Irvine: The best response to an insult is no response at all
William Irvine · #123 William Irvine: How To Live a Stoic Life · Nov 2, 2021 · at 53:29
Philosopher William Irvine outlines Stoic strategies for neutralizing insults and interpersonal friction.
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“A better way to respond to an insult is with no response at all. So somebody says their insulting remark, and you just carry on having whatever conversation you were having, and the interesting thing is, and you can watch this happen so I wrote a book on insults called The Slap in the Face, so this was a follow-on book to A Guide to the Good Life, and to say nothing at all, so you watch what they do, And it's really kind of fun, because at first, they'll be kind of wondering, did he hear me? I just insulted him. Did he hear me? And you let them stew like that, and then with luck, they'll say, they'll repeat the insult, at which point you say, yeah, I heard you the first time, and then you just go on with your conversation once again. It requires very little effort, On your part. And yet it's a knockdown punch because here they are hitting you with their best shot and you aren't even hearing it.”
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