Philosopher and author William Irvine explains the historical contributions of ancient Stoics beyond ethics, highlighting their role in pioneering formal logic.
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“They were in first century AD, they were the prime logicians of their time, and they were very good at propositional logic, which is what makes modern computers and your cell phone Work.”
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“A psychological immune system is a similar thing. If you lived in a psychological bubble, that is in an environment in which you never had Challenges in which people never insulted you, in which it was just always smooth and easygoing when someone else took ca…”
William IrvineNov 2, 2021▶ 57:02#123 William Irvine: How To Live a Stoic Life
Insight
Irvine: Stoicism and Zen Buddhism share identical goals despite opposite methods
“First surprise was they are headed at approximately the same grand goal in living. And that is a life that's full of to the extent possible of positive emotions like delight and even joy and relatively without negative emotions like anger and anxiety. And regr…”
William IrvineNov 2, 2021▶ 3:58#123 William Irvine: How To Live a Stoic Life
Insight
Irvine: Preparing for worst-case loss cultivates profound gratitude and joy
“The Stoics can be regarded as emotional preppers. So what were they doing? They were preparing for things to become dramatically worse. They were preparing to lose the things they value in life. And that can sound like a really negative approach to things, exc…”
William IrvineNov 2, 2021▶ 10:02#123 William Irvine: How To Live a Stoic Life
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Irvine: Ancient Stoics were cheerful individuals focused on preventing negative emotions
“The Stoics themselves were remarkably well-adjusted people. They were known to those who they lived with as cheerful individuals because they weren't anti-emotion. What they were out to do is minimize negative emotions, and they weren't out to stifle negative …”
William IrvineNov 2, 2021▶ 12:26#123 William Irvine: How To Live a Stoic Life
Insight
Irvine: Chronic dissatisfaction gave human ancestors an evolutionary survival advantage
“Those people who were not satisfied, who always wanted more, were much more likely to survive and reproduce, and therefore much more likely to be somewhere in your family tree. So to be dissatisfied was had survival advantage.”
William IrvineNov 2, 2021▶ 16:56#123 William Irvine: How To Live a Stoic Life
Insight
Irvine: Humans continually raise standards upon acquiring desires, chasing happiness like mirages
“Once we get something, we just raise our standard. We say, okay, okay, I've got all that. And that's nice, but you know, if I only had, and then you fill in the blank however you want, then at last I would live happily ever after. So we're like we're like thir…”
William IrvineNov 2, 2021▶ 17:55#123 William Irvine: How To Live a Stoic Life
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