Stoicism: Seneca (OLLI, Fall, 2023)
Seneca’s Sensible Secular Stoicism
CFS Fall 2023
Six Weeks
Thursday 9-11
Roman Stoic philosopher Lucius Seneca (4BCE-65CE), a teacher and troublemaker for emperors, was a student of the good and wise life. What he learned from both privileged and painful experiences presents practical guidance for our lives today. Through readings, lectures and discussions we will search for sensible lessons in Seneca’s letters and essays as well as in selected writings of fellow Stoics like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Their ethically-centered, secular-based worldviews offer wisdom for any serious student.
Recommended texts: John Sellars, Lessons in Stoicism, Penguin Books, 2019 (ISBN: 978-0-141-99004-0); Seneca, Letters from a Stoic, Penguin Classics, 2004 (ISBN-13: 978-0-140-44210-6)
Week One
Origin and History of Stoicism
Voices and Themes of the Stoics
Week Two
Sources and Resources:
Diogenes Laertius (c. 200s C.E.)
Week Three
Seneca: The Lofty Mind (“On Anger”)
Week Four
Selections from the Discourses of Epictetus
Marcus: The Nature of the Universe
Resources:
The Philosophy of Stoicism (TED)
Week Five
On the Tranquillity of the Mind
Seneca on Anger (History of Philosophy)
Stoic Ethics (History of Philosophy)
Week Six
Roman Creations still in use Today
Contemporary Stoics:
Video: How to Read Seneca (Daily Stoic)
Stoicism in a Pandemic (Guardian)
Think Like a Stoic (Great Courses)
Survival Stoic (TN)
Friendly Freethinker 