The Philosopher's Compass

Welcome to The Philosopher's Compass podcast. I'm your host, Meredith Alexander Kunz, author of The Stoic Mom blog / Substack (est. 2016) and co-author of the book Beyond Stoicism and Live Like a Philosopher. What is the true meaning of skepticism? What can we learn from its origins in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy? And how can this way of thinking help us today? Join me as I talk wit...

Welcome to The Philosopher's Compass podcast. I'm your host, Meredith Alexander Kunz, author of The Stoic Mom blog and co-author of the book Beyond Stoicism and Live Like a Philosopher. What does it actually look like to raise kids with philosophical values — not just as a theory, but as a daily practice? In this episode, I talk with someone who has been thinking about this alongside me for 25 yea...

Welcome to The Philosopher's Compass Podcast, with your host, Meredith Alexander Kunz, author of Beyond Stoicism and Live Like a Philosopher, and creator of The Stoic Mom blog and Substack. Ken Davenport had the career, the company, the title — and a serious happiness problem. In his early 40s, he walked away from it all. What followed was an unexpected path: working with military veterans nav...

I'm your host, Meredith Alexander Kunz, author of The Stoic Mom Substack and co-author of Beyond Stoicism and Live Like a Philosopher. In this episode of The Philosopher's Compass podcast, I spoke with Commander William C. Spears, a submarine warfare officer and author of the book Stoicism as a Warrior Philosophy (https://a.co/d/07Ikuuo7). We explored the intersection of Stoicism and milit...

I’m your host, Meredith Alexander Kunz, and in this episode of the Philosophers Compass podcast, I spoke with Eden Blazejak, a postdoctoral research fellow specializing in the political thought of Hellenistic philosophical schools, particularly Stoicism and Epicureanism. Eden shared his personal journey into Stoicism, highlighting how his initial interest was sparked by Seneca's writings, whic...

Join me for a new episode of The Philosopher's Compass! I'm your host, Meredith Alexander Kunz, and this time I spoke with Kasey Pierce. A writer/editor from the Metro Detroit area. Kasey is the co-author of The Stoicism Workbook: How the Wisdom of Socrates Can Help You Build Resilience and Overcome Anything Life Throws at You and the forthcoming The Rescuer Trap: A Guide to Overcoming Cod...

Join me for a new episode of The Philosopher's Compass! I'm your host, Meredith Alexander Kunz, and this time I spoke with Lisa Hill, Professor of Politics at the University of Adelaide. She co-authored the book Stoicism and the Western Political Tradition with Eden Blazejak. If you're interested in the unexpected connections between Stoicism and the Renaissance, Queen Elizabeth I, and...

Join me for this episode of The Philosopher's Compass podcast, featuring a my conversation with Leonidas Konstantakos! If you're interested in ancient Greek history - including the history and culture of Sparta - and if you're curious to learn more about the lives of the philosophers who launched ancient Stoicism, don't miss this one! Leonidas is an international relations theorist...

Join me - your host, Meredith Alexander Kunz - for this conversation with Sharon Lebell, an author, musician, and modern philosopher best known for The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness - an outstanding translation of the ancient Stoic Epictetus. When it appeared in 1995, it was ahead of its time - there was no "modern Stoicism." Sharon's boo...

This episode of The Philosopher's Compass podcast features a conversation with Benny Voncken, the co-founder of Via Stoica and the Via Stoica Podcast. His organization offers Stoic life coaching, corporate training, motivational speaking, and workshops to help people live better lives by applying a philosophy of life. Benny and I have met online and this summer, in Athens, at my seminar co-tau...

In this episode of The Philosopher's Compass podcast, I talked with Massimo Pigliucci and Gregory Lopez - both co-authors with me of the 2025 book Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers (in North America) and Live Like a Philosopher: What the Ancient Greeks and Romans Can Teach Us About Living a Happy Life (in the UK). Massim...

Welcome to The Philosopher’s Compass podcast! I’m your host, Meredith Alexander Kunz. I’m the creator of The Stoic Mom Substack, helping parents and kids benefit from Stoic philosophy, and the co-author of the books Beyond Stoicism, and Live Like a Philosopher. I launched this podcast to focus on how people are using practical philosophy, especially Stoicism, in their everyday lives, and how they...

Welcome to the second episode of The Philosopher’s Compass podcast! I'm your host, Meredith Alexander Kunz, creator of The Stoic Mom Substack and co-author of Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers (North America), and Live Like a Philosopher (UK). In this episode, I have a guest who's deeply immersed in this work: Gregory B. Sad...

Welcome to the first episode of The Philosopher's Compass podcast, with your host Meredith Alexander Kunz (creator of The Stoic Mom Substack and co-author of Beyond Stoicism and Live Like a Philosopher)! Thanks for joining me in this exploration of meaning and purpose through practical philosophy. In this episode, I talked with philosophical writer Brittany Polat, co-author of Stoic Ethics: The Ba...