What Philosophers Don’t Get About Marcus Aurelius

What psychological benefits can be gained by readers of the Meditations?

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is one of the most widely-read books about philosophy ever written. Its popularity today is somewhat ironic because scholars generally agree that it is unlikely to have been intended for publication. Marcus repeats himself unnecessarily, jumps from one topic to another, alludes to obscure details of his personal life, casually drops in remarks which would have offended his fellow Romans, and rattles off lists of his favourite quotes from other authors, all of which creates the impression that we are reading his private notebooks.

Bust of Marcus Aurelius, reproduced by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum

It’s also odd because despite being one of the most famous surviving books on ancient Greek philosophy, it’s been largely ignored by academic philosophers. When I studied philosophy at Aberdeen University, back in the 1990s, it wasn’t part of the undergraduate curriculum and, as far as I recall, it was never even mentioned. I only really became aware of the Meditations after I graduated. That’s partly because it’s typically viewed today mainly as a self-help classic. Paul Giammati’s character in The Holdovers (2023) is so persuaded of its value as a self-improvement guide that he keeps a stash of copies to give to others as presents: ”For my money,” he…