So We are Going to "Play" Monday

So yes don't worry about reading anything  new this weekend as we will be reading "Philosophers for Sale" in class on Monday. Yet I do want to hear your opinions of Sextus before we start the play so also come to class with your favorite quotes and questions. Also, I plan to make this activity a chance for some of you to make up for bad quiz grades. To do this I need all of you to bring 3 pennies to class.

Have fun this weekend,
Dr. Layne

Stoics and my Daddy

WISE OL' DAD

After today’s class and our discussion of stoicism, I couldn’t help but think about my dad. I have always been a pretty emotional person. Commercials make me cry, my temper has a hairpin trigger, and I tend to get emotionally bogged down in the trials of everyday life. When I lived at home with my parents, they would often get frustrated with the constant emotional rollercoaster that were my teen years. Each crisis with my academic or social life would send me into a tailspin of negative emotions and they would inevitably try to get me back on course. Like the Stoics, my father would offer me the advice that should not let other’s control my emotions. He would say, people, events, and circumstances cannot affect your happiness or mood unless you allow them to. This is very similar to the aspects of Stoic philosophy we discussed today. Stoics teach that if you do not concern yourself with the good or bad actions of others and do not allow it to affect your own feelings, you are completely free from worry. By realizing the absolute control an individual has over his or her own emotional state, one may realize that happiness is a choice one makes and a way of life. While I don’t think my dad has been studying stoic philosophy, I can say that from personal experiences following his advice has given me peace in some difficult situations.

The Adjustment Bureau

Does this seem Stoic to anyone? Pantheistic Monism?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHVU3fKhsjI

What is the Stoic missing out on?

I think that to be a Stoic is to suppress one's personality and limit one's life.  Living with the intent to avoid suffering is very limiting, and the most boring world would be one in which everyone followed the Stoic philosophy.  The greatest works of art have been created by people in states of ecstasy and agony, and the most interesting stories in history are about people who fully experienced and lived with their emotions.  I think that the real way to live is to feel all your feelings to their highest capacities, and that experiencing something really exhilarating at the expense of feeling misery later is absolutely worth it.
I hate the idea of not favoring one's loved ones.  I think that strong connections between people are really beautiful, and to say,"I don't really love my son specifically, I just love humans in general," is to miss out on an important aspect of life.  I'm not religious, but I think it's beautiful when people say they can feel their loved ones are watching down on them, or that they feel their ghosts.  Nobody would ever feel this way if it weren't for these intense bonds between people.

02/04/2011 Synopsis

02/04/2011 class summary

The class started off with a review of what we had talked about in class previously. We started to talk about universality and how we can conceive of it but this doesn’t mean that it exits. In other words, the universal is not real but the reference is real. Another thing we reviewed was the process of sensation to perception to concept. What we mainly reviewed was the passage from evident things, or inference. Dr. Layne explained that all things have a mediated notion from immediate evident; the example given was that of a child eating an ice cream cone and their first perception of sweetness. In the example with the ice cream a child is first presented the ice cream, then they taste it, then they form an experience; the steps in this process are presentation, intellection, and experience. These three steps can be incorporated into three different ways of inference, or more specifically, of determining what something is through your perception of the sensations. The three methods of inference are resemblance, composition, and analogy. Resemblance occurs when an object mimics what the true form is; the image of Socrates to Socrates himself. Composition is when you see two or more object in combination and form a conception of what the combined objects now form; more simply looking at the whole instead of the pieces. An example of composition would be combining the image of a woman and a fish to get a mermaid. The last of the three was analogy which is defined as an inference that if things agree in some respects they probably agree in others or more simply drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respect. An example of this would be to say that a flower has leaves and trees have leaves so they must be in some way related. After going over the old material we charged into the new material by going over pantheistic monism, God and phusis, Fate, Ethics, and taking a quiz. Pantheistic monism is a term used to describe how God is in all and God is all. This idea comes from the explanation that all that is matter or form is a body and all bodies mingle totally. This goes completely against the beliefs of Epicureans who say that everything is composed of atoms and void and that the random combinations of both are what form the universe; in this theory all atoms are separate. Our conversation then continued talking about God and Phusis. We had mentioned this before in the previous class saying that God, who is Phusis, or nature, is also logos, or logic (the principle of intelligence). But we went further in the explanation by saying that God is Pneuma, or spirit, that extends through the universe with different intensities and hierarchies, and gradations all while remaining one; which goes back to the theory of pantheistic monism. We then summarized Pronia or Providence which stated that all things were produced by divine principle and that they are meant to be exactly as they are –this concept goes against the mechanism of the Epicureans and once again show this connection to God, Pneuma, Logos, and Phusis. We then transitioned into a talk about Fate or Heimanmene, which once again backs up the idea that all things have a purpose, all things were created by principle, and that all things are in one. One of the most important things, which we went over this day— which later showed up on our quiz as a clip from the Jungle Book and Star Trek— were the ideas of necessity, freedom, and ethics. The Stoics believed that the only thing up to us was our will and that we have the freedom of the assenting of faith. This, we all agreed, was a theory based on the times; there was nothing that anyone could do about the changes taking place but they had to make the best of it by going with the flow. Your will was the only thing which you were responsible for and nothing else. Freedom was allotted only to things, which had to do with the will. Not only this, but also everything and everyone had a proper function and a proper way of life. It was necessary and great to follow ones set path and not deviate from the order. We then transitioned into speaking about the ethics of Stoicism, that which our reading was on. These ethics defined happiness as being the demand of the good or reason, which transcended the individual. Also, Stoics demanded that all human being realize that they are conditioned by fate to be in their place, going back to the idea of the necessity to live accordingly to ones lifestyle. The Stoic ethics focused a lot on the human being (as opposed to the Epicurean ethics). As you might remember the Stoics believed almost the opposite of what the Epicureans did. One of the things that they stressed was that the Epicureans had missed a step on the road towards happiness and that was preservation of the self. The Primary Instinct, or Oikeiosis, of all things is to see to preserve themselves. For, all things are attached to themselves and things feel an attachment of being at home in the world. This Instinct is the first step on the road to happiness. After we went over this bit we finished up our quiz and went off to break.

Synopsis

Jared Bordere

Hellenistic Philosophy

Dr. Layne

In the most recent class we covered Epictetas. He was a slave of Epaphraditus. Epaphraditus educated Epictetas extensively. He went to lectures of Rufus. He is considered to be a bright light in neo stoicism. He later gained his freedom. After suffering in Rome due to Domition and banishing philosophers, he moved to Nicopolis. Epictetas being a slave allowed him to be among the common people, however being educated by his master allowed him to also be among royalty. Epicetetas did no write down his works. Arrian wrote his lectures for him.

Epictetas taught Spiritual Exercises. These spiritual exercises are Exegesis; exegesis is discipline at self. It is spiritual exercise that relieves pain. If it is not relieving pain then the exercises are not being done right. He also believed that there is a difference between discourse and praxis. Certain things depend on people. Rectitude of judgment, right attitude toward cosmos and duty has to be carried out for people to truly live a good life.

Lastly we began to cover Marcus. He was a philosopher that was informed by his way of life. He wrote meditations only for himself. It was similar to a diary. This allowed him to focus on his day along with his intent and desires.

Stoicism and Psychology

Our discussion today on stoicism and psychoanalysis has prompted me to share a bit more of my thoughts on the topic. I would argue that most psychological endeavors are in complete harmony with the Stoic beliefs. It is not that a therapist or psychiatrist is offering an excuse for a human to act in accordance with nature. Rather, the psychiatrist offers a patient a sort of rational or backing for the patient’s emotions. Once a patient understands why and how he or she feels the way that they do, it is then the job of the psychiatrist to guide the patient in his or her emotional transformation. A GOOD therapist or psychiatrist should not merely allow a patient to act irrationally. A therapist, in my opinion, should listen, help one’s patient to understand his or her underlying issues. Without reaching that understanding, it is very difficult for a person to change. I think that psychology may be misunderstood if one takes it to be a mere defense for irrational behavior. Psychology should be used to help a person understand that his or her feelings are NATURAL, but just because those feelings are NATURAL does not make them RATIONAL.

“You know the old joke. How many therapists does it take to change a light bulb?
It will change only when it truly wants to change.”

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/fred_edwords/stoicism.html