Duties toward others are deeply intertwined with the cultivation of personal virtues in our attempt to live in agreement with nature — [This series is based on Walter Nicgorski’s Cicero’s Skepticism and His Recovery of Political Philosophy. See part I, part II, part III] “And Socrates properly persisted in condemning that man who first separated the useful from the right, for that, he charged, was the source of all moral disorder.” (Cicero…

Stoicism deserves criticism on a number of fronts, but the Stoic conception of virtue ain’t one of them — I’ve recently quit social media. I’ve consciously, willfully left close to 50,000 followers on Twitter and a few thousands on Facebook. Why? Because, I reckoned, it was the virtuous thing to do. The case against social media and their increasingly pernicious effects on society is increasingly well established on empirical…

So-called Menippean satire was invented by an ancient Cynic philosopher. And it has influenced us for millennia — Menippus of Gadara (modern day Jordan) was a slave. He was also a Cynic philosopher and a satirist. We don’t know much about him, except the fact that he was a Greek, likely of Phoenician descent. When he obtained his freedom he moved to Thebes. Even more unfortunately, all his…

We’ve been looking for extra-terrestrial intelligence for several decades. What is that all about anyway? — I’ve always been fascinated by the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Who isn’t? When I was a kid, I got into UFOs and such. Then the age of reason dawned and I realized that actual science is more interesting than fantasy. So I got into SETI, the (scientific) Search for Extra-Terrestrial…

The subtle and complex relationship between logic, philosophy, and science — Today I read a decidedly unfavorable review of the latest book by Steven Pinker, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters. I’m no fan of Pinker, but this article isn’t (mostly) about him or the book. Rather, it’s about one of the main criticisms brought up…

A brief conceptual guide to what differentiated the Greco-Roman schools of philosophy as a way of life — The Hellenistic period span from the death of Alexander the Great and the consequent collapse of the Macedonian Empire in 323 BCE to the battle of Actium in 31 BCE, where the future first Roman emperor, Octavian, beat the crap out of the joint forces of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra…

Here is a Socratic-style dialogue loosely based on an actual conversation with some of my friends — Socrates: This is a lovely evening, my friends! Here we are, during a low point of the plague that has struck the city, enjoying a nice meal out, accompanied by great conversation. I can’t think of another place I’d rather be! Xenophon: Indeed, Socrates, and I wonder whether you wouldn’t…

The Stoics were very worried about anger. Here are eight ways to manage it — I have some experience writing about anger, and I realize that a lot of people get really upset when they read about the Stoic take on this particular emotion. Such people really want to be angry. …

A famous phrase uttered by Cicero still resonates today, for better and for worse — Not long ago I was rewatching an old episode of Star Trek — Deep Space 9, arguably the darkest series of the franchise. Near the end of its run the United Federation of Planets (the “good guys”) is marred in a nasty war with a species called the Dominion, and…