Stoa Conversations: Stoicism Applied

“This day will end like all others.” “And after that?” In this conversation, Caleb speaks with Zena Hitz about her recent book “A philosopher looks at the religious life.” They discuss meaning, Christianity, and Stoicism. https://catherineproject.org/ (01:10) Wholeheartedness (06:59) Meaning (14:18) Abandonment (17:45) Devotion and Role Ethics (30:08) Service and Happiness (40:32) Freedom (44:33)...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael “It’s worse to be the thief, than the person who has their things stolen from them” In this conversation, Michael and Caleb talk about how Stoics think about anger, revenge, and justice. They cover common philosophical views of punishment – and note where the Stoics would disagree. Thi...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Caleb Ontiveros speaks with Dr. Steven C. Hayes , the originator of acceptance commitment therapy. Acceptance commitment therapy deeply influenced our programs at Stoa, so this discussion was an honor. In this wide ranging conversation, we cover how Steven thinks about “negative emotio...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael In this conversation, Caleb and Michael discuss the discipline of action. (02:30) Introduction (03:51) The Discipline of Action (08:16) Indifferents (12:59) Acceptance and Justice (19:54) The Seriousness of Action (27:05) The Sage (30:01) Choosing Between Indifferents (31:52) Reserve C...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael In this conversation, I speak with Noah Rasheta about Buddhism. We talk about the key tenets of Buddhism, meditation, and even who shouldn’t be Buddhist. Noah has a clear and focused approach to Buddhism that I think you’ll find useful – whether or not you’re familiar with the philosop...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael “ Would you have a great empire? Rule over yourself” In this conversation, Michael and Caleb discuss the Stoic discipline of desire. (02:05) Introduction (10:41) Mastering Desire (13:21) Stoic Theory of Happiness (15:43) Beginner vs Advanced (19:00) Love for Universal Nature (21:00) Mi...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael In this conversation Caleb speaks with Alexandra Hudson, the founder of Civic Renaissance and author of The Soul of Civility .  They discuss why politeness is overrated, the Stoic theory of political change, numerous contemporary and classical role models – intellectual and political t...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: stoameditation.com/course “The discipline of assent consists essentially in refusing to accept within oneself all representations which are other than objective or adequate.” In this conversation, Caleb and Michael discuss the discipline of judgement (also called the discipline of assent). It's all about how to think like a Stoic. (...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven Have you thought about the Roman Republic today? In this conversation, Caleb speaks with Josiah Osgood , a professor of classics and author of Uncommon Wrath:  How Caesar and Cato’s Deadly Rivalry Destroyed the Roman Republic . They discuss Cato the Younger, Julius Ca...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven This conversation covers the key ideas of Buddhism and compares it with Stoicism. This will be the first of many more conversations. We thought it was important to start with a 101. (01:49) Introduction (06:36) The Founding Parable (14:33) The 4 Noble Truths (20:07) T...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven “If a text is not offensive to anyone, it probably isn't very important.” In this conversation, Caleb speaks with Jeremy Wayne Tate, the Co-founder and President of the Classic Learning Test . The Classic Learning Test is bringing back a focus on educating the whole h...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven Does Contemporary psychology overlap with Stoic philosophy? In this episode, Michael and Caleb go through Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. It’s a seminal book in modern cognitive psychology and behavioral economics. Most importantly for our purposes, it’s d...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven "Happiness, as the goal of life, can be understood as the highest expression of human nature, as encapsulating the chief markers of humanity at its best, namely rationality and sociability." In this conversation, I (Caleb) speak with Chris Gill. We kick off the conver...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven What does a Stoic eat? How does a Stoic think about food? That's what Caleb and Michael discuss in this episode. Citing all 4 of the Roman Stoics, they cover how ancient Stoics thought about food and how that can shape our behavior today. (01:56) Intro (05:06) Musoniu...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven “Iron sharpens iron” In this conversation, Michael speaks with Gregory Sadler. Greg is the Founder and President of ReasonIO , a company dedicated to making resources of contemporary and classical philosophy available and accessible to non-philosophers. I first encoun...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven The best skiers don’t study ancient skiers. The best physicists don’t turn to Ancient Greece in order to push their field forward. So why should philosophers look back at the work of the ancients? In this episode, Caleb and Michael wrestle with that question. Their an...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven “The central theme of Seneca’s tragedies is how to endure a world in which there is no justice, no safety, no guarantees—political or divine—of human dignity.” For this episode, I went to Sonoma County, California to speak with the poet Dana Gioia. Seneca was a brilli...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven "They say that love is an effort to form a friendship because of an impression of beauty in young persons at their prime..." In this conversation, Caleb and Michael talk about the Stoics on eros and romantic love. First, they cover how the Stoics saw the nature of rom...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven In this conversation, Caleb speaks with Dr. Randolph Nesse. Randolph is the author of Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry. His work focuses on answering fundamental questions like why humans get sick and why we experien...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven “Must I be wasting my time sitting in a corner when I might have been crowned at Olympia?” In this conversation, we discuss failure, how to avoid it, and how to deal with it when it happens. We end by revealing personal experiences with failure. “And what advantage do...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven Catherine Wilson is a Professor of Philosophy, currently at the City University of New York. She is the author of How to Be an Epicurean: The Ancient Art of Living Well , which covers Epicureanism, an ancient philosophy, as a way of life. In this conversation Michael...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven In this conversation, we review Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman’s Lives of the Stoics , focusing on their accounts of the big three Roman Stoics: Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. This is a great episode for getting a sense of the lives of key figures we talk...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven Today’s Stoic revival is the second one. The first resurgence of Stoicism actually happened during the Renaissance. In this podcast, David Fideler and I discuss what Modern Stoics today can learn from the Renaissance Humanists. It’s a conversation that touches on hist...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven “You are mortal.” So whispered the slaves of triumphant Roman generals as they celebrated their return in a glorious parade. In this episode we discuss memento mori: Remembering the fact that you will die in order to live well. We discuss the Stoic view of death and w...

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven In this conversation, Caleb speaks with the investor, author, and philosopher Michael Gibson . You’ll hear why Michael thinks novelists are the successors of Plato, what some of the key entrepreneurial virtues he looks for are, how a philosopher like him ended up mana...