What is the most practical philosophy?

Wonderful analysis.

Fuck you, read this.

classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html

Did you finish reading it? Now apologize to the Stoics for being a helpless manchild.

The whole point of Stoicism is that virtue is the sole good, and therefore that the development of excellence of character is the most important thing in life.

someone hasn't seen stoicism then.

it's about not being a whiney bitch

...

Tedious. He's from the day when being long-winded was a virtue in itself. Emerson was more a e s t h e t i c.

>If you kiss your child, or your wife, say that you only kiss things which are human, and thus you will not be disturbed if either of them dies.
>Never say of anything, "I have lost it"; but, "I have returned it." Is your child dead? It is returned. Is your wife dead? She is returned. Is your estate taken away? Well, and is not that likewise returned? "But he who took it away is a bad man." What difference is it to you who the giver assigns to take it back? While he gives it to you to possess, take care of it; but don't view it as your own, just as travelers view a hotel.
>Remember, that not he who gives ill language or a blow insults, but the principle which represents these things as insulting. When, therefore, anyone provokes you, be assured that it is your own opinion which provokes you. Try, therefore, in the first place, not to be hurried away with the appearance. For if you once gain time and respite, you will more easily command yourself.
How to be a doormat: A practical guide

Greater men than you have all taken their rest in the cold ground. You will live for a few decades, and then join them.

We do not get to choose what happens to us.

You, in your vanishingly brief period as a warm, breathing body, are too weak in body and will to even attempt to understand what made them great. Keep looking for a practical manly philosophy, son. Check the New Age section at B&N.

Complete poem, because shitty google images.

But Is Life Worth Living? is like only 9 pages long.

Read it some years ago. It's pretty, but must be hung from an Abrahamic system of belief. I was thinking of his Will To Believe, specifically, and (heresy of heresies) Varieties of Religious Experience.

There are some good kernels in there, but it takes some digging. Like I said, long-winded.

>(((she)))

>You, in your vanishingly brief period as a warm, breathing body, are too weak in body and will to even attempt to understand what made them great.
According to the stoicism, should I give a fuck about such things?

>How to be a doormat: A practical guide
Implying Epictetus argues for inaction in these cases? Oh my..

>HURF DURF DURRRRR

It isn't nihilism, guy. You're the one asking for practical philosophies.

Men and women have value, and obligations to family and tribe, yes. But the lesson was to recognize provocation (by man or fate) as merely a test of your own perception and control. You do not get to choose what comes your way. Adapt, overcome. Whatever that means to you, however you grieve or celebrate, remember that you're just a beast blessed by the gods who calls himself man. Examine it, and own it by acting justly towards yourself and others.

in favor of stoic principles
>entire western philosophical tradition from aristotle to kant
>highly successful alpha males of current age
>the dad you wish you had

against
>neetcheese
>spooksperg
>"poets"
>mommy's favorite

>>the dad you wish you had

Is this why you guys get so rabid about Stoicism? Daddy issues?

These anons make important points. Virtue is a cultural norm.

What was virtus in ancient Rome (or Athens) is not the same as what can exist in the 21st century first world. But some aspects of manliness have changed very little.

And what practical value is there in it?
So I recognized that nothing really matress and fate is outside my control, what now? Did it make me happier? Did it enrich my daily routine? Did it inspire me to become a better man? Did it help me to lead a more fruitful life?

>what now
Now you live a just life, raise a family (optional), and become a respected member of your community. Die with dignity having known what your body and will were capable of. You made the most of your existence on Earth.

Or eat another bag of Doritos and die a lonely, meaningless gasbag who paid his fare to the state and died anonymously.

Regardless, do pic related and think on it until you can make your own answers.

Nah I'm loling out loud at your cognitive dissonance.

thanks mr skeltal

>Stoicism seems to me more like resignation rather than improvement
But that's not what it is. It's not a resignation, it's becoming capable of dealing with certain things and not letting them govern you.

The belief that Stoics are emotionless robots is a maymay.

>nothing really matters
>fate is outside my control
lol you got it the wrong way around my dude, that's some defeatist nihilistic shit right there.. let me correct that for you

>what matters is within my control
>fate doesn't really matter
That's stoicism in a nutshell my man

>And what practical value is there in it?
The user literally told you that it helps people deal with things more efficiently, dumbass.

>Will To Believe
All 10 pages of it?

Mine is 400-something pages, an "and other essays" edition. I can't find it right now. It's been several years, but I remember James took excruciatingly long to make his (relatively simple) points. It was not as enjoyable as Emerson, whose prose was idyllic and comfy by comparison.

These anons get it.

Good luck m8.

The Moral Discourses of Epictetus

He literally says that any philosophy that does not better you as a human being is a waste of time.

Stoicism. Take Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca.

Pragmatism, duh

Literally start with the Greeks. It's the original self-help movement

Objectivism.

*leans into mic*
WRONG

>shitposting this hard

What earns an individual virtus? Excellence is measured in public praise, by fame and dignity earned in speech and actions worthy of telling and imitation. It was one of the currencies of the Roman government.

Go ahead and do something outrageous and noteworthy in 21st century USA that would have been perfectly okay in ancient Rome. Behead a rapist whom the public believes served a light sentence. Jury nullification will protect you, right? Take a gladius to the nearest illegal immigrant for disrespecting your border, then. Live up to your ideals, or don't.

>Le opposite of Communism philosophy

>excellence is measured in public praise

What nonsense. Was Socrates not excellant because he was publically repudiated and condemned in Athens?

>"Short then is the time which every
man lives, and small the nook of the earth
where he lives ; and short too the longest
posthumous fame, and even this only con-
tinued by a succession of poor human beings,
who will very soon die, and who know not
even themselves, much less him who died
long ago." - Marcus Aurelius

A thing is excellent in of itself and the opinions of others have nothing to do with it. A flower isn't made any less beautiful because it is called ugly, and an excellent piece of art is no less excellent just because many people are incapable of appreciating it.

Being on the literature board you should know this, because so much literature was poorly recieved when it was written, it's value only being discovered by later generations.

>99% of philosophical works are just meaningless rambling on the nature of who gives a shit, I want to read something that will set me on the path of improving my life

What an interesting philosophical perspective you have.

>abloo bloo bloo, muh navel gazing

You weren't shitposting, you are actually mentally challenged.

We were speaking of virtue as recognized by ancient Romans and Greeks, you nitwit. There is no denying that virtus then and virtue now are very different things. Go read pic related and chase it with Lendon's Empire of Honour, you useless fuckface.

There's no need to get upset because you were so thoroughly proven wrong. Both the Greeks and Romans had different concepts of virtue. Even Plato and Aristotle differed in their conception of virtue, as did the Stoics. In this thread we are discussing the Stoic concept of virtue. Nonetheless, even supposing we were speaking of the Roman concept of virtue, you would still be wrong. Neither the Greeks nor the Romans ever made virtue dependant on public praise, nor did Plato, Aristotle or the Stoics.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue#Roman_virtues

Moreover, the Stoic philosophers directly deny your concept of virtue.

>"What then is worth being valued ? To be received with clapping of hands ? No. Neither must we value the clapping of tongues, for the praise which comes from the many is a
clapping of tongues." - Marcus Aurelius

>"some things are good, some evil, and others indifferent: the good, virtue, and whatever partakes of virtue; the evil, the contrary; and the indifferent, riches, health, reputation" - Epictetus

>riches and health are indifferent
what did he mean by this?

>A thing is excellent in of itself and the opinions of others have nothing to do with it.

Nothing is excellent in itself. Excellence is a judgment made by an ego observing an object. Opinion is inescapable, you loathsome cretin.

>Neither the Greeks nor the Romans ever made virtue dependant on public praise
Disagree with this, then: Virtus is the favorable judgment of one's fellows for manly qualities. It cannot be given to one's self, but only granted by the judgment of others. You humongous moron.

It is fine for Epictetus to opine all that is good is virtue and whatever partakes of virtue. It is fundamentally Stoic to say one should be indifferent to reputation. But it is impossible to deny that one's riches, health, and reputation are bred from the habits and choices informed by good Stoic virtue. Or Roman virtus, in Marcus' case. You insufferable baboon.

Meaning they are neither good nor evil. To a paragon of Stoic virtue, riches, health, and reputation mean nothing. They are things beyond our control, and so we should cease from grasping at them.

oh.

I don't know, but I wish it would stop. There are so many plebs on this board now.

>masculinists

Stop trying to turn everything into an "ism." Fackin plebs.

well you cant really expect any philosophy to be practical. as an individual you have already developed your own philosophical beliefs, the best any work of philosophy can do is strengthen or weaken your resolve about certain issues. what I am trying to get at here is that no matter what philosophy texts you read, they will all be just as impractical, you wont crack open a book and then 'find the answer', you'll understand differing methods to approach philosophical issues.

We were not discussing what is objectively true regarding the concept of virtue, but were in fact discussing how the the Greeks, Romans, Platonists, Aristotelians and Stoics understood the concept of virtue. In your own words here , "We were speaking of virtue as recognized by ancient Romans and Greeks, you nitwit."

I never claimed that Epictetus's understanding of virtue was objectively true, I was only explaining how he understood it, and how you were wrong in the way you claimed the Romans understood the concept. Therefore what you or I think about the nature of virtue is irrelevant, as is your critique of Epictetus's understanding of virtue, as we are arguing about how the Greeks and Romans understood it.

Really now, there is no need for you to perturb yourself over this.

Fine rhetoric my man, but little substance. First rate trolling.

It seems you have been perturbed by the consistency of my reasoning and the skill of my diction. Be not vexed on my account, and cease your ineffective provocations like a good fellow. There is no advantage to be derived from upset and agitation after all.

Your easy demeanor does little to obscure your lack of proof or meaningful argument. Go back to /b/, fella. Enough pretending with the grown-ups, off you go. Good lad!

You have not adressed my argument (), and instead have simply dismissed it as trolling (). If you will not adress my point, then how and why should we discourse?

Show me, then, what I shall gain by discoursing with you? Excite an inclination in me, as a proper pasture excites an inclination to eating in a sheep: for if you offer him a stone, or a piece of bread, he will not be excited. Thus we too have certain natural inclinations to speaking, when the hearer appears to be somebody; when he gives us encouragement: but if he sits by, like a stone or a tuft of grass, how can he excite any desire in a man? Doth a vine say to a husbandman, " Take care of me? " No; but invites him to take care of it, by showing him that if he doth, it will reward him for his care. But who was ever taken with an inclination to bray with an ass?

some day i will pass this well

Is she ever gonna make porn videos?

I no longer have the patience for your Internet bravado, user. The links you provided show only your fondness for circular argument. Nobody mentioned Aristotelians or Platonists, you farcical fabricator. Begone, sophist. Adieu.

You yourself defined our argument in the following terms here : "We were speaking of virtue as recognized by ancient Romans and Greeks, you nitwit."

I then refuted the way you presented virtue as being "recognized" by the ancient Romans and Greeks here After you had been clearly refuted, you changed the goalposts, and decided we were not arguing about virtue as it was recognized the ancient Greeks and Romans, but that we were now arguing about how you yourself recognize vrtue here Effectively there is no way at all to discourse with you, because every time you are refuted you re-define the discourse. It is a petty method of disputation used by those whose reasoning, logic, and methods of argument are too poor to stand on their own.

Your petty method of disputation was peppered with petty insults, making it clear that your posts were contrived by the petty mind of a base and petty character, who cares not one whit about truth or falsehood, but only about appearing superior and aggravating those who have the misfortune to encounter him. I imagine that you are petty enough to derive satisfaction from the fact that I am still responding to you - the last line of defence for the ego that has been so thoroughly trounced, desperate to convince itself that it has at least achieved this small victory.

Nah she knows she makes money catering to virgins who fantasize about falling in love with her

Absolutely fucking roasted

Miss Alice.

Your arguments were cool but damn nigga those rhymes be weak ass shit lmao

>Virtue is a cultural norm

Perhaps, but honor is pretty much a universal value, in that it ascribes worth to individuals in a society. We like to think we've moved past that in modern Western countries, but that's simply willful ignorance

>expecting the energy to improve yourself and your life to come from outside

you are not gonna make it

>practical philosophy
>practical
>philosophy

"But in our day it is necessity, neediness, that prevails, and bends a degraded humanity under its iron yoke. Utility is the great idol of the time, to which all powers do homage and all subjects are subservient." - Friedrich Schiller

That is to say, all Utilitarians must hang.

Spinoza.
Before diving into his books, read Deleuze’s introduction "Spinoza : practical philosophy".

>read Deleuze

"No."

>MissAlice with feminine benis

Stoicism.
Quality of my life is much better with it.
Make a experiment and give it a try.

Haha, recommending OP spoil his experience of Spinoza by framing it in Deleuzian terms.

>That is to say, all Utilitarians must hang.

Funny, I interpreted that to mean all pontificating intellectuals must hang

= autismianism

some parts are good, but get real kid

You read it wrong.

Jokes on you, I didn't actually read it

Dunce.

PSYCHOLOGICAL
H E D O N I S M
E
D
O
N
I
S
M

After Veeky Forums was created and stirnerposting and breadpill generals were banned

>Starts with the claim Philosophical works are just meaningless ramblings
wew

This is the most BTFO I've ever seen anyone get

The most practical philosophy is become a family MD, move to a nice town, acquire reasonable wealth, fuck hot women, and read books in your study before bed.

>tfw math major
should I apply to med school?

Practical philosophy is anti-intellectual

"improving my life".
find meaning in doing something.
all this self-help rubbish for attainment to what society deems worthy (and it all is)is for the dogs.
you sound like a dog 2bh so maybe you should read self-help shit.

Just read new age self help stuff if you don't give a shit about actual thought and just want a reason to not off yourself.

The King James Bible, not even memeing

how is this thick chick?

/thread

Tao Te Ching

Just here. Your life needs improving?.. Well, for the sake of wonderment, what do you suppose you'd do if you woke one morning and found yourself rambling down the path identified by you as the one leading to where you claim to want to go? Seems a tall order, but I'm curious..

Is anyone else a Stirnerite unironically?

ancap obviously

Stoicism and zen/taoism, everything else is a waste of time