The Dangers of Stoicism
Our newest philosophy fad lacks some important pieces.
“Choose not to be harmed — and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed — and you haven’t been.” — Marcus Aurelius
Stoicism, as popularized by exceptionally talented writers and thinkers like Ryan Holiday, has been celebrating an amazing and unlikely resurgence in the last few years. Its brand of self-contained philosophy offers an easy on-ramp for people thirsting to think deeper about their place in an ever more complex socio-cultural world.
On its face, Stoicism is a powerful set of tenets about taking responsibility for one’s own happiness, often distilled down to its maxim of Amor Fati that “You cannot control everything that happens to you, but you can control how you react to them.” Packaged with the historical gravitas of its reluctant celebrity figurehead Marcus Aurelius, it has enough real intellectual weight that it cannot be dismissed out of hand and deserves real consideration in its teachings and their applicability to modern society.
Also deserving of consideration are stoicism’s very real limitations in both scope and practice.
Stoicism is For White Guys, by White Guys
Much like the concept of a Meritocracy and other nouveau egalitarian concepts, Stoicism’s starting point is one…
