Time has a Way of Humbling Us

In several of Seneca’s letters he speaks about the power of bloodletting as a medical practice. In one, he actually remarks—with some superiority—how earlier generations had not yet discovered bloodletting and suffered for it. Marcus Aurelius hints at some other medical practices. He speaks of the treatment for ophthalmia—inflammation of the eye—and how doctors treated it with a bit of egg yolk. We also know that his doctor Galen gave Marcus opium for various pains and illnesses in old age. Needless to say, none of these treatments are accepted or prescribed anymore. It’s interesting that the Stoics, who were so good at extrapolating out from the past, didn’t take a lesson from this—that so much of what we are certain about today will be disproven in the future. The point is (and it’s a point well made in Chuck Klosterman’s book But What If We’re Wrong?) that we should always be questioning the status quo—and majority opinion. Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemailGet Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook See 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.

• 0:03Ryan 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, dailystoic.com.

• 0:27Ryan Holiday?

  In several of Seneca's letters, she speaks about the power of bloodletting as a medical practice. In one, he actually remarks with some condescension how earlier generations had not yet discovered bloodletting and how they suffered for it. Marcus Aurelius hints at some other medical practices. He speaks of the treatment of an eye disease and how doctors treated it with a bit of egg yolk. We know also that his doctor Galen gave Marcus opium for various pains and illnesses and old age. Needless to say, none of these treatments are accepted or prescribed anymore. It's interesting that the Stoics, who were so good at extrapolating out from the past, didn't take a lesson from this,

• 1:12Ryan Holiday?

  that so much of what we are certain about today will be disproven in the future, that the so-called wisdom and cutting-edge science of the present is often embarrassingly wrong, and nothing illustrates this better than medicine. Imagine, we used to take really sick people, cut open their veins, and pour their blood out as a form of healing. Do you think it finally occurred to Seneca as he was forced to commit suicide using basically that exact methodology, just how absurd the practice was? The point is, and it's a point well-made in Chuck Klosterman's book, "But What If We're Wrong?", that we should always be questioning the status quo and the majority opinion, not because it's always wrong,

• 1:57Ryan Holiday?

  but because it sometimes is. We should be intellectually humble because science and time have a way of humbling us. So too does history and ethics. Seneca thought he was superior to his fellow Romans because he treated his slaves kindly, a distinction we no longer give much credit for. Take it as a fact that much of what we think now will be proven wrong. Much of what we think makes us vastly more informed than the generation of our parents will not hold up well by the time our children are our age. Question everything. Don't be too attached to anything. It's all changing, and we are so, so wrong.

• 2:44Ryan Holiday?

  Thanks so much for listening. If you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes, that would mean so much to us, and it would really help the show. We appreciate it, and I'll see you next episode.