Stoicism is a Slave Morality

Comments · 290

• JO

  @JohannesNiederhauser · 1 month ago · pinned

  Reclaim the Art of Living: <a href="https://halkyonacademy.com/p/philosophy-as-the-art-of-living-1071795">https://halkyonacademy.com/p/philosophy-as-the-art-of-living-1071795</a>

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• GE

  @georgelewis3047 · 1 month ago

  So you are not attacking Stoicism but rather a perverted pop version of it. &nbsp;The headline needs to be corrected.

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• TE

  @TechWithM · 1 month ago

  I’ve had these exact thoughts for a while now, and it takes a lot of courage to just come out and say it. I completely agree with Dr. Niederhauser’s take here.

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• FE

  @fellowcitizen · 1 month ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ73h2B2L7w&amp;t=560">9:20</a> &nbsp;The Dread Pirate Roberts: &nbsp; &quot;Life is pain. &nbsp;Anyone who says differently is selling something.&quot;<br> (William Goldman)

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• TH

  @thomas.thomas · 1 month ago

  Himmler used the teachings about detachment and meditation of the Bhagavad Gita to cope with the atrocities he supported

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• DO

  @douglasphillips5870 · 1 month ago

  I think stoicism has some good ideas about keeping your cool in the moment. Pain is your body telling you that you&apos;re danger. You shouldn&apos;t live in suffering, but being calm can help you find a way out of your situation.

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• AN

  @an_unknown_wanderer · 1 month ago

  At its core, every philosophy is just a toolkit. Some situations call for Stoic calm, others for Aristotelian anger. You simply take what moves you forward from the buffet in that specific moment. No single philosophy is a universal truth for life.

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• BR

  @briancornish2076 · 1 month ago

  Yes indeed the world has become a dreary place of individuals setting so called boundaries and grinding on unto death in stubborn isolation.

• LA

  @lawtonbrewer4107 · 1 month ago

  Sometimes, Epictetus gets on my nerves. In writing of Odysseus’ grief over his absence from his home, Epictetus says “Odysseus, if he did indeed weep and wail, was not a good man.” He adds, “Now the grief of another is not in my power but my own grief is. I will therefore absolutely suppress my own… and I will endeavor to suppress another’s grief as far as I am able … .” &nbsp;I find this level of Stoicism arrogant and pathological. &nbsp;Another example: &quot;If you kiss your child, or your wife, say that you only kiss things which are human, and thus you will not be disturbed if either of them dies.&quot;

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• JC

  @JC_1095 · 1 month ago

  Stoicism has helped me get through the bad times in life and has reminded me to not get too ahead of myself during the good times. A practical philosophy that has helped me improve my standing in life, going from someone more dependent on the system to less/enjoying more autonomy and self actualization is not a very effective &quot;slave morality.&quot; You can be a government official and still very much a slave to your vices and those who use them to blackmail you. This has never been more evident in our lifetime than in today&apos;s political landscape. The virtuous stoic is directly at odds with the establishment&apos;s matrix, and all its schemes and illusions.

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• PI

  @pieterisp · 1 month ago

  I find Pessimism combined with Absurdism allows me to survive all the dystopian madness prevalent in current life. In that respect this transcends stoicism by explaining adversity and the irrational.

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• OL

  @oliverschultz4943 · 1 month ago (edited)

  Great video, making a basic, uncontroversial, and vital point! Still, many folks in the comments seem to be missing the point that you&apos;re critiquing POP stoicism. <br><br>As an element of pop philosophy and psychology, pop stoicism is about the individual internalisation (and &apos;responsibilisation&apos;) of the oppression created by external political-economic structures of capitalism owned and controlled by a tiny, depraved ruling class. Thus it diverts our attention and righteous anger away from acting (revolting) against this global order of diabolical domination, inequality, and exploitation.

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