Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?

#31

Post by PierreRochard » Mon, Oct 12, 2015, 1:20 PM UTC

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #26

stinos wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern-day Oprah culture teaches that you are a beautiful and unique person and that any suffering or misfortune you may encounter is something that you should probably sue somebody about. close, but I'd generalize this more and adapt it so that it also relates more to non-US cultures (less Oprah, less suing), and by removing the action (suing) from it and replacing it with what people tend to think, not how they rea…

I think it's the opposite, modern day culture celebrates individuals and their achievements as though they created their success on their own, that luck had nothing to do with it. We put people like Zuckerberg on a pedestal when at least some (much?) of their success comes from the luck of having the right parents, being born at the right time, having an interest that happens to be financially valuable and so on. The…

The conclusions you've reached are not uncontroversial in the academic literature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor%E2%80%93observer_asymmet...

Re: Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?

#32

Post by mhuffman » Mon, Oct 12, 2015, 1:20 PM UTC

TickleMeHellNo wrote: post #25

chipsy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The snowflake syndrome is the modern means of building a minority political bloc - for any underrepresented group or condition, a representative comes along and declares themselves champion of the people(the people that they represent, that is), and encourages shaming of the rest as a form of unification. It's the shaming that eventually got to me. It's such a prolific and harmful tactic. The people who do it the mos…

Nailed my personal experience. I wonder how many others of us there are?

DOZENS!!

Re: Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?

#33

Post by hyperpape » Mon, Oct 12, 2015, 1:23 PM UTC

hugh4 wrote: post #4

Is stoicism having a cultural moment? I rather think that modern western culture is about as un-Stoic as it has been at any point since... sometime before Stoicism was invented, and that any explicit endorsement of Stoicism you may find among the remaining sane people is purely a reaction to that. Stoicism teaches that suffering and misfortune are part of life, and that wisdom comes from learning to deal with this fa…

Modern day "nerd" culture teaches us that we are special snowflakes who are the only rational ones in a land full of sheep, persecuted and looked down upon for our virtue.

You are the thing you think you are criticizing.

Re: Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?

#34

Post by hammock » Mon, Oct 12, 2015, 1:25 PM UTC

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #29

I'm a little surprised that the article doesn't mention cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It is easily one of the "hottest" forms of psychotherapy in recent years, and is heavily inspired by Stoic ideas. Mindfulness more generally is also having a big moment in clinical psychology.

Best CBT books you can recommend?

Re: Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?

#35

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Oct 12, 2015, 1:38 PM UTC

fluidcruft wrote: post #27

hugh4 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting that nobody seems to have had anything particularly worth writing on the subject of stoicism for the past nearly-2000 years.

Stoicism is a secular buddhism for people that don't like the buddhist brand.

[deleted]

Re: Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?

#36

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Oct 12, 2015, 1:39 PM UTC

jjaredsimpson wrote: post #3

Because everyone who cares eventually tries to read great literature and you make it to Meditations which is a great read for a 20+ year old immersed in a culture that tells you to connect your self worth to the score others give you. It's a self-help read for people who don't want to consume for profit self help. It's counterculture.

[deleted]

Re: Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?

#37

Post by dingbat » Mon, Oct 12, 2015, 1:41 PM UTC

hugh4 wrote: post #4

Is stoicism having a cultural moment? I rather think that modern western culture is about as un-Stoic as it has been at any point since... sometime before Stoicism was invented, and that any explicit endorsement of Stoicism you may find among the remaining sane people is purely a reaction to that. Stoicism teaches that suffering and misfortune are part of life, and that wisdom comes from learning to deal with this fa…

you are correct re: the modern day Oprah culture, but at the same time it is pretty clear that stoicism is having "a moment" precisely as a reaction to the saturation of the "get joy now!" self help book-club glurdge.

Re: Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?

#38

Post by dingbat » Mon, Oct 12, 2015, 1:49 PM UTC

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #29

I'm a little surprised that the article doesn't mention cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It is easily one of the "hottest" forms of psychotherapy in recent years, and is heavily inspired by Stoic ideas. Mindfulness more generally is also having a big moment in clinical psychology.

things change, CBT appears to be losing efficacy: http://digest.bps.org.uk/2015/06/is-cbt-for-depression-losin...

Re: Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?

#39

Post by brightball » Mon, Oct 12, 2015, 1:53 PM UTC

Synaesthesia wrote: post #6

Stoicism really helped me through some psychological difficulties. It contains truths which haven't altered in thousands of years.

Stoicism is basically Christianity minus God / Jesus when you really boil it down. With us watching a cultural trend of people rejecting faith regularly, yet at the same time watching a lot of the bad decisions that come from the "focussed on me" aspects that often come from it, Stoicism is a fairly expected non-theistic reaction.

In a lot of ways, the concept of the tiny house movement is sort of a reflection of Stoicism if you think about it.

The general idea is that if you lessen your needs, then what you have becomes abundant. It could also be considered a bit of a reaction to the debt crisis that individuals face on many levels.

As your expenses approach zero, your income approaches infinity.

Re: Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?

#40

Post by humanrebar » Mon, Oct 12, 2015, 1:59 PM UTC

TickleMeHellNo wrote: post #25

chipsy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The snowflake syndrome is the modern means of building a minority political bloc - for any underrepresented group or condition, a representative comes along and declares themselves champion of the people(the people that they represent, that is), and encourages shaming of the rest as a form of unification. It's the shaming that eventually got to me. It's such a prolific and harmful tactic. The people who do it the mos…

Nailed my personal experience. I wonder how many others of us there are?

Millions or even billions if you accept that many, many attitudes and thoughts attributed to stoicism are taught in the Bible, both testaments.

In fact, the opening of the book of John was partially an appeal to the stoics to see that their philosophy is complete in the Christ.

And for what it's worth, Paul dialogued with the stoics in Athens in Acts 17, saying some of what I'm saying here... that stoicism part of a picture completed by the teachings of Christ.