Stoicism for people who don’t want self-help | Massimo Pigliucci: Full Interview

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Why Stoicism fails when treated like self-help | Massimo Pigliucci► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3_EAZd0-rw

Stoicism has been flattened into slogans about toughness, detachment, and emotional silence, a version that’s easy to sell, but mostly wrong.

Massimo Pigliucci returns Stoicism to its original purpose: a practical philosophy built to help ordinary people make better judgments, set wiser priorities, and live well with others in a world that resists control.

0:00 Chapter 1: What is Stoicism?
2:11 Role ethics
4:29 Eudaemonia
4:59 What constitutes a Eudaemonic life?
5:31 Being a Cosmopolitan
5:45 Epictetus’ 3 fundamental disciples
6:10 Desire
6:39 Action
7:05 Assent
8:00 3 general areas of study
8:22 Physics
9:43 Action
10:07 Logic
11:07 Does Stoicism work?
12:02 Cognitive behavioral therapy
16:03 The risk of Eclecticism
18:42 Philosophical pessimism
21:04 Modern Stoic writers
22:01 Chapter 2: The Stoic toolkit
22:22 Managing our emotions
28:45 Preparing for difficult situations
36:00 Finding peace in a chaotic world
45:08 Making difficult decisions
51:00 Becoming a better person
1:08:21 Chapter 3: Debunking misconceptions about Stoicism
1:10:21 Stoicism’s resurgence
1:13:52 Stoicism as a remedy for bad times
1:16:29 The “stiff upper lip” myth
1:21:05 Two ways to misconstrue Stoicism
1:26:16 Stoicism and pleasure
1:28:00 Preferred indifference
1:34:30 The Stoic Opposition

Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/stoicism-full-interview/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description

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About Massimo Pigliucci:

Massimo Pigliucci is professor of philosophy at City College and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His latest book is Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers (2025). He lives in New York.

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