We Have To Care About This

Ryan talks about why you should value independence. Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/emailFollow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com.

• 0:26Ryan Holiday?

  We have to care about this. In his fascinating book, Bury the Chains, about the abolition movement in London, Adam Hofchild writes that the 18th-century movement to abolish the slave trade was perhaps the first time in human history that a large group of people got outraged about other people's rights. Most of the political and social movements up until then, as important as they were, were inherently self-driven. People wanted to make sure they had freedom. They wanted to make sure their voice was heard. They wanted to make sure the government responded to their needs. But abolition? This was a movement to help and free slaves, almost entirely driven by people who never were and never would be slaves.

• 1:08Ryan Holiday?

  One exception in this fascinating life is Oludah Aquino, who more people should know about. I read his book when I was researching for the 50th law. But it's important to miss how important this is, especially in an individually-focused philosophy like Stoicism. Marcus Aurelius and Seneca and Cato were not evil people, but they were remarkably indifferent to the fates of almost everyone outside of their class or caste. Even Epictetus, who was a slave, seemed to focus quite a bit on his individual independence, but says nothing about the injustices of slavery itself. Independence is important. Protecting our rights is important. But we have to remember, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, "That a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." We have to care about people

• 1:53Ryan Holiday?

  in different situations than us. People we'll never meet, people with problems totally removed from ours, not just because it's in our self-interest, but because that's what virtue demands.

• 2:07Ryan Holiday?

  Thanks so much for listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast. Again, if you don't know this, you can get these delivered to you via email every day. So check it out, dailystoic.com/email.