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Philosopher Massimo Pigliucci tells Bridget Kendall how he uses the Stoic method to guide him through everyday life.
Stoicism is a school of thought over two thousand years old that asked how to live ‘a good life’ in an unpredictable world, and how to make the best of what is in our power, while accepting the rest as it happens naturally. It trumpeted the value of reason as man’s most valuable Virtue, and offered a practical guide to remaining steadfast, strong and in control.
This ancient Graeco-Roman philosophy had a broad influence that reached across time and disciplines: its Virtues inspired some of the same from Christianity in the Middle Ages, its belief in Reason spoke to the works of 18th Century German philosopher Emmanuel Kant, and the relationship it drew between judgement and emotion went on to inspire the modern Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Movement.

Photo: Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher and Roman Stoic (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty Images)