Anyone else been increasingly dissatisfied by Stoicism lately? It's been super in vogue for about a decade now in tech for some reason. I've read several books on it, and apply some of the practices, but there's something that doesn't sit quite right that I haven't fully been able to put my finger on it yet.
Thanks for posting, it was an interesting read. I agree with the premise "stoicism is not a sufficient philosophy for a good life, only a survivable one."
The rest of the article seems like a misinterpretation of Stoic ideas. For example "Our emotions and intuitions are not something to be set aside" which I think the stoics would agree with: "Don’t let the force of an impression when it first hits you knock you off your feet; just say to it, “Hold on a moment; let me see who you are and what you represent. Let me put you to the test." – Epictetus. Initial emotions should not be 'set aside' but should be 'seen for who they are and what they represent'.
He admits that "Learning to tame your emotions through willpower is helpful, but your emotions themselves are still an asset." Which sounds stoic to me?
Finally he provides an alternative "Instead to live well we must learn to create things outside ourselves, through ritual and poesy." Why ritual and poesy? Why not philosophy? I would love to know the reasoning behind this but none is provided.
My knowledge of Stoicism is limited, but I think my criticism is on the mark. I'd love to hear the opinions of more informed HN people.
Maybe you're just a contrarian. Anything that's fashionable, especially when it's corpo-speak, rubs you the wrong way.
I'll hazard another guess why you may feel this way. The current discourse around stoicism is essentially aspirational. We no longer recognize the internal fortitude stoicism requires, neither in ourselves nor our peers, so we desperately cling to its ideals. Much like toddlers repeating they're not afraid in the dark when going into the basement.
See similar motivations around how all corpo-speak is now all about empathy, kindness, tolerance, and other traits we are really bad at putting into practice, but feel compelled to reiterate.
It's not just being contrarian, because I was on the Stoicism bandwagon for a couple years.
> See similar motivations around how all corpo-speak is now all about empathy, kindness, tolerance, and other traits we are really bad at putting into practice, but feel compelled to reiterate.
