On the Manual of Epictetus, aka The Enchiridion, from around 135 CE. What's a wise strategy for life? What is freedom? Stoicism says that the secret is mastering yourself. If you let yourself be perturbed by things that happen to you, then you're a slave to those external things. Your good lies only in the things you can (with practice) control, i.e., your own attitudes, Continue Reading …
Episode 33: Montaigne: What Is the Purpose of Philosophy? (Citizens Only)
Discussing Michel de Montaigne's Essays: "That to Philosophize is to Learn to Die," "Of Experience," "Of Cannibals," "Of the Education of Children," and "Of Solitude" (all from around 1580) with some discussion of "Apology for Raymond Sebond." Renaissance man Montaigne tells us all how to live, how to die, how to raise our kids, that we don't know anything, and a million Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Episode 33: Montaigne: What Is the Purpose of Philosophy?
This is a 32-minute preview of a 1 hr, 41-minute episode.Buy Now Purchase this episode for $2.99. Or become a PEL Citizen for $5 a month, and get access to this and all other paywalled episodes, including 68 back catalogue episodes; exclusive Part 2's for episodes published after September, 2020; and our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat Continue Reading …
Dworkin on Defining the Good Life
Mark's posts on Frithjof Bergmann help lay the groundwork for the upcoming episode on Montaigne and what constitutes the "good life." Coincidentally, there's a similarly-themed article by Ronald Dworkin in this month's New York Review of Books. I may disagree with Mark's conclusions, and maybe even some of his premises. But I better appreciate Mark's approach after reading Continue Reading …
Topic for #33: Montaigne on Philosophy and the Good Life
What does philosophizing really get us? We can't attain much in the way of certain knowledge. Knowing really doesn't, contra Plato, make us virtuous. In fact, getting too sucked into parsing long and complex texts can cause us to lose perspective, i.e. miss the point of our interest in philosophy in the first place. 16th century intellectual Michel de Montaigne gives us a Continue Reading …