Author Description

In The Whole History Of Western Philosophy, It Is Probably Stoicism That Best Exemplifies The Ideal Of Philosophy As A Form Self-help. No Other Philosophical Movement Or School (perhaps With The Exception Of Stoicism's Contemporaneous Rival, Epicureanism) More Explicitly Celebrates A Conception Of Philosophy As A Kind Of Therapy, A Practice Designed To Help People Better Manage Unnecessary Worry And Dread, To Help Them Move Through Their Lives With More Peace And Tranquility. Stoicism Is A Philosophical School In The More Conventional Sense, To Be Sure. It Offers A Wide-ranging View Of The World-a Weltanschauung, As The Germans Say- Complete With A Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, Moral Psychology, Physics, Cosmology, And Logic, Along With An Account Of How These Different Elements Hang Together In A Coherent Whole. But The Stoics Were Also Adamant That Philosophy Is And Should Be A Comprehensive Way Of Life, Not Merely A Set Of True Beliefs (hadot 1995). The Value Of Philosophy On This View Is Properly Explained In Terms Of Its Practical Upshot: Philosophy Can Help Us Become More Rational, More Grounded And Level-headed, And Ultimately Happier And More Virtuous. Marcus Aurelius Says That, At Its Best, Philosophy Is Like A Soothing Ointment, A Warm Lotion (aurelius 2002, 57). It Can Help Us Achieve A Kind Of Emotional Mastery (apatheia) From Which Will Follow A Corresponding Inner Peace And Tranquility (ataraxia)-- Provided By Publisher.