Who Are You Studying Under?

“It’s interesting to think of the Stoics, from Marcus Aurelius to Zeno, reaching back through the centuries like links in a chain (from Z to A no less!).”Ryan explains the importance of choosing who you learn from, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast. Ryan Holiday's book Lives of the Stoics is on sale as an E-Book for just $1.99! The pages of this book start with Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, and end with Marcus Aurelius, the great philosopher king. In between, you’ll learn the stories of Cicero and Seneca, Cleanthes and Chrysippus, Rusticus and Epictetus, Cato and his daughter Porcia. Grab your copy of Lives for just $1.99 now!***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee 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.

• 0:04Ryan Holiday?

  Bienvenidos al podcast diario de Stoic, donde cada día te traemos un pasaje de sabiduría antigua diseñado para ayudarte a encontrar fuerza, visión y sabiduría en la vida cotidiana. Cada uno de estos pasajes está basado en la filosofía de 2000 años que ha guiado a algunos de los hombres y mujeres más grandes de la historia. Para más, puedes visitarnos en dailystoic.com.

• 0:27Ryan Holiday?

  ¿A quién estás estudiando? Es interesante pensar en los estoicos, de Marcus Aurelius a Zeno, que se acercan hasta los siglos, como cadenas de cadenas, de Z a A, como sucede. Marcus estudió la vida de Epictetus. Epictetus estudió la vida de Musonius Rufus. Seneca estudió a Cato. Cato estudió a Cato el viejo, su gran abuelo, que sucedió estar en la multitud cuando el estoicismo fue introducido a Roma por Diogenes. Diogenes estudió en Atenas bajo Crisippus. Crisippus estudió a Cianthes, y Cianthes estudió a Zeno, y Zeno estudió a Socrates, que podríamos llamar "el padre de los estoicos".

• 1:07Ryan Holiday?

  De hecho, las vidas de cada uno de estos estoicos influyeron en las vidas de los estoicos que los después. Seneca diría que estudiar filosofía era anexar el pasado a nuestro propio tiempo, que cada uno de nosotros debía elegir a nosotros a Cato, alguien con el que nos mediríamos, alguien que nos inspirara y nos llamara a la grandeza. Algunos de los estoicos hicieron solo eso, incluso escribiendo biografías de sus heros, aunque es importante entender que esto no era una biografía como la entendemos hoy. Los biógrafos de la antigüedad no se preocupaban mucho por dónde nació Cato. No importaba completamente si Zeno se deshizo en Atenas en el año 312 o 302 a.C.

• 1:49Ryan Holiday?

  "No son historias que escribo, sino vidas", diría Plutark, "y en los más gloriosos actos no siempre hay una indicación de virtud o vice. De hecho, una pequeña cosa como una frase o un gesto a menudo hace una revelación más grande de carácter". Then the battles where thousands die. Oh, and as it happens, Plutarch's grandson would be one of Marcus Aurelius's philosophy teachers. These writers were interested in character as much as accomplishment. To study philosophy, we do well to study philosophers, to have heroes whose lives we dissect and learn from. What did they do well? Where did they fall short? What were their tragic flaws? What was the source of their greatness?

• 2:33Ryan Holiday?

  Forget obscure works, forget complicated texts. Look at the deeds, the Stoics would say. You know a philosopher by their fruits, by the way they applied these lessons in their own lives. And in this way, as one Stoic learns from the one that came before and before and before, we find that the chain of Zeno to Marcus was never broken and it does not need to end. Indeed, it continues on to Montaigne and then to George Washington two centuries later, and then to Admiral Stockdale two centuries after that, and now, now to you. That is, if you continue to study, if you continue to look backwards to help yourself move forward. So that's our question for you today. Are you studying?

• 3:18Ryan Holiday?

  And if so, who are you studying?

• 3:24Ryan Holiday?

  And some very exciting news. My book, Lives of the Stoics, The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius, is on sale right now for $1.99 everywhere eBooks are sold. Lives of the Stoics is modeled off Plutarch. It contains 26 biographies of the most important Stoics from history. I'm really proud of it. It debuted at number one on the bestseller list. As far as I understand, it's the only book that has all the Stoics in one place focusing on what they did, not just what they said. You can pick it up for $1.99 as an eBook. It's not going to get cheaper than that. If you're looking for some great men and women to study, this is the book. It will never be cheaper than it is right now. Check it out on Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, wherever you get your eBooks.

• 4:09Ryan Holiday?

  Check that out. It's $1.99, but only for a couple of days, so check out Lives of the Stoics.