, libraries, shrines, etc. (It was described as a pleasant wooded grove, until the Roman dictator Sulla cut down its trees to rebuild his siege engines in the 1st century BC.) The Academy was most famously associated with Plato’s philosophy, with which it quickly became synonymous after he set up his school and began teaching there. However, other philosophers also taught in the grounds of the Academy. Socrates appears to have walked there discussing philosophy, while Plato was still a young student of his, and his rivals the Sophists probably gave speeches there.
You do not escape my notice, Zeno, slipping in by the garden door, stealing my doctrines and clothing them in a Phoenician style!
Polemon of Athens
Centuries later, Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, spent ten years attending lectures in the Platonic school at the Academy, which at that time was headed by a successor of Plato called Xenocrates of Chalcedon. Over the years, Zeno began to build a reputation himself as an expert on dialectic, however, he continued to attend lectures at the Academy, delivered by Xenocrates’ successor, Polemon of Athens, a rebellious youth who turned his life around and became renowned for his temperance as a philosopher. Zeno was therefore admired for showing intellectual humility by attending the public lectures of a famous rival philosopher. Nevertheless, Polemon is said to have joked: “You do not escape my notice, Zeno, slipping in by the garden door, stealing my doctrines and clothing them in a Phoenician style!” In other words, he borrowed ideas from Polemon’s Academic philosophy and incorporated them into Stoicism.
After founding the Stoic School, Zeno earned such a reputation as a teacher and role model to the youth that when he reached an advanced age, the Athenians passed a decree publicly honouring him and had it inscribed on two stone pillars “one in the Academy and the other in the Lyceum”. It begins with the words:
Whereas Zeno of Citium, son of Mnaseas, has for many years been devoted to philosophy in the city and has continued to be a man of worth in all other respects, exhorting to virtue and temperance those of the youth who come to him to be taught, directing them to what is best, affording to all in his own conduct a pattern for imitation in perfect consistency with his teaching, it has seemed good to the people – and may it turn out well – to bestow praise upon Zeno of Citium, the son of Mnaseas, and to crown him with a golden crown according to the law, for his goodness and temperance, and to build him a tomb in the Ceramicus at the public cost.
This information seems to be derived by our source, Diogenes Laertius, from an earlier author Antigonus of Carystus, whose Successions of Philosophers was written in the 3rd century BC, shortly after Zeno’s death. Antigonus of Carystus adds that to the inscription were added the words “Zeno of Citium, the philosopher”, as Zeno had insisted that his status as a foreign immigrant at Athens should not be forgotten.
You’ll find several articles on this website from leading academics and well-known authors who specialize in Stoic philosophy.
Dr. Paul Blaschko is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Philosophy Department at Notre Dame University. A philosopher, his primary areas of interest are epistemology and action theory. His research focuses on the nature and normative dimensions of deliberative belief formation, but he’s also interested in theories of practical reason and value, the philosophy of religion, and medieval philosophy. His latest book on virtue ethics with Meghan Sullivan, The Good Life Method, is now available nationwide.
I came to philosophy through religion. I was raised in a very serious Catholic home, and, fairly early, I started wondering about some of the more surprising things I was taught to believe. My parents bought me some books on apologetics, and I was immediately hooked on the idea that you could give philosophical arguments to defend the things you believe. I spent a good amount of time through high school on the internet, searching out the best philosophical arguments I could find. By then, too, my interests had become broader. I started listening to lectures on Ancient Greek philosophy. I was fascinated by the character of Plato. I tried to emulate him in my everyday life and drove everyone around me completely crazy.
I think this backstory actually helps explain my approach to philosophy even today. I’m still very interested in approaching philosophy as a “way of life.” With Meghan Sullivan, I developed a course at Notre Dame that introduces students to philosophy by asking them to reflect on big questions that show up in their own experience. I started a program, with help from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, to help other philosophers do the same. In these projects, you’ll see the commitment to the practical relevance of philosophy, but also the way in which I think we can meet people where they’re at (often on the internet, or even on platforms like TikTok), and just start doing philosophy together.
That philosophy can be a way of reflecting on, and improving, your life. In the first day of my good life class, I introduce my students to Aristotle’s conception of happiness as “eudaimonia.” We contrast this with simpler, more intuitive notions of happiness as, say, a pleasant emotion. Then we consider a couple arguments. According to Aristotle, our ultimate aim is to achieve eudaimonia, to flourish. This is the ultimate goal, and one that helps explain literally everything that we do.
As we reflect on this together, and as we start to get deeper into Aristotle’s account, students realize that happiness is something you can reflect on. That we can argue about it. And that philosophy is a crucial part of this process. This is just one example, too. When we talk about Marcus Aurelius, we start asking about whether there’s a part of us that is essentially contemplative. We start asking whether we should care more about external goods like wealth and fame, or whether we’ll be happier and more well-balanced if we focus on our inner-lives; on our reactions, emotional attitudes, and virtues.
If you want to live a good life, learn to love the truth. Develop the ability to connect with other people and build true friendships and community, and to ask hard questions about what matters most in life.
Paul Blaschko
If you want to live a good life, learn to love the truth. Develop the ability to connect with other people and build true friendships and community, and to ask hard questions about what matters most in life. None of this is easy, but it’s something that we can do with the help of innumerable philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Elizabeth Anscombe, Iris Murdoch, and so on. Philosophy is a living tradition, and it’s one that we can become a part of just by entering into this conversation.
In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle says
[W]e are inquiring not in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, since otherwise our inquiry would have been of no use.
This is at the core of my approach to philosophy. I don’t think all philosophy needs to be immediately relevant or applicable to everyday life or experience, but the philosophy I’m most interested in — and certainly the philosophy I teach — all is. In a way, too, it also answers to that experience. We can ask questions like What makes a life meaningful? in order to seek out that meaning. And if we find that some philosophical theory of account just doesn’t capture our experience of meaning in life, well that’s a reason to go back and ask some hard questions. Maybe to throw the theory out and see if we can find (or come up with) a replacement.
I’m all over the internet, so people can follow me on Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Substack. I also recently wrote a book with my colleague Meghan Sullivan, and in it we tell the story of the class we developed at Notre Dame. I love doing philosophy online, too, so send a Tweet my way or tag me in a TikTok, and we can just start dialoguing!
In the first chapter of The Good Life Method, Meghan and I imagine what it’d be like to see Plato walking around Athens, asking inconvenient questions and arguing with the most powerful politicians, artists, and sophists. The idea of inhabiting that world in a more literally way sounds amazing. I’d love to think more about how we can continue to spread the message — through our teaching, research, and public writing — that philosophy can be approached as a meaningful “way of life.”
by Michael “Mick” Patrick Mulroy, Adam Piercey, and Donald J. Robertson
George Washington was influenced by Stoicism. He was so fond of the Stoic philosopher and Roman statesman, Cato the Younger, that he actually arranged for a play about him to be performed for his soldiers before the battle of Valley Forge. Perhaps the most famous line in that play was:
Better to die ten thousand thousand deaths,
Jospeh Addison, Cato, a Tragedy
Than wound my honor.
A founding father, the first General, and the first President of the United States, Washington understood the importance of honor.
The Stoics derived four virtues from the teachings of Socrates as the fundamental principles of their philosophy. These were wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation. They believed that people who exhibited all of these principles were honorable.
These four main aspects of virtue or excellence (arete in Greek) each held a specific value for the different activities that a Stoic would carry out in their day-to-day lives.
A Stoic would hope to embody all of these traits in their day-to-day activities as they strove to pursue a life of good, and right. As Stoicism became more widespread, the actions of its followers grew in influence, including in the political sphere. As each person’s actions cause effects in those around them, they begin to see the impact of those actions on a greater scale.
The reputation of a nation is made up of the collective actions of its leaders and its people. Does it uphold the principles set out above, how does it treat its allies and partners, does it keep its word? If it does not uphold these principles, it will never be a great nation; if it does not treat its allies and partners with respect, it will soon be without any; and if it does not keep its word it, will have no standing as a leader in the international community.
The attacks in New York and Virginia on September 11, 2001, by the terrorist group Al Qaeda from Afghanistan, mobilized international support for the United States. The Star-Spangled Banner played in capitals around the world and NATO united behind the U.S. where it matters the most, going to war.
This led to the invasion of Afghanistan and the overthrow of the Taliban who had allowed Al Qaeda to operate there. The invasion included the Northern Alliance, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, and Germany. These other countries were not attacked. This threat if left unchecked could become a serious problem for them, but they went to war because they had made a promise to do so. They kept their word and they did so for twenty years.
The “graveyards of empires” is a quote many have heard about Afghanistan.
They then started to build the Afghan military, intelligence service, and police force. Afghans had seen superpowers come and go throughout history, from Alexander the Great to the British, the Soviet Union, and now the United States. The “graveyards of empires” is a quote many have heard about Afghanistan. Afghans have heard it as well. It was difficult to get them to trust us, but they did.
Would the U.S. and its allies be there for the long haul? America had promised that if we were to leave the country, and Afghans met the standards we laid out, they would have the opportunity to come to the United States. These standards included risking their lives fighting along with U.S. forces, against those who would oppress their people, and for the human rights of all. Would the U.S. honor its promise, though? Thousands took that chance.
Acts of courage alone are not inherently honorable, they must instead take into account two things: the reason for the action, and the intended effect of the outcome. As Marcus Aurelius wrote:
Let it make no difference to you whether you are cold or warm if you are doing your duty. And whether you are drowsy or satisfied with sleep. And whether ill-spoken of or praised. And whether dying or doing something else. For it is one of the acts of life, this act by which we die. It is sufficient then in this act also to do well what we have in hand.
Meditations, 6.2
To do what is right is what matters, and whether or not you are praised or pummeled is irrelevant.
In any organization with strict ethical and honor codes, a prevailing culture of the men and women serving in that organization will be focused upon protecting and providing refuge or assistance to those in need. As Tamler Sommers, a professor of philosophy at the University of Houston, put it in a recent interview with Ryan Holiday:
Honour cultures tend to attach great value to acts of courage that benefit the group.
Tamler Sommers
The culture of these organizations to oppose wrongdoing and injustice shows virtue, and it is the duty of that organization’s members to carry out those actions.
Aiding and protecting those in need is certainly an important part of honor cultures, but there is also a secondary practice within those cultures as well; to honor and uphold the agreements formed by those organizations. Sometimes, agreements can be positive and provide added value, or be beneficial to both sides. Other times, agreements can be challenging, one-sided, or even costly. However, the presence of an agreement, pact, or partnership means that those participating parties must act to uphold the terms of that agreement. To do something with integrity, especially in the pursuit of public service and to uphold those agreements made before, is honorable, and must be pursued as best as possible. To break from an agreement would mean to bring dishonor on an organization, and that dishonor can have rippling effects into the future.
Marcus Aurelius led the Roman Empire for 19 years, until his death in 180 CE. Throughout that time, Marcus would face serious challenges in the empire including plague, uprisings, and war but he would do so with honor and integrity. Upon taking the throne, Marcus inherited an empire whose borders surrounded much of Europe, bringing with them the dangers of warring tribes and enemies on several fronts. During his reign, Marcus’ experiences spoke much to the honor and reputation that an organization can gain or lose through its actions.
At many points in the wars between Rome and the tribes of northern Europe, Marcus found himself dealing with tribal leaders with whom Rome had existing agreements. Marcus did not tolerate allies who broke treaties and failed to keep their word. For example, when several Germanic tribes proposed an armistice with Rome, during the First Marcomannic War, Marcus did not trust them, viewing the armistice as a ruse - something that would only have remained in place while it was convenient for the enemy. Marcus was proven right to be skeptical as the tribes kept aiding one another in raids against Roman provinces. When the time came to dole out the rewards from the wars or seek new agreements, you can bet that Marcus had trepidation towards those with poor reputations.
At other points, Marcus would be faced with the difficult position of having to decide whether to push for a peace treaty or pursue Rome’s enemies and continue fighting at the cost of more troops and resources. When fighting a Sarmatian tribe called the Iazyges, Marcus faced this dilemma and needed to decide whether to grant peaceful terms or continue to fight. Ultimately, Marcus chose to continue fighting and by the war’s end, these enemies returned an incredible number of Roman captives back to Rome. If Marcus had just agreed to peace and walked away, over a hundred thousand captured Roman subjects would have been abandoned, left as slaves of the enemy. We can infer from this outcome that Marcus chose to fight on in hopes that he could rescue those Romans, and not leave them behind even though peace would have been much easier.
As emperor of Rome, Marcus also had to face sedition from one of his prized commanders, as a betrayal occurred when Avidius Cassius was declared emperor by his troops in Egypt and sought to take the Roman throne for himself. At that moment Marcus had a choice: crush the rebellion, or choose a more peaceful alternative. Instead of launching into outright war with Cassius, Marcus chose instead to offer a pardon to Cassius and his troops if they would lay down their arms. Cassius’ own officers turned against him and sent Cassius’ head to Marcus as an offer of penance. Marcus would honor his word and not punish the rebels for their actions. As emperor, it would only have taken Marcus one order to commit the entire army of rebels to death but he chose instead to act with restraint and clemency. Many times in history this restraint has been noted by historians and contemporaries as a true sign of Marcus’ character.
The U.S. decision to leave Afghanistan without leaving a residual force was against the advice of the military chain of command. Many veterans disagreed with that decision, but many did agree. Where there was almost unanimous agreement among veterans was the need to keep the promise made by their government to those Afghans who fought alongside U.S. troops. The chaotic withdrawal, the seeming lack of a plan, and the very real possibility that many would be left behind motivated many veterans to take action. They volunteered to do what they could and help those whom the U.S., not honoring its promise, was leaving behind.
These volunteer veterans formed groups with like-minded civilians and they soon were moving Afghan partners around Taliban checkpoints into the airport. Even when the final U.S. presence left, these groups did not stop, they moved to try to get people out by other means. They felt compelled to honor a promise made by their country. To them it wasn’t a political calculation, it was an oath.
The honor of a nation has to actually come from the nation, though, and its representatives. History will record it and our allies will remember it, as will our adversaries.
Michael “Mick” Patrick Mulroy is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, a retired CIA officer, a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute, an Analyst for ABC News, on the board of directors for Grassroots Reconciliation Group, a co-founder of End Child Soldiering, and the co-founder of the Lobo Institute. He writes and speaks often on Stoicism, especially its applicability to the military. For other publications please visit here.
Adam Piercey is an Engineering Technologist living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is currently working in the industrial, medical, and space industries, and has previously worked in green energy, and biometric security. Adam has been implementing Stoic practice into his career for over 8 years, has authored articles on Stoic practice, and is also the host of the Modern Stoicism Podcast, the official podcast of Modern Stoicism.
Donald J. Robertson is a cognitive-behavioural therapist and writer, living in Athens, Greece, and Ontario, Canada. He is the author of six books on philosophy and psychotherapy, including Stoicism and the Art of Happiness, and How to Think Like a Roman Emperor.