Think Like a Philosopher King | Stoic Wisdom from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations
Estimated read time: 1:20
Summary
Johnathan Bi provides an engaging lecture on the philosophies of Marcus Aurelius, detailing insights from his famous work, "Meditations." Emphasizing stoicism, Jonathan explores the idea that happiness isn't determined by external goods like wealth or health but through virtue and one's engagement with the world. By contrasting philosophers like Diogenes with the great emperor, he highlights different interpretations of virtue and happiness, ultimately presenting stoicism as a practical guide to overcoming life's challenges.
Highlights
Marcus Aurelius exemplified stoic virtue despite challenges like personal loss and plagues.🦠
Stoicism doesn’t mean detachment from love; it involves a healthy engagement with the world.🌍
Diogenes the Cynic lives out naturalism, challenging societal conventions, akin to ancient protest.🐶
Virtue guides stoic happiness, with resilience against the allure of wealth and beauty.😌
Preferred indifferents, like health or wealth, are aids but not requisites for a good life.⭐
Key Takeaways
Happiness isn't about external wealth. Marcus proves extreme wealth isn't a guarantee of happiness.💸
Stoicism teaches that inner peace and virtue are the keys to a fulfilling life, not material possessions.🧘♂️
Engagement with life and resilience to challenges define happiness for stoics, who value virtue over material goods.🌊
Stoicism isn’t cold or detached; it combines strength, love, and care in viewing life’s adversities.❤️
The concept of 'preferred indifferents' explores how some externals are useful but not essential for happiness.🎯
Overview
Johnathan Bi's lecture unpacks the philosophies of Marcus Aurelius, focusing on the stoic wisdom contained in "Meditations." Through an engaging narrative, he explains how, despite being an emperor, Marcus valued virtue over wealth and power, teaching us to find happiness not in external riches but in our inner moral compass.
In exploring stoic principles, the lecture likens Marcus to Diogenes, a philosopher who lived with extreme minimalism to defy societal norms. These comparisons serve to highlight different paths to attaining stoic freedom and how one's inner disposition, rather than external circumstances, determine true happiness.
Johnathan uses anecdotes and philosophy to demonstrate how stoicism offers a grounded, actionable way of living life. By focusing on virtues like resilience and inner peace, the lecture encapsulates the essence of stoic thought – that life's adversities are not tragedies but challenges to embrace with courage and intent.
Chapters
00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Stoicism and Marcus Aurelius The introduction delves into the teachings of Stoicism with a focus on Marcus Aurelius. It suggests that happiness is attainable, regardless of one's wealth, even suggesting that extreme wealth can complicate achieving happiness. Despite the struggles faced by Marcus Aurelius, such as the loss of seven out of his thirteen children, he exemplifies the Stoic practice of embracing misfortune as an opportunity for greatness. Additionally, the text humorously describes the philosopher Diogenes as the offspring of Socratic principles taken to an extreme, likening him to a 'terrorist' of conventional society. The introduction also hints at the influence of Stoic philosophy on prominent figures like Goethe and Jefferson.
00:30 - 01:00: Marcus Aurelius' Challenges as Emperor The chapter titled 'Marcus Aurelius' Challenges as Emperor' explores the profound impact of a particular book on the narrator. The book offers more than just a set of philosophical ideas; it provides an intimate connection with Marcus Aurelius himself, portraying him as not only a stoic philosopher but also the greatest emperor of Rome. The narrative emphasizes the multitude of challenges Marcus faced, notably a barbarian horde invasion in the north, illustrating his greatness and resilience as a leader.
01:00 - 01:30: Internal Peace and Stoic Ideals The chapter focuses on Marcus's leadership during a time of unprecedented challenges in Rome, including invasions, internal rebellion, and a devastating plague. Despite these hardships, Marcus's resilience and strategic capability enabled him to achieve numerous military victories, stabilize Roman imperial politics, and even extend the era known as 'Pax Romana,' highlighting his commitment to stoic ideals and internal peace.
01:30 - 02:00: Meditations: Snippets of Wisdom, Not an Instruction Manual The chapter discusses the impressive nature of Marcus, who maintained a Zen-like inner peace despite facing numerous challenges. It suggests that readers can also aspire to achieve similar tranquility, effectiveness, and resilience, emphasizing that the stoic ideal is accessible to all rational beings. However, the transcript ends with the notion that there might be a problem or challenge to accessing this ideal.
02:00 - 02:30: Misconceptions about Stoicism: Detachment and Love The chapter discusses common misconceptions about Stoicism, particularly the ideas of detachment and love. It emphasizes that the Meditations by Marcus Aurelius should not be seen as a straightforward instruction manual but rather as personal diaries containing philosophical snippets. These writings are often misinterpreted as comprehensive or easily understandable insights into Stoicism due to their accessible nature. However, the text warns against assuming a complete understanding of Stoicism just by reading these passages, highlighting the complexity and depth of the philosophy.
02:30 - 03:00: Stoic Retreat: Nature and Philosophy The chapter titled 'Stoic Retreat: Nature and Philosophy' explores the fundamental principles of stoicism, emphasizing the importance of a transformative change in perspective rather than superficial acts like getting a 'memento mori' tattoo. It underscores that the philosophical insights of stoicism provide essential value for personal life. The lecture aims to offer a condensed version of the education received by Marcus Aurelius from his Imperial tutors, enabling the learners to adopt a stoic worldview.
03:00 - 03:30: Ethical Claims of Stoicism: External Goods and Happiness The chapter begins by inviting the audience to join an email list on Jonathan b.com to access transcripts and future lectures.
03:30 - 04:00: The Role of Money in Happiness The chapter delves into the relationship between money and happiness, specifically exploring how financial stability can impact emotional and relational dynamics within families. It illustrates this point through the example of an emotionally distant family member, who despite fulfilling his duties and responsibilities, such as financial support and family care, fails to express his emotions, creating an uncertain atmosphere around his affection and love. The narrative uses this example to underline a broader critique about how money can provide security without necessarily contributing to emotional fulfillment, suggesting that happiness is not solely dependent on financial stability.
04:00 - 04:30: Health and Stoic Resilience This chapter explores a common misconception of Stoicism, focusing on the idea that Stoics are emotionally detached even when care is warranted. A quote from Marcus Aurelius is used to illustrate this misunderstanding: 'When you kiss your child good night, you should say silently tomorrow perhaps you will meet your death.' The common reaction to this quote is one of skepticism, questioning the wisdom of seemingly suppressing care even in deeply human and emotional scenarios.
04:30 - 05:00: Philosophy vs. Philosophers This chapter discusses Marcus Aurelius and his genuine application of philosophy in his life. Despite the personal tragedies of losing 7 out of his 13 children, while also managing the responsibilities of ruling the Roman Empire, Marcus exemplified the philosophical wisdom he espoused. The chapter examines how his writings are not mere theoretical musings but are grounded in real, lived experience, highlighting the authenticity and resilience of his character.
05:00 - 05:30: The Stoic Family Tree: Plato, Aristotle, and the Cynics The chapter delves into the philosophical influences and roots of Stoicism, focusing on its connections with Plato, Aristotle, and the Cynics. It begins by addressing common misconceptions about Stoicism, particularly the idea that it promotes emotional detachment and lack of care. The speaker aims to clarify these misunderstandings by revisiting a frequently misinterpreted quote, emphasizing that Stoicism encompasses more than just the concept of accepting death. The chapter seems to be preparing the reader for more controversial or extreme perspectives that will be introduced later in the lecture.
05:30 - 06:00: Virtue as the Only Determinant of Happiness This chapter explores the concept of virtue as the singular path to happiness, highlighting common misconceptions about stoicism. It argues that stoicism extends beyond mere strength and resilience, emphasizing that it also embraces love and gentle care. This is exemplified through the tender ritual of a parent kissing their child goodnight, underscoring that stoicism acknowledges the importance of love and tenderness alongside strength.
06:00 - 06:30: Stoic vs. Aristotle on Happiness The chapter explores the contrasting views of Stoicism and Aristotle on the concept of happiness. It discusses the Stoic philosophy, emphasizing that happiness is attainable even while engaging deeply with the world. The Stoics propose that one can have the inner peace of a monk without withdrawing from worldly duties or pleasures. This includes the potential to maintain relationships, seek wealth and power, and even aspire to be an Emperor, illustrating that Stoic happiness does not necessitate retreat from worldly life.
06:30 - 07:00: Thought Experiment: The Lucky and Unlucky Sage The chapter titled 'Thought Experiment: The Lucky and Unlucky Sage' explores the concept of finding peace and retreat within one's own mind rather than seeking external retreats in places like the countryside or the coast. The text references Marcus and highlights how significant thinkers like Goethe and Jefferson have embraced this notion. The philosophical advice suggests that the most serene and trouble-free retreat is within a person's own mind, emphasizing self-reflection and internal solace.
07:00 - 07:30: Virtue's Role in Overcoming Misfortune The chapter explores the idea of how virtue plays a crucial role in overcoming misfortune. It references historical figures like Frederick the Great, who sought inspiration from philosophical teachings to effectively navigate life without being corrupted by external factors. The lecture aims to provide a philosophical perspective and understanding of the ideas that facilitate such an orientation. An exercise is included, inviting participants to engage interactively by writing their reflections.
07:30 - 08:00: Stoic Happiness: Transcending Misfortune This chapter explores the Stoic perspective on what constitutes the key to a good life. The focus is on examining three critical ethical claims of Stoicism, particularly emphasizing the belief that external goods do not determine happiness or the quality of life. The discussion aims to provide insights into transcending misfortune through Stoic principles.
08:00 - 08:30: The Paradox of Preferred Indifference The chapter discusses the concept of 'The Paradox of Preferred Indifference,' emphasizing the Stoic philosophical view that external goods, like money, do not necessarily determine one's happiness or the goodness of life. It poses a provocative question about perceiving money as one of the most important goods in life and challenges this notion by suggesting that external possessions do not hold as much intrinsic value in achieving a fulfilling life.
08:30 - 09:00: Difference Between Cynics and Stoics In this chapter, the speaker challenges the audience, presumably finance professionals in Tribeca, on their motivations for working in finance. The speaker suggests that the pursuit of careers in finance is not driven by altruism or a desire to make the world a better place, but rather by a desire for personal wealth and material gains. Money, as described, is specifically seen as a means to acquire goods and ensure one's security (having a roof over one's head). The speaker's tone appears to be sarcastic, as they imply that despite what people in the room might claim, money is indeed a significant concern for them.
09:00 - 09:30: Philosophical Values and Happiness The chapter titled 'Philosophical Values and Happiness' explores the common perception of money in relation to happiness. It challenges the idea that while money may not be sufficient for achieving happiness, a certain level of wealth is necessary to avoid hardships like starvation. The chapter also discusses the concept of marginal utility, suggesting that after a certain income threshold, the additional satisfaction gained from more money diminishes, yet more money is still perceived as favorable. This reflects an average viewpoint on the correlation between wealth and happiness.
09:30 - 10:00: Preferred Indifference and External Goods The chapter discusses the concept of 'preferred indifference' and the role of external goods in achieving happiness. Marcus challenges the common belief that wealth or living in luxury, such as a palace, is essential for happiness. Instead, he argues that happiness is attainable irrespective of one's financial status, suggesting that even a billionaire can find happiness without relying on their wealth. This perspective turns the usual intuition about wealth and happiness upside down, emphasizing that true fulfillment comes from within rather than from external possessions.
10:00 - 10:30: Virtue and Meaning in Life The chapter explores the idea that excessive wealth can be detrimental and corrupting. It discusses how wise wealthy families often take measures to protect their children from the negative impacts of having too much money. They do this by creating trust structures, making charitable donations, or delaying access to wealth, understanding that more money doesn't necessarily lead to a better life.
10:30 - 11:00: Misfortune as a Challenge, Not a Tragedy The chapter discusses the perspective of viewing misfortune as a challenge rather than a tragedy. It highlights the example of Marcus Aurelius, who, despite being born into immense wealth and luxury, is admired for his virtuous character. The chapter suggests that children of privilege who maintain their integrity and succeed are often more impressive, given their access to limitless indulgences that can detract from their personal development.
11:00 - 11:30: Summarizing Stoic Ethics The chapter discusses Stoic ethics through the lens of notable Roman Emperors, focusing on Marcus Aurelius. It contrasts him with other Emperors such as Hadrian, highlighting Marcus's extraordinary achievement in remaining virtuous despite numerous challenges and influences that could have led him astray. The text emphasizes that Marcus had to constantly resist the temptation to become like those who succeeded or were around him, who often lacked moral scruples.
11:30 - 12:00: Meditations: Death and Indifference The chapter titled 'Meditations: Death and Indifference' discusses Marcus' awareness of the potential corruption by indulging in societal expectations, especially those considered traditionally good. Despite societal acceptance and even expectation for young men to engage in sexual activities, Marcus made a conscious effort to preserve his chastity. This reflects his desire to remain simple and unstained by the metaphorical 'purple' of corruption, staying true to his moral and philosophical principles.
12:00 - 12:30: Personal Reflection on Stoicism The chapter discusses the life of a philosophical individual, possibly Marcus, who came from a noble family but chose a path of humility and philosophy. Instead of indulging in the typical pursuits of nobility like blood sports and chariot racing, he embraced a lifestyle characterized by wearing simple clothing and even sleeping on the floor. The chapter emphasizes the idea that true virtue is developed by resisting the superficial pleasures and luxuries associated with noble life. It also highlights that while it's not impossible to find happiness in a life of wealth and luxury, happiness is not determined by external goods.
12:30 - 13:00: Stoicism's Practical Techniques and Impact In this chapter, the discussion centers on the concept of happiness and how it can be influenced by wealth or lack thereof. It suggests that while extreme wealth can make achieving happiness more challenging, it is not impossible as evidenced by examples of individuals who have managed to remain uncorrupted by their riches. Similarly, extreme poverty poses its own challenges to happiness, yet numerous philosophers, monks, artists, and thinkers have found contentment and led fulfilling lives despite material deprivation. The chapter highlights the notion that happiness is attainable regardless of one's financial circumstances, aligning with Stoic principles of finding joy in what one has rather than what one lacks.
13:00 - 13:30: Closing Thoughts and Invitation to Engage Further The chapter explores the idea that true happiness is not dependent on wealth or poverty. It mentions historical figures like Gandhi and Buddha, who were born into wealth but chose a simpler life to achieve fulfillment. The main idea is that possessing good skills and knowledge allows individuals to find happiness regardless of their material circumstances, whereas lacking these qualities can lead to being overwhelmed by either wealth or poverty. The chapter concludes with an implicit invitation to engage further on achieving such skills.
Think Like a Philosopher King | Stoic Wisdom from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations Transcription
00:00 - 00:30 happiness is possible even for a billionaire we think if only I had more wealth then I'd be happy but Marcus says there is a number that will crush you extreme wealth is hard mode for happiness Marcus aurelus had 13 kids seven of them died before they reached adulthood Misfortune nobly born is Good Fortune diogenes is what you get if Socrates and Uso had a kid and that kid decided to be a terrorist so many great men Gerta Jefferson fr the Great have
00:30 - 01:00 looked at this book for inspiration more so than any other work it feels like I'm not just exposed to a set of ideas but I've been introduced to a man and dare I say a friend many books claim to be life-changing but this is a rare one that actually is Marcus aurelus was a stoic philosopher and the greatest emperor of Rome and we can see how great Marcus was by the sheer amount of challenges that he had to overcome in the north a barbarian horde had broken
01:00 - 01:30 through the Frontiers and pushed all the way to Northern Italy in the East his own General rebelled and threatened to take his throne and all of this happened while one of the worst plagues in Antiquity was ravaging his population by all reasonable accounts Rome should not have survived the second century but because of Marcus Rome not only survived but it thrived he led his troops from Victory to Victory he stabilized Imperial politics and he extended the pox Romana Against All Odds
01:30 - 02:00 and the crazy thing is that's not even close to what's most impressive about the guy the most impressive thing about Marcus is that he dealt with all of those challenges with zen-like inner peace and the seductive promise of this book is that you can be like Marcus too his Tranquility his Effectiveness his resilience are available to you the stoic ideal is not the purview of some elect but available to all rational beings now there's just one problem which is
02:00 - 02:30 that this book isn't an instruction manual you can just easily apply to your life in fact this isn't even a book at all these are the Diaries of Marcus that he wrote while fighting on the front lines and what they contain are nuggets are Snippets of philosophical wisdom but not his entire philosophical perspective so I think it's all too common to pick up the meditations read a passage and because of how easy and accessible it is to think you got it but stoicism is not
02:30 - 03:00 just piy on liners it's not just getting a momento Mory tattoo and calling it a day the core of stoicism is about inducing a radical change in perspective that philosophical perspective is the key to unlocking the value of this work for your life and what we will be covering in this lecture today we're going to go through a condensed version of the education Marcus himself would have received from his Imperial tutors so that you two can learn to to see the world like the stoic
03:00 - 03:30 Emperor if you want to follow along this episode via transcript or if you want to be invited to one of my future lectures then please join my email list at Jonathan b.com and without further Ado meditations of Marcus aurelus now before I read the meditations and I thought stoic what came to my mind was this Stern dad figure okay he gets up every day at 5:00 a.m. he does his I bath and
03:30 - 04:00 then his powerlifting routine and then he grinds through the rest of his day like an absolute machine you're pretty sure he loves you you're you're pretty sure okay takes care of your family uh he doesn't cheat on your mom but you're not sure sure okay he's never said it he sure as hell never showed it and don't get me wrong it's not like he's a bad guy it's simply that you wouldn't want to have him over for dinner too often because he's a bit boring he's emotionless he doesn't seem to care this is a common critique uh I
04:00 - 04:30 think people have of uh of stoicism which is that the stoics don't care even when they should and they cite this one line as proof I quote to you Marcus when you kiss your child good night you should say silently tomorrow perhaps you will meet your death that common reaction to that quote is to say what kind of Mormon wisdom is this right even if I could stop caring
04:30 - 05:00 about my kids even if I even if that would make me happier that's not a worthy tradeoff the first thing I'll say in defense of Marcus is that whatever this is this is not Marcus talking out of his ass Marcus aurelus had 13 kids seven of them died before they reached adulthood and he had to deal with each of their passing while putting out fires in the Empire that's what's so incredible about this work which is that Marcus doesn't just talk the talk he walks the walk and
05:00 - 05:30 I want you guys to keep that in mind especially when he starts to say the crazy stuff later on in the lecture here's the second thing I'll say which is that this critique of stoicism as based off of uh a Detachment not caring about things is based off of a misconception and I can begin to tease out what's missed by peeling back to that very quote because people only pay attention to the second half of the quote right tomorrow perhaps you will meet your death
05:30 - 06:00 but what they ignore is the first half when you kiss your child good night what people Miss is the gentle kiss right it's the Clear Care it's the legitimate love that has formed this tender nightly ritual that is as much a part of stoicism as the harsh anticipation on death so it's not so much that this Stern detached dad character is wrong as it's simply incomplete because stoicism is not just about strength and res resilience but also about love and
06:00 - 06:30 gentleness and care and above all it's about a deep engagement with the world but when you put it that way um the term sheet the stoics are handing us seems almost too good to be true you can have the happiness of a monk while maintaining in the world you can rear a family you can have great wealth and power you can be Emperor if you want to you don't have to retreat from the world because the stoics will
06:30 - 07:00 teach you how to retreat into yourself I quote to you Marcus people look for retreats in the country by the coast or in the hills and you too are especially inclined to feel this desire but this is altogether unphilosophical when it is possible for you to retreat into yourself at any time you want there's nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free Retreat than in his own mind this is why I think so many great men be it Gerta or Jefferson or
07:00 - 07:30 Frederick the Great have looked at this book for inspiration because it teaches uh an art of life that enables you to act effectively in the world while not being corrupted by it at all my goal today in this lecture is to give you the uh philosophical perspective give you an understanding of the set of ideas that make such an orientation possible and I like to begin with an exercise so so take out the the pen and notepad that I gave you and I want you to write down uh
07:30 - 08:00 three of the most important things you think you need for a good life okay so three of the most important things you think you need for a good life whatever comes to your mind ju I just want the intuition and while you do that let me give you some context all we're going to do in this lecture today is we're going to examine three of the key ethical claims of stoicism which is going to Lad us into their perspective and the first key claim of stoicism is that external Goods do not determine
08:00 - 08:30 happiness okay so the claim is is that no external Goods necessarily will sway your life good or bad okay that's what the claim is so let's examine some of these goods and let's start with the the highest good okay let's let's start with clearly the most sacred and precious thing we have in our lives money who had money as one of their three most important goods in life
08:30 - 09:00 come on don't be shy I know what you guys do for a living okay you didn't enter into Finance to make the world a better place you had money wealth having a roof over your heads any material Goods anything okay this is okay uh you guys know what money is right it's it's the thing that you use to buy stuff okay let's let's examine money this thing that allegedly no one here in this room in Tribeca cares about uh
09:00 - 09:30 and let me try to articulate the common view of money and it goes something like look uh money is clearly not sufficient for happiness okay there's plenty of wealthy people who are miserable but money is necessary I do need a certain amount of wealth I can't be starving on the streets and be happy and look the marginal utility of money May decrease after a certain point right after I don't know 100K 200k 300K a year but it's still look good so the more the better that's kind of the the average
09:30 - 10:00 view the common view this is marcus' view on money and it's my favorite line in all the meditations happiness is possible even in a palace you guys get why I like it so much let me let me translate this into modern speak and you'll get it happiness is possible even for a billionaire Marcus completely flips our intuition on its head we think if only I had more wealth if only I lived in a
10:00 - 10:30 palace if only I had a billion dollars then I'd be happy but Marcus says there is a number that will crush you too much money can be a bad thing that can completely corrupt you and I think the easiest thing to point to here is how wealthy families the wise ones at least the extraordinary lengths they go to protect their own children from their own money right whether it's designing a trust structure donating away trying to hide it for as long as they can because they understand more money is not better
10:30 - 11:00 this is why whenever I meet the kid of a billionaire who's turned out well I'm so much more impressed than if that same kid came from the middle class and this is also why Marcus aurelus himself is so damn impressive because Marcus was the super rich kid of his day any luxury good that he wanted any sexual act any Feast any blood sport that he wanted to see he could have and he became the most
11:00 - 11:30 virtuous person in Rome regardless if you want to get a sense of um how incredible of an achievement that is all you need to do is to look at who the other Emperors were look at all the spoiled brats that followed Marcus look at Hadrian hadrien one of the five good Emperors was a Shameless petas and persecuted Senators out of paranoia in all likelihood that's who Marcus should have become and it's who Marcus had to fight incessantly every day to avoid becoming I quote to you
11:30 - 12:00 Marcus take care you are not turned into a Caesar or stained with the purple these things do happen so keep yourself simple even as a kid uh Marcus was painfully aware of just how much the things we traditionally consider to be good can corrupt us so even though it was not just accepted but expected for young men to have sex he fought very hard to protect his chastity
12:00 - 12:30 even though he came from a noble family he decided to wear the rags of a philosopher and sleep on the floor even as his peers all got into blood Sports and watching Chariot racing he got into philosophy and so it was only by actively pushing back against everything associated with the palace that he developed as virtue now crucially Marcus does not say it's impossible to be happy in a palace that would be another way than external good to determines your
12:30 - 13:00 happiness there are billionaires who are uncorrupted by their money there are rare philosopher Kings who can be happy even in a palace marcus' point is simply that extreme wealth is hard mode for happiness in the same way that extreme poverty is hard mode for happiness but even on that extreme end of the spectrum we can point to many counter examples of monks of artists of of thinkers who lived in relatively material impoverishment who had great lives we
13:00 - 13:30 can even point to people like uh Gandhi the Buddha and wienstein who were born into great wealth who actively gave that wealth up in order to live a good life so here's the punchline if you have good skill if you're skilled if you're good if you know what you're doing you can be happy in a palace you can be happy completely impoverished if you don't have great skill great wealth and poverty will absolutely Crush you and that's why
13:30 - 14:00 money does not determine our happiness because the deciding factor is clearly this the skill thing right which we're going to elaborate a bit a bit more on later on that's money maybe you guys aren't that impressed right no what never thought money was uh that important anyways uh let's try something a bit more serious health who had health as one of their key Goods okay very wise audience today uh health is important and surely we can't be happy if we're
14:00 - 14:30 sick surely we can't be happy if we're we're in pain the whole time and the Stokes say no there's there's plenty of counter examples Stephen Hawking paralyzed for the majority of his life do we really want to say that's not a good life Beethoven went death literally lost the faculty he needed for composition still ended up composing The Ninth Symphony our friend Marcus had terrible Health chronic issues uh frail
14:30 - 15:00 Constitution dead before he was 60 didn't prevent him from Living a good life the stoics are going to go so far as to say even torture even torture not just no Health active extreme pain does not need to determine your happiness because there are people who underwent torture and who self-report it didn't Rob them of a good life the best example here is probably uh this guy called James Stockdale so James Stockdale was was a US Navy pilot he was
15:00 - 15:30 shot down in Vietnam he spent 8 years in prison four of which were in solitary confinement and not only did Stockdale not receive any medical attention for his broken leg he actively and routinely underwent torture that re-broke that same leg twice to give you an idea of the the circumstance he was in the kind of man that he was um Stockdale bashed his own face to a pulp until was swollen be beyond recognition so that he wouldn't be used as political propaganda
15:30 - 16:00 he slit his own wrists when they discovered that he had incriminating information on his friends okay that's the type of guy that he was now despite that when stockill got out he self-reports that even 8 years of torture didn't Rob him of a good life it didn't break his will in Camp he went on to be a professor at Stanford and even run for the vice presidency here in America and when people ask him how the hell did you do it how did you make it through his answer was sto ISM so he had
16:00 - 16:30 he had encountered the stoic text before he got shot down and it was specifically their teachings on physical resilience that he cites is what got him through okay so I quote to you Stockdale your deliverance and your destruction are 100% up to you no one can harm you without your permission and by harm stoics always mean harming your inner self your self-respect and your obligation to be faithful he can break your arm or your leg but not to worry they'll
16:30 - 17:00 heal so even torture does not have to determine your happiness if you don't let it even in these extreme scenarios it's still 100% up to you right right from the horse's mouth now you might say okay enough with these like extreme edge cases here with Beethoven and with uh James doc Dale and and wienstein surely life tends to go back without torture right surely life is better
17:00 - 17:30 lived in wealth than in poverty The Stokes will say of course and they're going to fold this into their Theory as as we're going to see later on but that's not what's in contention right now what they want to argue against is simply that any external good even torture will necessarily sway your life good or bad so all they need is one counter example here okay um we looked at Health we looked at wealth let's try something that uh surely our
17:30 - 18:00 philosopher king would think would be necessary for a good life and that's philosophy I'm afraid to ask who had philosophy as one of their top three Goods books give me something intellectual life talking thank you that was a hand out of pity but I appreciate it nonetheless okay um this is what Marcus has to say about philosophy what then can guide us on our way one thing and one thing only
18:00 - 18:30 philosophy this is what he has to say about philosophers what are Alexander Caesar and pompy when compared to diogenes heraclitus and Socrates for the latter the philosophers were self-determined as to the former the rulers consider how many cares they had and how many things they were enslaved to think about how extraordinary that is that the emperor of Rome would consider Alexander compy and Caesar to be slaves when compared to
18:30 - 19:00 the great philosophers okay whatever this philosophy thing is it sounds pretty good right but then Marcus also says I'm grateful that when I first wanted to do philosophy I did not fall in with any sophist or settle down to pour over books or analyze syllogisms or occupy myself with the study of celestial phenomena give up your thirst for books so that you do not die grumbling on even philosophy can be abused if you
19:00 - 19:30 treat it as a mere intellectual puzzle even philosophy can lead you astray because what philosophy ought to be for Marcus is the art of life so it's about living the good life and not just about knowing what the good life is but even if you practice philosophy in this good way in the way that Marcus does it can still have very negative consequences in the case of Marcus um most of his subjects did not like the fact that their King was a philosopher
19:30 - 20:00 why philosophers are pedantic they lecture at you they're boring they're not fun people or so my ex tells me uh and in the case of Marcus um people were worried that they had a Puritan as a leader that he would get rid of all the blood Sports and the fun games and the fun feasts that he was going to put end to all the fun now let me be clear here um philosophy as
20:00 - 20:30 activity examining one's life deliberating over what to do that is going to prove to be somewhat necessary for a good life but everything around philosophy everything else around philosophy the arguments the book the rags that philosophers wear that is what can lead you astray so it's precisely the external parts of philosophy that do not determine your happiness okay so we looked at three Goods health wealth and philosophy and we saw that none of them
20:30 - 21:00 determined your happiness now this argument uh is actually not exclusive of the stoics it's shared by a lot of the Greek schools at the time Plato Aristotle uh the cynics and the stoics and so we're going to start bringing in the these other schools because they're going to shed light uh uh on unique aspects of stoicism so the image I want you guys to hold in mind uh of this group of philosophical schools is of a coral some family over dinner okay Plato is the dad he's the patri R Arch Aristotle is the
21:00 - 21:30 older brother cynics are the Middle Brother the stoics are the youngest brother now each of these three brothers think that they are the legitimate heirs to their father's intellectual Heritage so each of them think that they have the unique key to happiness now because they are brothers they their philosophy actually shares more commonalities than differences but because they're Coral some brothers uh they make a big deal out of whatever differences they do have and end up defining their identity through that okay so it's by bringing in these other schools that we're going to
21:30 - 22:00 truly learn who the stoics are because it's by U examining how the youngest kid the stoic grows up in this family and how he established his identity against his older brothers that's going to tell us something about who the stoics really are and so that's the picture uh I want you to hold in mind of this of this Coral some family and I'd like to start with the father Plato because Plato and his youth ademus is going to lay out the common starting point for all three brothers I quote to you Plato would a man with no sense profit
22:00 - 22:30 more if he possessed and did much or if he possessed and did little look at it this way if he did less would he not make fewer mistakes and be less miserable yes indeed the interlocutor said and in which case would one do less if one were poor if one were Rich poor he said and if one were weak or strong weak if one were held in honor or dishonor dishonor and slow rather than than quick and dull of sight and hearing rather than Keen we
22:30 - 23:00 agreed with each other on All Points of this sort with respect to all the things we called good in the beginning the correct account is not that in themselves they are good by nature but rather as follows if ignorance controls them they are greater evils than their opposites but if good sense and wisdom are in control they are greater Goods in themselves however neither sort is of any value okay so this is just a a summary of the critique of externals this is the
23:00 - 23:30 first claim of not just the stoic school but the common starting point for all three brothers externals do not determine your happiness if you aren't skilled you'd rather be poor rather than Rich you'd rather be dull rather than sharp you'd rather be a timid rather than courageous because you're going to mess up less and as we saw if you are skilled you can uh Thrive even in poverty even while being tortured now this insight I think is such a paradigm shift because most of us
23:30 - 24:00 do think about our happiness as a function of these externals right when I get the girlfriend or boyfriend when I get the house or the promotion then I'll be happy and so this is the first thing that the stoics are going to try to train us out of and by train us out they don't just mean philosophically they don't just mean you can reconstruct the arguments in the youth ademus but that you intuitively see these things with a degree of indifference so on top of stoic philosophy they're going to give us a
24:00 - 24:30 series of therapeutic techniques and what these therapeutic techniques are supposed to do is to make that philosophy intuitive specific technique that Marcus shares with us here is called the stripping method okay which coincidentally is how I'm going to get more subscribers if this philosophy thing doesn't work out so here's marcus' stripping method I quote when you have roast meat and such Delicacies in front of you form the impression that this is the corpse of a
24:30 - 25:00 fish and that this is the corpse of a bird or Pig and again that the luxurious wine is grape juice and the purple robe of the emperor is Lamb's wool dipped in shellfish blood and as for sexual intercourse that it is the friction of an entrail an expulsion of mucus accompanied by a kind of spasm how good are these Impressions at getting to the heart of things in themselves and penetrating them so you can see what they really
25:00 - 25:30 are Marcus's point is that so much of the Allure that external Goods have over us is because of the narratives we tell ourselves about them in our own heads and so there's a very easy antidote which is just a describe them as they are okay sex that's just rubbing followed by mucus gold that's just shiny rocks honor that's just Rando saying nice things about you now you might be tempted here to say okay uh I'm going to use the stripping
25:30 - 26:00 method when things don't go well in my life like if I get slandered but Marcus says it's precisely when things are going well that you need to use the stripping method okay I can continue quoting Marcus you should use the stripping method whenever things seem most worthy of your trust show them naked and see how cheap they are and strip away the story that they use to amplify their importance pride is clever cheating by false reasoning and it is when you are
26:00 - 26:30 most convinced that you are engaged in worthwhile matters that you are most deceived so his point is that you need to use the stripping method precisely when things are going well and the reason is because you can't have one without the other you can't feel validated when you get sex and not feel dejected when you get rejected you can't feel excited about making money and not be upset about losing money and so in my own life I found I'm most
26:30 - 27:00 pulled towards stoic ideas when things aren't going well because it's comforting it's comforting being told well sickness can't really hurt you well money didn't even matter that much anyways but it's precisely when things are going well when I start getting more money or more recognition that's when I don't want to hear these lessons but Marcus says that's when these lessons are most needed because it's precisely on the upward trajectory of your life that it's most dangerous because you're you're most incentivized to get attached
27:00 - 27:30 these externals and so if you want Tranquility when you lose money the time to tell yourself that money doesn't matter that it can't make you happy is when you make money okay so that's the first move the first move is to say externals do not determine our happiness okay the obvious question is what the hell determines our happiness and the stoic answer is virtue virtue alone determines happiness okay show of hands
27:30 - 28:00 who had virtue as one of their key Goods okay the the the buddist Monk and the philosopher exactly who I expected uh so what virtue is is agency appropriate to the situation it's responding well to whatever circumstance you're in so for eating The Virtue is moderation not eating too much not eating too little for law The Virtue is Justice right giving people their fair
28:00 - 28:30 share for let's say building a company The Virtue is courage not being overly timid not being overly overly rash so all virtue is is making the best out of whatever circumstance you're in and there's a passive component here there's a judgment component that you relate to the circumstance in the best way but there's also an active component that you're actively trying to improve that external circumstance okay this is how Mark makes that point if you carry out the present
28:30 - 29:00 action following right reason with determination Vigor and good humor and you are satisfied if your present action is in accordance with nature and if what you say and utter is in accordance with hero truth you will lead a good life there is no one who can prevent this sounds great sounds Noble sounds poetic philosophical it's also batshit crazy if you think through the implication okay and to help you think through the
29:00 - 29:30 implications I'm going to start bringing Aristotle because this is where the Family Feud begins and so before you sign the stoic term sheet and give away your life to them just look at the fine terms and see what you're getting yourself into quote to you Aristotle since it is agency that determines the quality of a life no blessed person could ever become miserable since he will never do hateful and base actions will bear Strokes of fortune suitably and from his resources
29:30 - 30:00 at any time will do the finest actions he will neither be easily shaken from his happiness nor shaken by just any misfortunes but he will be shaken from it by many serious misfortunes the happy person therefore is the one whose activities Accord with complete virtue with an adequate supply of external Goods not for just any time but for a complete life so for Aristotle externals don't determine your happiness
30:00 - 30:30 right because no amount of external Goods will make the vicious person happy no amount of external evils will make the virtuous person miserable but Aristotle's point is that if you want full happiness you're going to need some external supporting conditions if even just as a a as a material to practice virtue right you can't contemplate if you have no leisure you can't be generous if you have nothing to give away in the first place so what Aristotle is saying is that there are
30:30 - 31:00 conditions in life that are so bad that even the best response to them will not result in happiness and as we start this debate I want you to keep in mind that Aristotle is already very very far on the spectrum of Ethics in terms of how important he thinks virtue is and how relatively unimportant he thinks externals are okay but this mostly virtue view is not good enough for the stone the stoics argue for a virtue only view
31:00 - 31:30 only virtue matters for happiness only Vice is a true evil and their technical term for all externals is indifferent all externals it's not just that they don't determine happiness they're complete indifference having or not having them does not matter at all for happiness this is a crazy view okay this is the view of a crazy person and to tease out just how crazy it is uh enter CH a thought experiment so let's
31:30 - 32:00 say we have two sages okay complete virtue as virtuous as you can be but let's say one of them is really unlucky and one of them is really really lucky so let's say The Unlucky Sage uh is born deformed with no limbs let's say his uh his parents give him up to an orphanage and the orphanage gets raided by a cartel uh and in the raid he suffers third degree burns and so he's in terrible pain his entire life uh and the cartel decides to put him to solitary confinement for 30 years okay so uh in solitary confinement he only the only
32:00 - 32:30 human contact he has is when he gets taken out and raped and tortured and let's say on top of that when he leaves solitary confinement everything he does is an immediate failure to no fault of his own so he starts a business uh a t a tornado destroys the business uh he finds a wife aliens abduct the wife uh he adopts three children lightning zaps all three of them so he he dies alone to no fault of his Zone at 50 but because
32:30 - 33:00 he's the sage he he reacts to everything virtuously okay so he's uh not angry with his rapist when he's getting raped he's uh uh accepting when his kids pass away but it's not just the passive part he's actively trying to bring about a better life right he's courageously trying to build a business and a family it just doesn't work out for him okay now let's paint the picture of the lucky Sage who's the exact opposite he's tall he's handsome he's athletic uh he's comes from an aristocratic family that loves and supports him and everything he
33:00 - 33:30 does is an immediate success whether it's in finance or or or uh Media or Academia or Athletics or in the military and let's say uh he meets the love of his life has a big old family and dies surrounded by his loved ones at 120 and because he's the sage he doesn't let any of this get into his head okay so he's not an ounce arrogant he's just a good guy he's humble he volunteers the soup kitchen when he's 110 when he can still walk he's just a great guy those are the
33:30 - 34:00 two sages lucky and unlucky sage and the question is who is Happy who lives a good life now Aristotle would say look I'm not going to call the Unlucky Sage miserable because he's virtuous okay so his soul is pure but we are more than our souls and so everything around that soul is so uh I want to use the word filthy it's it's been so defiled I couldn't possibly call this man happy
34:00 - 34:30 he's not miserable that's the most you're going to get out of me and even if you wanted to call him happy you must concede that he's at least less happy than the lucky Sage right clearly the stoics are literally given a version of this thought experiment in cisero Def finibus and this is why I love them they bite the philosophical bullet The Unlucky Sage is happy he's just as happy as the lucky
34:30 - 35:00 sage and here's the even crazier thing it's not like the stoics are using some weird definition of Happiness here what they mean by happiness UD udonia is roughly what we mean by happiness it's not exactly it but it's close and it's how well- lived a life is right how worth living a life is so what the stoics are saying is that there's nothing about the lucky sages life life at all not even an ounce that makes it
35:00 - 35:30 any more worth living than the Unlucky stages life okay so if you're a good for nothing philosopher like me this is where you take out the popcorn and you're just like how in the world are you going to justify this position and it turns out to be actually a lot more convincing than you think so the first thing I'll say in defense of the stoics is that we need to cut them some slack in the get-go because they're fighting an uphill battle the claim is not I would
35:30 - 36:00 be happy in The Unlucky Sage's life the claim is that the sage would be now the issue is the perspective of the sage is so different from my perspective arguments can only really go so far okay and so the most convincing arguments The Stokes are going to give here all have to do with appealing to our existing moral intuitions and then just projecting them out a bit so here's the argument think about an aspect of your life that you really really love but you
36:00 - 36:30 wouldn't be distraught if it was taken away from you okay for me that's video games I love video games I travel with my PlayStation I was invited on a super yacht and the first thing I asked for was an Xbox now if a demon were to come take away my PlayStation and he said Jonathan no more video games for you for the rest of your life I would go okay no big deal why because I do
36:30 - 37:00 treat video games as with a sto call an indifferent so indifferent doesn't mean I don't like the video game it doesn't mean I don't enjoy it it doesn't mean I will I won't try to game as much as possible if left to my own devices it means I don't see having video games in my life as meaningful for my happiness my life is not any less worth living for not having video games in it and the stoic claim is that the way that I
37:00 - 37:30 relate to the demon taking away my PlayStation that's a weird sentence is the same as how the sage reacts to all the misfortunes that he suffers and the only reason that I find this argument even somewhat plausible is because as a kid I didn't treat video games as indifferent at all okay I was super attached if you told me I couldn't game for a month I would have thought my my life was over and crucially as a kid
37:30 - 38:00 um I also couldn't possibly conceive how I could ever treat video games as non-attached as just an indifferent but now I'm on the other side of that and I do treat it as an indifferent which again doesn't mean I don't enjoy it it just means it's not Central to my happiness I can see why that transition is both possible and good right it's good because I don't enjoy it less my relationship with it is just a lot more free and so the intuition
38:00 - 38:30 is maybe this kind of transition is possible for the other parts of my life that I do feel attached to as well here's another way to cut it we all know people in our lives um who treat the things that we're indifferent about as attachments right and when we look at them we rightfully think it's pretty small-minded it's pretty childish for you to think that uh you know if your party doesn't win the election if the weather doesn't go your way if your sports team doesn't win the
38:30 - 39:00 Super Bowl my life is ruined but we also know people in life who treats the things that we're attached to as indifference right so I know people who aren't attached to money all of you apparently I know people who don't mind shouldering pain I know people who um aren't obsessed about their reputation and the stoic advice the stoic suggestion is to say now look at your attachments from their perspective and
39:00 - 39:30 see how Petty and childish you look and think of whether your life would be better if those were turned into indifference rather than attachments so what the Stokes are inviting us to do is to take this intuition that we've developed right about how it's both possible and good to view things as indifference and then just projecting that along our entire life so right now in this room most of us I hope don't think that the
39:30 - 40:00 weather determines our our happiness now a smaller group of us doesn't think that whether our sports team wins matters a smaller group know that we can be happy in another career a smaller group knows that we can be happy in another relationship a smaller group can accept that our spouses may die before we do and an even smaller group can accept that maybe one of our kids may die before we do so the sto point is that we are on this spectrum of treating
40:00 - 40:30 things as attachments or indifference and they're simply just trying to push us all the way and when we start to treat all of our life's Avenues as indifference then we get into the perspective of the sage the sage is someone who treats every external in his life as an indifferent and because he views life this way every Misfortune that he suffers is just like me losing my PlayStation and so here's the kicker The Unlucky
40:30 - 41:00 Sage doesn't actually perceive himself as suffering any evils it's just a series of indifference that he's been robbed of a series of PlayStations so this is the common misconception of stoicism people think that uh the stoics are resilient by gritting their teeth and Manning through all the evils in their life but their actual resilience comes from the fact that they don't see evils in the first place does that make
41:00 - 41:30 sense so take take the case of torture the sage knows pain is not an evil it's an indifferent which again doesn't mean that he won't do things to stop it it just means that he knows it won't ruin his life it doesn't determine his happiness the sage knows that as strongly as I know 1 plus 1 equals 2 there's no amount of torture in the world that's going to get me to see 1+ 1 equals 3 and there's no amount of torture the world that's going to get the sage to think that pain is actually
41:30 - 42:00 an evil and so there's no evil to resist in the first place now if you think this is absolutely crazy uh let me just read you the story of of the stoic master epicus who was a slave in his early life which uh and I think this story is going to bring this point alive okay when his master was twisting his leg and torturing him epicus said smiling and unmoved you're going to break my leg and when it was broken he added did I
42:00 - 42:30 not tell you that you would break it okay so epicus is not gritting his teeth he's not Manning through anything his resilience comes from knowledge and not grit okay and look I totally understand that these arguments aren't going to be fully convincing because again stoicism is the art of life and the brute fact is that our life is so different from the sages that there's only so much that can be communicated through philosophy but hopefully by appealing to these moral intuitions I can get you um to see
42:30 - 43:00 at least why it would be plausible that the Unlucky Sage is not miserable but there's something even stronger that Marcus wants to say here it's not like the Unlucky Sage is just resilient he treats these misfortunes almost as a challenge to be welcomed I quote to you Marcus be like the Headland on which the waves break constantly which still
43:00 - 43:30 stands firm while the foaming waters are put to rest around it it is my bad luck that this has happened to me on the contrary say it is my good luck that although this has happened to me I can bear it without getting upset neither crushed by the present nor afraid of the future this kind of event could have happened to anyone but not everyone would have borne it without getting upset why is that case one of bad luck rather than this casee one of good so in
43:30 - 44:00 every future event that might lead you to get upset remember to adopt this principle this is not Misfortune for Misfortune nobly born is Good Fortune so the Unlucky Sage doesn't think I'm so unlucky I got raped I'm so unlucky my wife got abducted by aliens he thinks no no I'm so lucky that I have the virtue to handle these situations so here's the second kicker our unlucky
44:00 - 44:30 Sage doesn't actually consider himself unlucky and again this is not some cheap glass half full self-help trick because in the stoic world viw he is lucky because because he has the only thing that is needed for happiness which is virtue and this I think is the most useful perspective I've taken away from stoicism even if you don't agree with the philosophy which is to treat life's setbacks as ch challenges and not Tragedies so Marcus talks a lot about
44:30 - 45:00 how if an obstacle gets in your way of doing the virtue of doing the thing you wanted to do then that that obstacle becomes the material to practice another virtue so if I've trained my entire life to be uh to go into politics to practice the virtue of justice and a war starts I'll just join the military to practice the virtue of Courage if I'm um driving to the community center to practice the virtue of compassion and I get rear ended well uh the person who hit me becomes the object becomes material for
45:00 - 45:30 practicing another virtue which is just forgiveness so it's through virtue that the sage it's almost like Alchemy transm morphs misfortunes into goodness and therefore happiness and so this is what I meant when I said that it's not just like the Unlucky Sage is not miserable it's not like he's just getting from negative to zero he's actively happy so here's an analogy if it helps um I'm
45:30 - 46:00 a big F1 fan and in F1 it's a lot more difficult to drive in the rain than it is the dry but the attitude of the best F1 drivers to the rain is not simply oh I can bear this there's almost an active giddy anticipation for the challenge and we wouldn't want to Str stretch it too far but but there's kind of something similar going on with with the the psychology of the sage so after all that argumentation I hope
46:00 - 46:30 you can uh get a sense at least of why the Unlucky Sage is just as happy as the lucky Sage so the Unlucky Sage doesn't treat any of the misfortunes he suffers as evil any more than the lucky Sage treats his Good Fortune as good they're all indifference right so there's nothing to resist in the first place that's why the Unlucky Sage is not miserable now the reason that he's actively happy is that he responds to all of these misfortunes with virtue so
46:30 - 47:00 virtue helps him relate to external circumstances in the best way and it pushes him to strive towards bringing about better circumstances if this still isn't convincing for you maybe I can leave you with one last image that will at least get the intuition of the stoics across so one of my friends um recently did a pretty long mountaineering trip in the Himalayas on the Nepal side and when you do these weeklong trips you rest at what are called these tea houses so these are essentially small guest houses in the
47:00 - 47:30 mountains that are meant to cater for these hikers and so he gets in one of these tea houses and this one's barely more than a shack and he sees this boy without his limbs who looks pretty malnourished who probably doesn't have a social life because he's 20 days away from Civilization by mule right and he's beaming he's beaming with joy and then he happened to have internet connection at the time so he was scrolling at Instagram the exact instance and he saw this girl on Instagram who was beautiful
47:30 - 48:00 who lived in this beautiful Malibu mansion beach house was surrounded by her loved ones and had a career and she was balling out crying saying that her life was ruined because of the election okay that's the kind of dichotomy the image the stoics want to put in front of you the stoics want to ask you if externals matter what is going on here and so even if you don't agree with the extent of their philosophy I think what's important to take away is the intuition that that um external Goods
48:00 - 48:30 external circumstances matter a lot less for our happiness than we think and how we relate to those how we respond to those external circumstances uh matter a lot more than we think that's the second Point that's the second claim of stoke ethics before I go to the third point which believe it or not is even crazier than the second Point uh I want to draw out quite an optimistic conclusion that flows out of the second point which is that happiness is fully up to
48:30 - 49:00 us so what the Stokes think is up to us is just judgment to put it simply what comes out of judgment is action desire emotions and that's it so for the stoics what your true self is what your true ego is this is where it get it becomes different from Buddhism where the the Buddhist Buddhists are about uh in some sense dissolving the self the stoics are about redirecting it to your proper self which is this faculty of judgment that's it that's you this is why by the way Health was an external good because
49:00 - 49:30 health is not up to your control there are things you can do to be healthy but ultimately whether you're healthy or not is not up to you and this may seem quite pessimistic but desires judgments actions these are the only things you need for virtue and virtue is the only thing you need for happiness and so the intersection of uh stoic
49:30 - 50:00 psychology what is up to your control and stoic ethics what makes you actually happy is the very optimistic conclusion that happiness is fully up to you so focus on what is in your control because congratulations it turns out that's enough for happiness okay let's take a step back and and summarize how we got here so the first claim that the stoics make with the entire family externals determine happiness the second claim it makes breaking from Aristotle is that not only
50:00 - 50:30 do externals not determine happiness having them is a complete indiffer their complete indifference virtue is the only thing that matters for happiness now I think it's clear that we're not at the distinctive stoic position yet because think through what the logical conclusion of these two steps are external world doesn't really matter for my happiness virtue can smooth over all the bumps of Fortune The Logical conclusion is to be
50:30 - 51:00 a bum right because you told me you can drive in the dry you can drive in the wet you told me you can be happy being tortured and impoverished so who cares so this is the serious challenge the stoics need to face up to now which is why does the stoic Sage do anything if you tell me through virtue you can be happy in any circumstance why bother and this is the challenge that the middle Brothers the cynics level against the stoics the youngest brother
51:00 - 51:30 because the cynics have actually joined the stoics in breaking away from Aristotle and now it's in this third step that the two brothers are going to diverge and so just as we teased out what was so unique about the the second stoic claim Vis Aristotle we're not going to bring in the cynic to tease out what's so unique about stoicism in this third claim okay so cynic would have uh nodded along essentially to to everything we've said so far today um externals don't determine happiness virtue is able to uh smooth over all the
51:30 - 52:00 bumps of Fortune and where does that lead them it leads them to the greatest bum of all time diogenes diogenes is the most famous of cynic philosophers for reasons that will be soon be obvious uh first of all he lived in a barrel like a dog and he begged for sustenance the word cynic actually uh comes from the Greek word dog like specifically and it was supposed to be derogatory until diogenes took it upon
52:00 - 52:30 himself as like a kind of like a superhero identity like dog man or something like that and there's uh there's no better introduction to who diogenes is and what he stands for than his uh legendary interaction with Alexander the Great okay so I I read to you one of Di's biographers once Alexander the Great came and stood by diogenes who was bathing in the Sun and said I am Alexander the king and I came the reply am diogenes the dog
52:30 - 53:00 and when he was asked why he was called the dog he said because I Fawn upon those who give me anything bark at those who give me nothing and bite the Rogues Alexander said to him ask any favor you choose of me diogenes replied get out of my son Alexander later said that if you were not Alexander he wish he were diynes if you squint really really hard
53:00 - 53:30 you can see the the kind of familiar resemblance of diogenes the cynic and they're two more noble Brothers there is something Noble about not not cow Towing to Alexander the Great right there is something high-minded about declining the most powerful man in the world writing you a blank check and where this nobility comes from in all three schools is their relative indifference to external Goods but the cynics kind of just take that to
53:30 - 54:00 its logical extreme if externals truly don't matter let's not bother with any externals so the biggest the most important distinction that the cynics make is between nature and Convention so most of the external Goods that we talked about so far whether it's wealth or Prestige or military honor they think that's just conventional Goods right things that uh corrupt Society has told us that we want and so the core project of the cynic is to disassociate himself is to remove as
54:00 - 54:30 many of those conventions in his life and to follow what's left and that's nature okay continue quoting his biography diynes saw a mouse running about and not seeking for a bed and so he chose poverty he saw a child drinking out of his hands and so he threw away his cup he saw a boy take up his lentils with a crust of bread and so he threw away his spoon this sounds great right you live simply
54:30 - 55:00 you follow nature you speak truth to power and you challenge all those oppressive conventions sounds great until diynes makes it very very clear why some of those conventions existed in the first place I continue quoting his biographer at a feast people kept throwing all the bones diogenes like a dog in response diogenes peed on them like a dog dog you call me a dog why are you surprised this is what a dog does it
55:00 - 55:30 gets better it was his Habit to do everything in public everything if eating is not absurd then it is not absurd to eat in the marketplace you see where this is going under the same logic he would pleasure himself in public and say if only I could resolve hunger by rubbing my belly [Music] this is the tip of the iceberg for his Shenanigans okay he spat on people's
55:30 - 56:00 faces in their houses he shat in the theater while a play was going on diogenes is what you get if Socrates and muso had a kid and that kid decided to be a terrorist because like rouso he has this innate suspicion of society like Socrates he has this incessant need to stick his nose into other people's business and like a terrorist he always chooses the most shocking and disruptive way to do it this is the great irony of Greek philosophy the two schools with the most
56:00 - 56:30 similar philosophical positions the cynics and the stoics one produced Marcus frus one produced diogenes the cynic this is why I keep warning you look at the term sheet look at the fine terms because if you've been nodding along to everything I've been saying in this lecture you're in big trouble you may think I'm teaching you how to become a noble philosopher king I'm actually teaching you how to be a publicly defecating sex offender okay
56:30 - 57:00 and um at least that's who you're on your way to becoming without more philosophical intervention and if you think I'm uh defiling the stoics good name by joining them to this hip with this dangerous provocator let me remind you Marcus aurelus idolized diynes remember that quote I read in the beginning when he compares the three great philosophers with the three great uh rulers remember who the three great philosophers are
57:00 - 57:30 Socrates heraclitus diynes diogenes was up there as one of his core Role Models even stronger stoicism literally comes out of diogenes in the sense that stoicism's founder Zeno was trained as a cynic by a cynic Cates who was crates trained by diynes these two School share so many similar philosophies that they end up being what are called unorthodox stoics
57:30 - 58:00 people like Aristo who who essentially just uh espouse cynical positions right so I hope you can start appreciating uh why I brought in the cynic here it's because if if you actually agreed with everything I've said so far in this lecture then it seems a lot more reasonable to piss on people and jack off in public right that sentence is definitely going to be misused somehow but uh so the last question we need to answer is why does the stoic Sage do anything
58:00 - 58:30 okay why do they do anything just just be like diogenes and here comes the third and final claim of stoic ethics some externals are preferred indifference preferred indifference literally sounds like an oxymoron when I first heard this claim what it reminded me of was that line from Animal Farm you know the one I'm talking about all animals are equal some animals are more equal than others what the stoics are
58:30 - 59:00 saying is look all externals are indifferent but some externals are more indifferent than others so uh if you have any philosophical popcorn left this is where you take it out because this is another one of those stoic claims you're just like how in the world are they going to dig themselves out of this one and again it's a lot more convincing than you think so let's try to understand this view first which is that there are a set of external Goods health wealth Justice
59:00 - 59:30 security that are called preferred indifference and all these preferred indifference are are things that tend to make life go a bit smoother okay so nothing too fancy and so remember when I said that they're going to reabsorb the intuition that life tends to go better with health rather than sickness with with wealth rather than poverty This Is How They reabsorb that intuition and so there's already a very convincing and obvious answer to why a stoic would pursue these preferred
59:30 - 60:00 indifference it's simply that you're more likely to be virtuous in preferred rather than dispreferred circumstances so if I had a dollar I could be generous but then I'd starve so I'm probably not going to be generous right I'm not going to display that virtue but if I had a million dollars I'm much more likely to be generous to give it away and when I do the impact of my generosity is all is going to be so much greater okay so this reason is going to be sufficient basically for all
60:00 - 60:30 of us because the stoics make a distinction between the practitioner someone who's still trying to be more virtuous but won't necessarily be in all situ in all situations and the sage okay the sage is someone who's perfectly virtuous in all situations how many sages have there been in history zero maybe Socrates so basically everyone you meet including Marcus is just a practioner and for practitioners it's very obvious why you go after these preferred indifference
60:30 - 61:00 okay they're they're almost just instrumental to Virtue but that can't be the full answer because even the sage goes after these preferred indifference so the second and deeper answer here is that the stoics think there are two categories of value one category of value is virtue and Vice that's all you need for happiness those are the only determinants of Happiness the other value is preferred
61:00 - 61:30 and dispreferred indifference and these are valuable things that give you reasons to act even if the result of those actions don't impact your happiness okay I know that's very confusing so let me give you an example let's say I'm a doctor uh as a doctor my goal is to save patients as a good doctor or so I've been told I don't allow my happiness to be tied to whether whether the patient is actually saved or not because I'm going to go crazy what I judge what I evaluate my job on is how
61:30 - 62:00 well I attempted how well did I give it my all to save the patient so if I gave it my all patient still dies I'm not going to feel upset because I I L I did literally everything I could now in the converse even if the patient survives but I was you know messing around I took a nap during surgery I'm going to be pretty upset with myself so my happiness is completely uncorrelated with whether uh the patient is actually saved but
62:00 - 62:30 completely correlated to how much effort I put into saving the patient okay so in this case the patient's life is an indifferent to me right because whether he's actually saved or not is completely uncorrelated to my happiness but his life is a preferred indifferent his life is valuable it is good that he is saved and if I want to be happy with myself right I I have to do my best to save him so it turns out that stoic happiness is
62:30 - 63:00 actually deeply entangled with the external world but just not in the way that we thought it would be my happiness is dependent on striving towards the proper indifference even if I don't obtain them okay and so I know what you're thinking now you're thinking wait but I thought the the point of this whole lecture so far was that externals don't matter for our happiness right I thought that was the claim it kind of is it's a bit more precise than that it doesn't matter if you have those externals or not wealth
63:00 - 63:30 uh security Justice because we showed in any circumstance as long as you react with virtue you're going to thrive but what is virtue part of what it consists in is the proper selection of preferred different okay so the virtue of a doctor the best thing the doctor can possibly do is to go after the preferred indifference which is the patient's life the virtue of the uh unlucky Sage is to escape torture part of it at least right
63:30 - 64:00 that's a dispreferred indiffer and to make himself more healthy that's a preferred and different so your happiness is not dependent on whether you have those external Goods wealth Health uh Beauty it's totally dependent on virtue but virtue is dependent on aiming at those preferred indifference so your happiness is also dependent on aiming at those preferred indifference striving towards them even
64:00 - 64:30 if it's uncorrelated with actually having them okay and this is where the big break between the cynics come in the cynics don't recognize another class of value so the cynic says look health and illness and uh wealth and um poverty there's no preference between them and the stoic critique is look if you don't treat the external world as having any preference and you actually lose the
64:30 - 65:00 basis for internal virtue as well think about something like moderation if I eat so much that I throw up never happened uh it's funny because it has happened multiple times uh the stoic would say look you're not being moderate why because the action tended towards a dispreferred indifference towards illness right but if the cynic doesn't make any distinction between health and illness
65:00 - 65:30 then suddenly moderation the virtue of moderation makes no sense if the cynic doesn't make any distinction between Financial Security and complete bankruptcy then Prudence makes no sense so if you give up this idea that there's any difference in value in the external world in the external Goods then you actually at once lose the basis to talk about virtue right because part of what virtue is is aiming and striving towards the preferred difference it's about responding best to whatever
65:30 - 66:00 situation you're in so preferred indifference is not an oxymoron because each of the words points to a different class of value preferred simply means that it's good that the world be this way it's good that my life be this way indifferent means that whether the world and my life is actually this way has no impact on my happiness so all preferred and different means is something that I have reasons to strive towards even if
66:00 - 66:30 whether I achieve that or not is irrelevant to my happiness so there's two failure modes for for the stoics two large failure modes at least when it comes to their relation with external Goods one failure mode is to ignore the indifference part right that's the one that that most of us fail at we don't treat Health as an indifferent we're attached to it we treat it as something directly related to our happiness and uh in the doctor's case this would be a Doctor Who ties his happiness to the life of the patient
66:30 - 67:00 right because he doesn't treat as an indifferent that's one failure mode but there's another failure mode that's a lot less likely but this is what the cynic get themselves in which is to ignore the word preferred and that's to eradicate any value in the external World whatsoever and so that would be a doctor who says well Dead or Alive who really cares who just bums around and I know takes a nap during surgery so so to summarize all of this very crudely um what preferred indifference are if you want to think about it this way is that there are good states in the world okay
67:00 - 67:30 so it is better for me to be healthy rather than sick okay it's better for society to be uh uh secure rather than chaotic in the same way that it's better for a fish to be in water than in the air okay things just function better this way and just like the doctor has duties to the patient I have duties or I have reasons to bring about better states of the world and just like the doctor's
67:30 - 68:00 happiness is dependent on him trying to save the patient even if the patient dies my happiness depends on me giving the best shot at pursuing and selecting some of these indifference even if I fail okay so if none of this made any sense to you whatsoever uh first of all not my fault the sto's fault for their bad naming cisero said as much second of all I want wanted to give you one last lens that perhaps you can try to make sense
68:00 - 68:30 of all this because you might be wondering um if having these preferred indifference health wealth security doesn't matter for my happiness why would striving towards it make me happy right like surely if being healthy or beautiful doesn't matter why would trying to be healthy or beautiful why why is that a constitutive aspect of of of Happiness so one lens that the Stokes
68:30 - 69:00 don't use because it's a modern word but I think could be helpful is the idea of meaning okay I think it's very intuitive for us to think that what meaning requires what a meaningful life is is when we are pulled by reasons outside of oursel when we are aiming towards some greater good outside of oursel so take the case of Marcus Marcus Spends His Life pursuing wealth Health security Justice for himself for his family for
69:00 - 69:30 the Imperium and that's a meaningful life because he tried his best to bring about a better state of the world because he is connected to something larger than him so what's wrong with this the bum what's wrong with the bum who doesn't do anything is that he doesn't live a meaningful life if I don't try to make money when I'm bankrupt if I don't try to stop being tortured if I don't try to um help a person clearly in need I'm
69:30 - 70:00 solop cystic I'm enclosed in my own sphere I'm not moved by any of the values any of the reasons in the world that should move me and therefore my my my world is meaningless and so this is I think where we can revisit the Unlucky Sage because remember the Unlucky Sage is not automatically happy in Misfortune he's automatically not miserable because he treats everything as indifferent but he's only happy because he reacts to everything with virtue right so the Unlucky Sage does
70:00 - 70:30 courageously try to build a business and family The Unlucky Sage does try to escape the cartel and it's not perfect but maybe you can see how his life can be meaningful he's almost like a failed revolutionary right he tried his best to bring about a better state of the world and maybe that's another way to understand why the Unlucky Sage is just just as happy as the lucky Sage because both of them gave it their all in every
70:30 - 71:00 instance of their life to try to engender a better state of the world so even though their circumstances were radically different their Vector of aiming towards the good is the same and that's what makes them equally happy and the key intuition here is that it's the movement towards the good it's the motion of your life of trying to bring about a better world that is what generates meaning and happiness okay again a rough modern approximation but I hope that helps so if it's easier for you to think
71:00 - 71:30 about um meaning then then the stoic key to happiness becomes something like what makes a life meaningful worth living is that you try your best to bring about a better state of the world even if you fail okay that's the preferred indiff uh and this doctrine of preferred and different is what makes sto ISM both an imminent and Transcendent philosophy at
71:30 - 72:00 the same time it's what makes it both this worldly and otherworldly at the same time stoicism is made otherworldly because your happiness is supposed to rise above any of The Wiggles of Fortune but it's fully this worldly because to get that happiness part of it at least consists in aiming at uh uh targets that all of us are aiming for health wealth the traditional goods and so the closest thing that I've
72:00 - 72:30 actually come across um to this kind of uh both imminence and Transcendence at the same time are these sexs of Tibetan Buddhism that teach the practitioner that they should practice in the world and so to end this section I want to relay the warning I got from the Masters um when I was inquiring into those into those Traditions which is that this is hard mode okay you may think this is easier because you get to keep pursuing uh wealth and health and
72:30 - 73:00 you get to keep keep um taking care of your loved ones and your family this is hard mode the monastery is the easy mode it's easy to be indifferent to Sex and Money when you can't have any it's a lot harder to be indifferent when you're engaged in the world so perhaps I'll end the section with a reminder of what Augustine said which is that abstinence is a lot easier than moderation so don't be fooled this
73:00 - 73:30 is hard mode okay so those are the the key tenants of uh Stoke ethics number one externals don't determine happiness all the the entire family makes this jump number two um virtue is the only determining Factor virtue only matters for happiness right this is the break from Aristotle the cynics and the stoics make and number three some
73:30 - 74:00 externals are preferred indifference this is the break with the cynic so now that we have this philosophical uh structure underneath us let's try to revisit right that quote we began this lecture with and see if we can make more sense of it when you kiss your child good night you should say silently tomorrow perhaps you will meet your death the life of my child is an indifferent hopefully we know what that means by now it doesn't mean I don't
74:00 - 74:30 care it doesn't mean I'm apathetic what it means is that my happiness does not necessarily need to be dependent on whether my child lives or not what it means is that there are people who have their children passed away who have let them go with equinity and therefore it is possible for me too but of course my child is not just an indifferent it's a preferred and different right and what that means is that it's natural for us to have children it's valuable that my child is
74:30 - 75:00 healthy and even stronger I ought to do everything I can to ensure his security because that's what virtue in this domain demands of me as a parent right so I I hope you can finally see why the critique of the Stokes as being detached is so off base because the stoic parent is no less urgent in helping his kid as the good doctor is urgent in Saving the patient right and so this meditation
75:00 - 75:30 of death is not just the stripping method it's not just trying to get some uh distance as a as a preempting some kind of tragedy paradoxically it's also about helping you appreciate your kids's presence more okay I quote dwell not on what you lack but what you have and reflect how eagerly you would have sought them if you didn't have them so by thinking of my child's death I can take him less for granted right I can
75:30 - 76:00 highlight how precious his value is for me how fragile that value is which gives me even more reasons to act on his behalf that's stoic ethics in a nutshell and there's a whole uh side of their philosophy that we haven't even begin to cover yet there's a god with a providential plan there's uh big bangs and big crunches there's a fantastic system of logic but I wanted to focus uh this lecture today on the ideas that we can
76:00 - 76:30 most readily take and use in our own lives and so I think that this first claim of stoic ethics is not just right but it's right in a very profound way because I did treat my life my happiness as a function of externals but I think the stoics are right which is that uh how well- lived my life is has a lot more to to do with how I live that life how I relate to the external circumstances and the external circumstances
76:30 - 77:00 themselves but frankly they lost me after that okay so in the second claim I totally side with Aristotle The Unlucky Sage is not as happy as the lucky sage in fact I have so many issues uh with their position that I'm going to do a dedicated lecture just to cisero's critique of stoicism in his definis now but with that said um being forced to wrestle with all their arguments about treating things as
77:00 - 77:30 attached or indifferent about meaning and where meaning really comes from has really helped push me to realize just how much of happiness is in my control even if they didn't get me to the 100% position that they claim right it's by wrestling with the stoics I got from like a 20% to a 90% And so because my disagreements with them at this point are more of degree than of kind I readily and happily will take all of their
77:30 - 78:00 therapeutic techniques right the stripping method meditations on death uh journaling but the most um important perspective that I got must be this idea that life's setbacks are challenges and not Tragedies now you might feel quite daunted by this kind of superhuman ideal that Marcus has put in front of us and the only comfort I can give you is that it was daunting for Marcus 2 someone who's not tempted by postum
78:00 - 78:30 Fame doesn't have to write himself every other night it doesn't matter someone who's not in deep Pain by the passing of each of his children doesn't have to form this weird nightly ritual and someone who isn't at least tempted by Revenge has no need to write I quote the best kind of Revenge is not to become like them see that you never feel towards myth androp as they feel towards the human race we must not forget that this book right here is his journal right it's
78:30 - 79:00 another uh stoic self therapy it's another stoic technique and as such it describes not who Marcus was but who Marcus fought incessantly to become and in that way I found it almost even more inspirational because it makes him a lot more relatable right because you can pick up practically any book in the library at this point and you can find someone lecturing to others you can find someone telling others to be
79:00 - 79:30 better but this is a book where a man is caught exhorting himself to be better and so after finishing this um more so than any other work it feels like I'm not just exposed to a set of ideas but I've been introduced to a man and dare I say a friend because something very weird happened uh Midway through prepping this lecture I realized when I was trying to shorten the name Marcus aurelus I went for the first name and not the last name and think about how
79:30 - 80:00 weird that would be for any other thinker we've covered so far if I called n Fred if I called rouso Jean or if I called Shakespeare will but for some reason Marcus just rolls off the tongue and I found that Quirk deeply comforting because to be honest when I first started this book and I finished chapter 1 I felt this sense of dread so chapter
80:00 - 80:30 1 was Marcus detailing All The Virtuous people he had in his lives all the people that were essential for his formative upbring it was his wise uh mother it was his even wiser adopted adopted father and his whole Entourage of philosophical tutors and I felt um this sense of dread because I realized how important these people were for his upbringing but who I have in my life who are exemplars of virtue that I look up to that I can learn from certainly not
80:30 - 81:00 you guys I don't have a philosopher queen as a mother I don't have the Realms wise men on speed dial but after finishing this book that dread went away because I realized I did have someone in my life someone who's more relatable than Imperial parent can be someone who's more honest than Imperial to T Derby I realized I had my friend Marcus through his meditations thank
81:00 - 81:30 [Applause] you thanks for watching my lecture if you want to go even deeper into these ideas then join my email list at Jonathan b.com you'll not only get full length episodes but also booknotes essays and invitations to Future lectures now if you're curious to learn more about stoicism I have a whole series of interviews and lectures covering senica epicus KO as well as the greatest critics of the school you can
81:30 - 82:00 find links to all those episodes and everything we cover today in the description as well as on my website Jonathan b.com thank you