Your Daily Penguin: Seneca!

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[lilliannieswender]

Sometimes after reading Seneca I feel that his Stoic philosophy was based more on envy more than anything else. He also often didn't practice what he preached. So this time I have to agree with your assessment. You're also right about animals, they are too wise to even think about pursuing wisdom.

[oscarsalesgirl]

What exactly makes owning slaves a contradiction to Seneca's stated beliefs or feelings? "Detaching yourself from cares" is in total accordance with owning slaves.

[MarcelReads]

That is a gorgeous book. I am not usually a "pretty" book buyer but am I tempted to buy these.

[drawntostories]

Stoicism and Christianity go wonderfully together - both can come with a lot of hypocrisy. I think the key thing is what you end up taking from them. But their marriage can create monsters who in worst case scenario might end up leading a country.

[runthomas]

I have a book on seneca winging its way to me, of the several books on order, that particular book is the one I am most looking forward to receiving.
Your video has shed a great angle of perspective on the book, prior to it arriving.
Your point of view on the matter will give me an approach when reading that I initially had no intention of... but I am open minded, and will give it a chance.
Thanks.

[danielpalmer]

Interesting perspective on the stoics. When you mentioned 'the slave', I assume you meant Epictetus? I admit that I've only skimmed Seneca, but Epictetus seems very opposed to whatever Trumpism is. He spills a lot of ink telling us not to brag about wealth or intelligence. Anyway, I've been devouring Roman classics lately and happened on your channel as a result. Great stuff!

[carolinasiqueira]

Do you have the book of margery kempe in a penguin classic? I've been meaning to finally get it out of my shelf and reading it and I would love to hear what you think of it.

[drawntostories]

I was wondering, have you ever thought about how much of your thinking and approach to life has been indirectly influenced by stoicism?

[ramblingraconteur]

And you didn’t get the chance to sound off on his tragedies. It’s interesting to wonder how different Elizabethan and Jacobean drama would have been with a different influence.

The Renaissance will be a welcome return!!

[Starscreamlive]

Before I ever clicked the thumbnail for this video I could already smell a Steve Donoghue Dude/Bro rant coming from a mile away.🤣
Didn't want to waste too much time reading Seneca so I listened to the audio version last year.

[MayberryBookclub]

Your Trump analogy reminded me of the premise of 'The Book of Dave', by Will Self. A story about what if the ravings of a lunatic were discovered in the future and turned into a religion! Great tirade!

[TacticalElusion]

Do you think everyone who approaches philosophy texts from a more open point of view is a "dude bro"? Or is that possibly just a strawman that co-stars in many of your videos on such topics?