Beyond Stoicism: Bringing Ancient Insights to Modern Life

In the following months Philadelphia Stoa will be reading “Beyond Stoicism A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans and Other Ancient Philosophers” written by Massimo Pigliucci, Gregory Lopez, and Meredith Alexander Kunz. Published January 7th 2025.

The purpose of this book is help create a meaningful life. Our authors attempt this by drawing inspiration from thirteen prominent philosophers of Ancient Greece and Roman. Each chapter combine glimpses into a philosopher’s life with an exploration of the thinker’s practical philosophy closing with exercises for putting his or her teachings to work for us.

Last month we studied Chapter 10, “Suspend Judgment With Pyrrho”. Pyrrho of Elis (360-270) BCE was known as founding the first school of Skepticism. Having traveled to parts of India, he witnessed how these sages stood motionless and endured pain without complaint. Their imperturbability is due to their suspension of belief and letting go of the need of certainty. Pyrrho’s skepticism is based on how perceptions and beliefs cannot be confirmed as true, and thus one should suspend judgment to achieve a state of ataraxia, or peace of mind.

This month we will leave the “The Port of Doubt” and journey into the Lands of “Here Be Dragons”. In this last journey our authors warn us that although the following philosophers (Pythagoras, Stilpo and Hypatia) are not intrinsically dangerous, their beliefs are strange and may be difficult to practice in our modern life.

Chapter 11 is called, “Pythagoras The Mystic”. Pythagoras of Samos was born in 570 BCE. Son of a jewel engraver, Pythagoras studied various philosophies and religions. He learned natural philosophy from Greek thinkers like Thales and Anaximenes, but also traveled to Egypt for 22 years to study Religion, Mathematics, and Astronomy. Like Socrates, Pythagoras did not write and thus we must rely of secondary sources such as Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes Laërtius, and Iamblichus. In our meeting we will examine his thoughts on Reincarnation of the Soul (metempsychosis), Vegetarianism, Numerology-Harmonics, Friendship and his thoughts on Political involvement.

In general our meetings will be divided into two parts. The first part I will briefly review their theoretical arguments of the thinkers… here I expect questions will be raised. The next part will involve group work. Our authors have provided various sets of exercises to practice.

One copy of the book will be provided to be purchased. You can also purchase the book via Amazon. Also Please see the video of our Authors discussing their new book with Professor Gregory Sadler.

Video Discussion with the Authors about "Beyond Stoicism".
https://thephilosophygarden.substack.com/p/video-beyond-stoicism?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#media-4c0afcd9-cc7b-44db-80b0-3ecd7ad613f6
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Meeting: Philadelphia Ethical Society on January 18th Sunday 3:00 to 4:30 pm.

Part III: The Port of Doubt
Chapter 11: Pythagoras The Mystic