Author: Igor Jankovic

I’m sure we’ve all heard of Marcus Aurelius’ ancient philosophical book Meditations, either on a podcast, or through a recommendation from a friend. The question you may be asking though is which translation of the text should you read. In this article, we will cover three different translations…

In this article, we will see what indifference means from a Stoic perspective and how it is connected to value and virtue. When the word indifference comes to our minds, we usually think its meaning is synonymous with not caring. In these terms, indifference is a passive view…

There are at least two different ways of looking at physical exercise: there are people who exercise to improve their health and to feel better, and there are others who exercise to impress others or to satisfy negative feelings such as vanity. These views vary further depending on…

The Enchiridion is an important philosophical work by the Stoic philosopher Epictetus. The word “enchiridion” means “handbook” or “manual”, and it was put together by Epictetus’ student Arrian, who frequently listened and recorded Epictetus’ lectures. This manual is very short in terms of its pages, but it is…

The major compilation of Epictetus’ teaching is the four-volume work (it was originally an eight-volume work, but half was lost to history) that is called Discourses. Besides Discourses, Epictetus had one more work called the Handbook or Enchiridion, which was actually a collection of his teachings that had…

This is a question that most students ask in high school – I would know because I am a philosophy professor and this question comes up all the time. However, the question is a legitimate one, especially because philosophy is the oldest of all the sciences. Regarding metaphysics,…

Stoicism is often misinterpreted for the lifestyle of asceticism. In this article, we will pay close attention to the differences between Stoicism and asceticism to disprove this comparison. The relationship between Stoicism and asceticism is problematic. First of all, Stoicism is a philosophy and asceticism is a form…

Stoicism and Epicureanism were two major philosophical schools in the Hellenistic-Roman period. Both were very influential, although they differed on many topics, which we will discuss today. Stoicism and Epicureanism were two influential schools of thought that were founded in the Hellenistic period and developed further during the…

Socrates’ philosophy influenced Stoicism in many ways, although they would not have agreed on everything. We will take a look at the topics Socrates and Stoic philosophies would agree and disagree on. Socrates’ influence had deep roots in the foundation of Stoic philosophy. Zeno of Citium, the founder…

The world fire may be one of the lesser known Stoic cosmological theories, but it can help us to understand how Stoics perceived the universe and our place in it.  World fire is a major cosmological notion in Stoic philosophy. It was developed in the early period of…