The Global Stoa

[Cross-posted from NYC Stoics]

Looking to get a taste of actual Stoic practice? Now's your chance!
Once a year, the organization Modern Stoicism organizes a free week-long online course that goes over the basics of Stoicism while asking you to live like a Stoic for a week.

This in-person meetup is for people who signed up for Stoic Week. We'll discuss how your week went, as well as discuss further options for Stoic practice and answer any question you have about Stoic Week or Stoicism in general.

Stoic Week 2024 starts on October 28th. You can sign up for free here: https://learn.modernstoicism.com/p/stoicweek2024

[Cross-posted from NYC Stoics]

Stoic theory suggests when we make a choice in the present, it makes making similar choices easier in the future. Thus, if we choose to assent to false value judgements, this gets easier with time. This is the Stoic concept of "proneness".

Many scholars suspect that this concept was a later development from the Middle Stoic Posidonius. However, others disagree and think this important concept can be traced back to the Old Stoa.

In this meetup, we'll continue our exploration of Stoic psychology in the academic literature by discussing The Stoic Concept of Proneness to Emotion and Vice by Graziano Ranocchia, which you can download for free here.

To prepare, please read the The Stoic Concept of Proneness to Emotion and Vice in full and come prepared to discuss it. We'll be assuming you did the reading at this meetup, so if you didn't, it's likely you'll be left behind!

Join us for a discussion of philosophy in prison on the occasion of the annual International Philosophy Day at the City College of New York!

The question “What is philosophy?” comes up in a variety of contexts. It might come from the parents of a student taking a class, from the person sitting next to you on an airplane, or perhaps from your least favorite philosophy professor. One very popular answer, going back at least to the ancient Greeks, goes like this: Philosophy is some sort of sublime mental activity that can only be accessed by elite thinkers who are able to truly devote themselves to philosophical development, to the exclusion of all else, at least as far as possible. But there is another answer on offer in the history of philosophy – a much more humble one. We will try to articulate this conception of philosophy and see how it might be practiced among a particularly underprivileged population – the incarcerated.

Where: North Academic Center on the campus of the City College of New York, ground floor, room 1/203.

Please be aware that you may be asked to show ID to access campus buildings because of security reasons.

Practical philosophy is, well, practical! But what does it mean to practice philosophy? Isn’t philosophy an armchair kind of thing? Join us to talk about the ancient concept (it dates at least to the Pythagoreans of the 6th century BCE!) of spiritual/philosophical exercises. We’ll learn how the Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics, and others did it, and how we can do it as well, in order to live a better life in the 21st century.

Suggested reading: Philosophy as a way of life, spiritual exercises.

You may also want to check out this book.

Zoom link: available on this page.

Please plan to log in about five minutes before the meeting. Also note that the zoom room will be locked five minutes after the beginning of the event for security reasons, so come on time!

Anger, according to the Stoics, is a form of temporary madness, the quintessential example of an unhealthy emotion, because it is in opposition to reason. Seneca the Younger wrote a whole book on the subject.

But the Stoics were not the only ones to have a problem with anger. So did the Platonist Skeptic Plutarch of Chaeronea, who wrote on the subject in his Moral Essays. Which is interesting, because Plutarch was also fairly critical of the Stoics!

Come join us in beautiful Paris this January to spend two and a half days exploring Seneca's and Plutarch's ideas about anger and how we can apply them to modern life. Whether you'll end up agreeing or disagreeing with them, you are guaranteed a stimulating time in the City of Light, together with fellow practitioners of philosophy as a way of life.

Suggested readings:

Anger, Mercy, Revenge, by L.A. Seneca, translated by Robert A. Kaster and Martha C. Nussbaum, University of Chicago Press.

Essays, by Plutarch, introduction by Ian Kidd, translated by Robin Waterfield, Penguin Classics.

E-book: Stoicism and Emotion, a commentary on Margaret Graver, by Massimo Pigliucci, The Philosophy Garden.

How to talk to your emotions, by Massimo Pigliucci, The Philosophy Garden.

The story of the pale Stoic in the storm, by Massimo Pigliucci, The Philosophy Garden.

Location: Hôtel Maison FL, 6 Rue de la Tour, 75116 Paris, France. (To obtain the special rate for attendees, which includes breakfast, use code ESSTS.)

This event is sponsored by the Stoa Nova school for a new Stoicism, and will be facilitated by two of its faculty, Rob Colter and Massimo Pigliucci.

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Program
(tentative, subject to change, please check back)

Thursday, January 9

3am-6pm: What should we do with the passions? Ancient and modern takes.

8pm-10pm: dinner in small groups, philosophy chats

Friday, January 10

9am-12pm: Seneca's On Anger, book I

12pm-3pm: lunch break, eateries nearby

3pm-6pm: Seneca's On Anger, book II

8pm-10pm: dinner in small groups, philosophy chats

Saturday, January 11

9am-12pm: Seneca's On Anger, book III

12pm-3pm: lunch break, eateries nearby

3pm-6pm: Plutarch's On the Avoidance of Anger

8pm-10pm: group dinner (facultative)

Sunday, January 12

10am-1pm: Excursion at the National Archeology Museum. The Musée d’Archéologie Nationale is housed in what was once a royal palace – the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, on the outskirts of Paris. In the 1860s Napoleon III had the castle restored to house the nation’s archaeology collections. Today, the museum has a vast collection of artefacts from all over the country, from the earliest Palaeolithic to the early Medieval. Highlights include cave art, Bronze Age gold and Roman mosaics.

1pm-3pm: lunch at nearby eateries

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A short article on the history of Lutetia, the original (Roman) Paris.

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About the facilitator:

Massimo Pigliucci is an author, blogger, podcaster, as well as the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His new book is Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers (with Greg Lopez and Meredith Kunz, The Experiment). More here.

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Fee: $200/person.

Refund (minus processing fee) if: (i) the workshop is canceled; or (ii) if you cancel by midnight (ET) on 12 December 2024.