Overview
Introduction
For those of you that do not like to read very much you will be pleased that in this module you will be watching videos for both pages of content. It may seem to be a lot of videos, but they are not very long. Watching several videos gives you the opportunity to take several different perspectives on this important philosophy.
I really love Stoicism because it is so helpful. It reminds me to put my energy into what I can learn to control rather than focusing on wasting my energy on what I can't control. I have learned that we all have only three real problems: people, places and things. It does not really take much life experience to realize that I am not in control of other people. What they think of me and what they do is out of my hands.
This does not mean I can't make efforts to change the situations I am in, but it does tell me that the most important task is to work with my attitude. If I can relax my need to control others, then I can learn to respond rather than react. Both words can mean the same thing in many people's mind, but in reality, they are very different.
When I react, I am on autopilot. My reaction “just happens.” It is when I react rather than respond that I find myself living with regrets. If I respond, it means I have the opportunity to think about how I want to act. I would propose that the vast majority of things we regret saying is because they jump out of our mouths before we have checked to see if that is really how we want to speak.
Stoicism is a perfect example of how ancient philosophy was a practice rather than an intellectual pastime. The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius is a perfect example of this. His book Meditations, for example, was not meant to be published. Instead it was a journal he kept which gives us insight into how he tried to work with his thoughts.
My hope is that you will not only enjoy learning about Stoicism, but that you will find it as helpful as I have.
I want to remind you of the Module Learning Goals and how they are connected with the General Education Learning Outcomes.
Module Learning Goals
• Discuss the major features of philosophy as a search for wisdom, including basic terms and common concepts such as “the love of wisdom.”
• Recognize the central message of the “indestructible question” and “the science of awareness.”
• Define the chief features of the evolution of human consciousness.
• Explain the importance of the transition from a mythological consciousness to a rational and philosophical consciousness.
General Education Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this area, students will have demonstrated an ability to:
• Explain and contrast views of various historical and contemporary philosophers.
• Analyze and interpret human thought, achievement, and expression relevant to such branches of knowledge as philosophy, literature, and/or the fine and performing arts, and to communicate the results.
Preparing for Your Essay: Study Guide
• Taking notes while studying academic writings and videos facilitates critical thinking and deeper engagement. This, in turn, makes writing the essays less time consuming.
• Difficulty understanding is most often the result of a lack of focus, rather than the difficulty of the material.
• Checking and answering text messages, having the TV on, or trying to study with other people around prevents you from focusing. These distractions are not conducive to understanding anything deep and profound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0MzQZ_eFEY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaAq18Qii4A&list=PLRw9dAnu3HRbuUZ_28RFTpvAX4PPp0NjE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_47J6sy3A&list=PLwxNMb28XmpfEr2zNKQfU97eyEs70krSb&index=5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5DoVdW_9iM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3wZoqElCgs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHonWT6849A
Concluding Thoughts
In this module you explored the world of Stoicism. Along with the videos I included pictures of different quotes by the Stoics and a few more below. One quote, however, was by Margaret Mead, who was a major founder of what we call today Anthropology. She said that "it is more important to teach kids how to think rather than what to think."
I wonder how my life might have been different if I had been taught when I was very young to work with my thoughts rather than believe them? My greatest hope is that you will take this insight as perhaps the most important takeaway you can receive from this short introduction.
Here are some important quotes.
Seneca: “We suffer more in imagination than we do in reality.”
Seneca: “He is most powerful who has power over himself.”
Marcus Aurelius: “Is a world without pain possible? Then don’t ask the impossible."
Marcus Aurelius: “You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
Epictetus: “Man is affected not by events, but by the view he takes of them.”
Scipio Africanus: “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% on how I react to.”
Epicurus: “Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”
My hope is that you will really think about how these thoughts, if put into practice, could really change the quality of your life for the better. That is what a transformative education is all about.
I have invited you to live an "examined life." One powerful way of doing this is to study your life using these quotes. For example, our modern culture places the emphasis on money and materialism. Most of us buy into this focus without even knowing we are doing it. So the question is, how much do I want this materialistic values to dominate my life? Do you want your life to be about how much you have or how much you enjoy?
There are plenty of rich people who are as miserable as those who struggle to make a living. This should give us pause for thought. At the end of life, people do not wish they had more, but that they enjoyed more of this amazing experience of being human, whether they had a lot or not.
Please keep the Module Learning Goals and their relationship to the General Education Learning Outcomes in mind as you go through the module.
Module Learning Goals
• Discuss the major features of Stoicism.
• Explain why Stoicism attracted so many people from slaves to emperors.
• Recognize the importance of learning to work with what we can learn to control — our thoughts vs. our outer lives, of which we have much less control
• Define the difference between the current understanding of the word "stoic" and the what the word meant to the Greeks and Romans.
• Describe the meaning of love in Stoic philosophy.
General Education Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this area, students will have demonstrated an ability to:
• Explain and contrast views of various historical and contemporary philosophers.
• Analyze and interpret human thought, achievement, and expression relevant to such branches of knowledge as philosophy, literature, and/or the fine and performing arts, and to communicate the results.
Making the Connection
In the introduction, I wrote about how Stoicism is a practice as much as it is a philosophy. Why is this important? If someone asked you about stoicism, could you discuss it?
I wrote about the power of working on what we can control rather than what we can't. Can you explain why this philosophy was embraced by so many people, from slaves to emperors?
The videos showed about the importance of understanding the difference between the modern understanding of the word 'stoic" and the ancient meaning of the word. Can you define the difference?
The videos explained the meaning of love to the Stoics. Can you describe why Christianity was able to incorporate much of Stoicism into its own principles?
If you can answer the above questions, then you are making progress in meeting the course learning outcomes, especially in regard to demonstrating “an ability to analyze and interpret human thought, achievement, and expression relevant to such branches of knowledge as philosophy, literature, and/or the fine and performing arts, and to communicate the results.”
If you are struggling to answer the above questions you should give me a call and I can talk you through it: 831-402-5140.
In the next module, we will pick up this story learning about the birth of modern philosophy.
Bibliography
Copleston, Frederick 1962. A History of Philosophy: Volume 1. New York: Image Books.
Needleman Jacob and Appelbaum David 1991. Real Philosophy. New York: Arkana Books.
Needleman, Jacob 1982. The Heart of Philosophy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Needleman, Jacob 1994. The Indestructible Question. New York: Arkana.
Palmer, Donald 2006. Looking at Philosophy: The Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy Made Lighter, Fourth Edition. New York: McGraw Hill.
Russell, Bertrand 1945. A History of Western Philosophy. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Tarnas Richard 1991. The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View. New York, New York: Harmony Books.
Waller, Bruce 2006. Coffee and Philosophy. New York: Pearson.
Waller, Bruce 2007. You Decide! Current Debates in Introductory Philosophy. New York: Pearson.
Wilber, Ken 2000. Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution. Boston: Shambhala.
Academic Requirements
This course requires active engagement in a variety of ways, including dialoguing with your peers, reading, watching documentaries, writing essays and completing the final assessment.
Module Reflections
• Please include at least ten bullet point notes on "takeaways," from different sections of my essay and any videos you are required to watch. These are quotes and thoughts that intrigue you. Place these notes at the top of your assignment along with a header (see example).
• Then pick two of the most interesting to you and write a reflection no less than a good paragraph (200 words) on each of the two takeaways you found most meaningful (400 total words).
Think for Yourself
Please avoid summarizing in your reflection because that is not the point of this philosophical invitation to think deeply about things for your self. This is a philosophical exercise or practice. I will be looking for your thoughts about the module rather than reiterating what the module already presented.
Your reflections need to demonstrate that you studied the whole module, both my essays and the videos. The easiest way to do this is to take some bullet point notes as you go through the module. As you do so, you will find some general themes you can think about and include in your reflection.
You are not required to use the following prompts, but they may help you think about what you are studying:
• What did you learn that was significant for you?
• Can you explain its significance?
• Can you explore any revelations or insights that your studies opened for you?
• What happened because of these insights to your thinking and learning?
• Did you have an emotional response, negative or positive? Do you know why?
• Have you had any experiences you are willing to share with our class that help you relate to and understand any of the material in this module?
• Did this assignment contain any “awakening” ideas, those that inspire you rather than depress you?
• Did you find any of the ideas surprising? Why?
• Can you give an example or two in your reflection that demonstrates you were engaging with, and thinking about, our curriculum in a serious way?
• Did you find yourself thinking about class content when you did not have to, such as finding yourself discussing ideas with friends or family?
• Have your studies contributed to any increase in self-knowledge (how you understand the world and your place in it) or a deeper understanding of one’s current world view?
Minimum Guidelines
• Please make ten bullet point notes on "takeaways," from different sections of my essay and any videos you are required to watch. These are quotes and thoughts that intrigue you.
• Each reflection must be at least 200 words (400 words total).
• Summaries do not receive credit because they do not require serious thought — simply the ability to record information.
• Your assignments are not eligible for A’s if they require proofreading.
• Peer exchanges must be at least 100 words to receive credit (200 words total).
• Assignments that are partial (not meeting minimum requirements) do not receive partial credit.