Is Stoicism worth reading?

Is Stoicism worth reading?

yes

Worth looking into but so is the rest of classical philosophy

Every form of philosophy is "worth reading". Even if its just to find something you disagree with. That's the point of it. Inspiring you to think.

yes. its a good starting point because its readable and has generally good advice
it does lack depth so use it to spring board to deeper classical philosophy

Satan here speaks the truth. Just read what they mean with the Logos/God and you will be good to go.

Yes, but you should not start with Marcus Aurelius because his texts are so unrefined. I would suggest starting with Epictetus, then proceeding to Seneca, and only after that should you read Marcus Aurelius (who was in fact a huge fan of Epictetus).

Got to agree with this user, Epictetus is a very good starting point. Marcus wrote for himself, his work was never meant to be a philosophical "study" nor to be published, which is why it's so unrefined. Epictetus is clear, simple and fun to read. Marcuses work is a great example of how an Emperor uses stoicism.

So I should wait with Meditations? What text of Epictetus is good to begin with? (not OP btw)

Not that user, but I'd suggest Enchiridion, also known as the Handbook. It's a short manual, very easy to read. Discourses is a more complete work, mostly fragments of his.

Aurelius isnt a BAD starting point if you're really interested in his work, but it's not going to teach you the same way Epictetus does.

Yes. It is a pretty good philosophy of life.

Marcus Aurelius lacks depth (as the other anons said, he didn't write to the public, that was just his exercise books, some of the passages of the book are pretty much impossible to decipher because of that), but there is a whole lot of depth on Epictetus.

The Discourses are the best one.

Yes, it is the philosophy of Lawful Gold

I suggest that you wait with the Meditations. You will enjoy it much more when you have furher understanding of stoic principles. Also, I suggest that you read a translation with commentaries on it. At least for me it helped a lot.

The works of Epictetus are quite short (and from what I remember they are not even written by Epictetus himself, but a student of his). I started with The Handbook and then read The Discourses. The Handbook is like a stoic bible. It is pure gold and much like The Meditations, which I think is good but maybe little overrated.

STOICISM IS THE ETHOS OF RESIGNATION, AND OF FATALISTIC DILIGENCE —STOICISM IS THE ETHOS OF THE "SUPERFLUOUS MAN".

I'm not sure if it's appropriate for me to ask but can someone explain this guy?

He's just a retard who spergs out for the attention he lacks in life

Yes, but keep in mind that Marcus Aurelius's writings were basically notes to himself. He wasn't trying to expound on stoic philosophy, just give himself gentle reminders based on what happened to him that day and how he reacted. Taken that way, it's a great book.

He spent much of his rule in a tent, in Germania, fighting tribes. How would any of this b relevant?

>The troops raided another village today. Nice mass rape of the young girls, before they were enslaved. They'll make nice whores in Rome.

The thing about meditations for me isn't necessarily the profundity or his reasoning. It's not even necessarily the obvious self-deprecation, humility, and the desire to benefit the whole of humanity as opposed to reaping what one can for oneself.
It's that these (undoubtedly sincere) thoughts come from the most powerful man in the world at the time, whose predecessors had made a sport of abusing or flexing their power.
What I take from the meditations is an unparalleled example of selflessness and dedication to the betterment of humanity.

I mostly agree with the spirit of your post, but he was the last of the 5 Good Emperors. His direct predecessors were also good men.

>This retard spawned idiot manchild Commodus

I meant predecessors such as Caligula, Domitian or Tiberius, not necessarily his direct predecessors
Should’ve clarified tho, my bad

My psychologist jumped out of his seat when I told him I started reading Meditations. It's pretty good on terms of self help

think of stoicism as the swiss knife of philosophy
simple, reliable, an efficient day-to-day system for decision making.

If you want to get fancy, the swiss knife won't do, you'll need nicer tools

I see stoicism as a form of emotional hygiene, , a regular practice, like working out is to the body. It's not a shooting-the-shit-debate-metaphysics-all-night kind of philosophy.

It's to the point, directly applicable, and, in my opinion, the least obscure entryway to philosophy for modern readers

What would you recommend reading instead of Stoicist texts, or as an extension?

I read meditations. I have nothing in common with marcus A. He was born into the upper upper upper class of society, was literally given a wife, was given everything. He was a mid tier leader. His opinions on life and death are interesting but not original at all. But it is calming to know no matter how shitty your life gets, it will all soon be over relatively shortly. I read another book and it said death is actually a great thing, because without it we would just suffer for eternity. Death is the end of suffering.

While fundamentally opposed in ideals, I think Stoicism and Epicureanism make good counterparts to keep in your life. Epicureanism for when shit is mostly in your control, Stoicism when it leaves your control and you're back to controlling only yourself.

>mid tier leader
when will this meme end
Marcus had the misfortune of ruling over a relatively difficult time in the empire, and spent pretty much his whole life as emperor managing barbarian invasions, plagues, and natural disasters.

That quote is so stupid

It's not "You shouldnt waste time speaking about people, reader", he was saying that to himself.
He should act like a good man instead of discussing what a hypothetical good man is, thus wasting time and spinning in circles around the problem.

I 've been digging into stoicism recently, the only confusing part is that it states "stop wasting your time and live every day like it's your last" but in the meantime it says to not indulge in any vapid activities and improve yourself. If i live my day like it's the last day of my life, wouldn't it make more sense for me to do things with instant gratification, rather than planing something in a longterm?

Instant gratification will not make you happy. Becoming more virtuous will.

Meditations is really overrated as half of it is nonsense. You're seriously better off reading an article on it from a good source than reading meditations itself.

If you have no clue what "good" even means, then being "good" is literally meaningless and irrational. You're dancing in the dark; you don't know what you're doing,

This is the best analogy I've seen for it ever, thank you.

it's a very meaningful philosophy. a lot of its teachings are retold and repurposed through a lot of stories and narratives in general pop culture throughout the ages, but reading stoic philosophy tends to feel more engaging than general preachy media that tends to use philosophy as a crutch for self-help.

I have finished reading Mediations, and I will go into reading Letters From a Stoic by Seneca when I am done with Republic by Plato.
Others before me ITT have said it and I agree, Marcus Aurelius is Stoicism in action, which is enlightening, but not a good breakdown if the philosophy itself necessarily.

I benefited from it because I didn't approach philosophy from an academic standpoint, but because I had a patch of rough shit in my teenage years and began to resonant with Buddhism but not totally. After digging and learning I discovered Stoicism existed, and learned as much about it from academic texts and then read Mediations. I never read a book so fast in my life.