Why You Need to Read Modern Books on Stoicism

The Benefits of Understanding More About Stoic Philosophy

I write books about and run courses on Stoic philosophy. (I’m currently working on a graphic novel about Marcus Aurelius.) I also run a large discussion group for Stoic philosophy on Facebook. One of the most common things you have to deal with online is the phenomenon known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, a very common cognitive bias whereby people who lack competence in some field will tend to underestimate their own incompetence. Professor Dunning, for instance, said that the Dunning-Kruger effect “suggests that poor performers are not in a position to recognize the shortcomings in their performance.”

Where you encounter that in the classics is with people who have read very little on the subject assuming that they know everything there is to know. They don’t know how much they don’t know, precisely because they don’t know enough to realize. That used to take the form of people who have read one or two classics— usually The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius or Handbook of Epictetus — assuming that they’re experts and have nothing left to learn about the philosophy. Nowadays, surprisingly, you’ll find people who haven’t even read those books and whose only exposure to the subject is from a few blog articles, podcasts, or videos.