Stoicism: A Very Short Introduction

Description

Stoicism is two things: a long past philosophical school of ancient Greece and Rome, and an enduring philosophical movement that still inspires people in the twenty-first century to re-think and re-organize their lives in order to achieve personal satisfaction. Brad Inwood presents the long history that connects these.

• Provides an introductory account of Stoic philosophy
• Addresses ancient Stoicism, its enduring legacy, and how the two are connected
• Situates ancient Stoicism in the context of the rest of ancient philosophy
• Offers an account of the reception of Stoic thought in the western tradition
• Considers the place of Stoicism in modern life
• Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over nine million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Brad Inwood, Professor of Philosophy and Classics, Yale University

Brad Inwood teaches ancient philosophy at Yale University, where he moved in 2015 after many years at the University of Toronto. Educated in Ontario, at Brock University and the University of Toronto, he benefited from a year of post-graduate research at Cambridge and a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford, as well as research fellowships at the National Humanities Centre and the Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences. While most of his research has been devoted to Stoicism, he has also worked on the Presocratic Empedocles and on other areas of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy.

Table of Contents

1:Ancient Stoicism and modern life
2:Reading Stoics today: Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and even Seneca
3:The origins of the school: Stoicism and Plato
4:The parts of philosophy: physics
5:The parts of philosophy: ethics
6:The parts of philosophy: logic
7:Conclusion
Further reading
Index

Reviews

"Stoicismis a wonderful guidebook to the essential concepts and basic precepts animating this most popular of the Hellenistic schools of wisdom. ... Specialists eager for a refresher course will find no better place from which to launch a reexamination. This is an eminently useful addition to the "Very Short Introductions" series. Summing up: Highly recommended" - CHOICE

"Brad Inwood's "short introduction" offers an incisive overview of how Stoicism developed - and why it might still be relevant." - Times Higher Education

"In sprightly prose, Brad Inwood maps the doctrines and personalities of ancient Stoicism. His book is particularly good at assessing this history and philosophy for today's aspiring stoics." - A.A. Long, Emeritus Professor, University of California, Berkeley

"This is an indispensable book. In a short compass, Inwood recounts the history and philosophical theory of Stoicism in a memorable, crisp, and deservedly authoritative way. He also does something important for the popular revival of stoicism now underway. Inwood's treatment of all of this is illuminating, balanced, and concise." - Lawrence C. Becker, Author of A New Stoicism