Vice article on Stoicism (mentions Epicurus)

Great find and thank you Don. Another occasion to examine the recurring issue!

Here are some initial comments:

I can quite believe that Elizabeth Holmes was using Stoicism to justify her fraudulent behavior at Theranos!

I question whether it was "designed for the masses" but I don't doubt the "machiavellian" attitude of Stoics in dumbing it down for popularity's sake. That certainly was not Epicurus' viewpoint on his own philosophy.

Sounds like a method we could usefully learn from.

This is definitely an observation we hear made over and over and I believe to be true.

That may be true for some "light" stoics, but according to the info in David Sedley's "the ethics of Brutus and Cassius" it was by no means true of them all and was in fact used to justify doing nothing in the face of emperical tyranny.

Very true!

I suppose this is true as one conclusion of virtue extremism. It should also serve to show how different Stoicism is from what Epicurus taught.

There's much more in the article worthy of comment. Again - thanks Don!

Oh it's also worth mentioning this similar article discussed previously -

Thread

Silicon Valley, Big Tech, And Stoicism

epicureanfriends.com/wcf/attachment/287/ A very concerning aspect of Silicon Valley - and a reason that Epicurean platforms should not depend on Big Tech.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/sty…ley-stoics.html

(1) "An ancient Greek school of thought, Stoicism argued that the only real treasures in life were inner virtues, like self-mastery and courage. The Stoics offered tactics to endure pain and pleasure without complaint."

Tactics to ENDURE PLEASURE WITHOUT COMPLAINT???? This writer admits…

Cassius

March 30, 2019 at 9:06 AM