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How to be a Stoic changes the historical context of Stoicism to suit Pigliucci's personal views. I do not recommend that book, since his good bits are borrowed

How to be a Stoic changes the historical context of Stoicism to suit Pigliucci's personal views. I do not recommend that book, since his good bits are borrowed from The Inner Citadel. The author lost my respect when he supported the revisionism of the BBC. https://medium.com/opacity/comment-on-klueless-massimo-s-comments-massimo-pigliucci-of-the-mary-beard-twitter-debate-4c99a36de40 https://medium.com/opacity/comment-on-klueless-massimo-s-com... This short essay by GILBERT MURRAY is the best introduction to Stoicism: http://ia600304.us.archive.org/13/items/thestoicphilosop00murruoft/thestoicphilosop00murruoft.pdf http://ia600304.us.archive.org/13/items/thestoicphilosop00mu... After that, you can dive into: - EPICTETUS, Discourses, Fragments, Handbook (Oxford World's Classics. It features both Enchiridion and fragments) - MARCUS AURELIUS, Meditations (Oxford World's Classics) - Any collection of letters and essays written by SENECA - PIERRE HADOT, The Inner Citadel (Harvard Press, Translated by Michael Chase) Don't rush through the material, think deeply about every page you read. Don't forget to understand the life and history of each author. Context is extremely important. Don't let modern sensibilities fill the gaps. If you're looking for a solid introduction to traditional logic, I recommend you Socratic Logic, by Peter Kreeft. Lastly, the only way to truly understand Stoicism is to learn about Socrates and Plato as well.

ashark 9y ago
For Seneca, U. of Chicago Press has been releasing a series of new translations[1] over the last few years. Good, if a bit expensive. May be some on the used market by now. Hardship and Happiness would probably be the most useful one if you're looking for his work on Stoicism, followed by Letters on Ethics, then Anger, Mercy, Revenge. They may eventually do a one or two volume "best of" compilation as sometimes publishers do when they release these long, expensive series, and maybe paperback editions. Dunno. There are ebook versions of them if that's your thing. [1] http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/CWLAS.html http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/CWLAS.html

ashark 9y ago

For Seneca, U. of Chicago Press has been releasing a series of new translations[1] over the last few years. Good, if a bit expensive. May be some on the used market by now. Hardship and Happiness would probably be the most useful one if you're looking for his work on Stoicism, followed by Letters on Ethics, then Anger, Mercy, Revenge. They may eventually do a one or two volume "best of" compilation as sometimes publishers do when they release these long, expensive series, and maybe paperback editions. Dunno. There are ebook versions of them if that's your thing. [1] http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/CWLAS.html http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/CWLAS.html