Tag Archives: stoicism
Jottings: A Critique of ‘Amor Fati’
At the weekend I came across the following passage from the French philosopher Luc Ferry which I think nicely sums up both the tentative critique Jon made of Nietzsche in the comments on the last post, and also points toward why ‘transcendence’ cannot be dismissed so readily as Nietzsche would have us believe. As to [...]
Philosophy as a Way of Life
I hope that you were all able to enjoy a refreshing break over the festive period. I travelled to see relatives in the West Country where the snow was still lying calf-deep until yesterday. We enjoyed some great walks through the white-mantled landscape, taking photographs of icicles and frozen streams, and watching redwings and other [...]
Seneca on Saturnalia
It is the month of December, and yet the whole city is in a sweat! Festivity at state expense is given unrestricted license. Everywhere there echoes the noise of preparations on a massive scale. It all suggests that the Saturnalia holidays are different from the ordinary working day, when the difference is really non-existent—so much [...]
‘Prosoche’: Attention / Mindfulness
At the moment I am reading a biography of Montaigne and last night I noticed that the author translates the Greek term prosoche (προσοχή) as ‘mindfulness’. In the Hellenistic schools of Stoicism, Skepticism and Epicurianism prosoche broadly refered to the discipline of ‘attention’: noticing the judgements that we make about ourselves and the world, observing whether [...]
Links: Some Shortcomings of Stoicism
By way of balance and as a footnote to my last post I recommend reading Bill Vallicella’s Nov. 4th 2008 post over at his Maverick Philosopher blog if you are interested in Stoicism and also its shortcomings; in particular the quote he shares by Louis Lavelle which will have resonance for anyone who, like me, [...]
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