Though you may not realize it, Thanksgiving Day can be a very Stoic holiday. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius shows us how this can be. [powerpress /] This piece is Episode 9 of the podcast: Philadelphia Stoic Thouhts By the normal Read moreVon sophia_my_blog

The arguments as to why empathy is problematic as a moral compass and ought to be replaced with ratonal compassion are not mere theoretical hair-splittings. History has actually demonstrated disasters wrought when decisions are driven by emotional empathy. [powerpress /] Read moreVon sophia_my_blog

The popular theory is that emotional empathy is the precursor to compassion as people help each other in order to avoid themselves suffering empathetic pain if they don’t. However, in reality, things just don’t very often work out that way. Read moreVon sophia_my_blog

I want to discuss why society ought to encourage rational compassion rather than empathy. But before I can do that, I must clarify what “empathy” means in this discussion and why it is important to keep in mind how empathy Read moreVon sophia_my_blog

One group of people for whom Stoicism can be a very powerful philosophy is those, such as myself, who are on the transgender spectrum. [powerpress /] This piece is Episode 5 of the podcast: Philadelphia Stoic Thouhts Today is Friday, Read moreVon sophia_my_blog

In the ancient Stoic texts, the only things mentioned as being beyond our control are things outside of the mind. However, modern understanding requires us to accept that even some things within our mind aren’t ours to command. The best Read moreVon sophia_my_blog

Due to unexpected circumstances, the podcast episode scheduled for August 25 was not completed on time. As a result, it’s release is delayed one week to 10am US Eastern Time on Friday, September 1, 2017. The week following that, the Read moreVon sophia_my_blog

While people who don’t understand Stoicism or the Stoic mindset might confuse a Stoic with an idealist – in reality, a well-trained Stoic is not that at all, but the ultimate realist. Philadelphia Stoic Thoughts, starting with the episode following Read moreVon sophia_my_blog

This site’s podcast, Philadelphia Stoic Thoughts, had to go on hiatus for unexpected reasons – but will be back on August 11, 2017 at it’s new regular time, Friday Morning at 10am US Eastern. [powerpress /] However, though the next Read moreVon sophia_my_blog

Much like the Samurai of feudal Japan – the Stoics of ancient Greece and Rome realized that the eventuality of our deaths isn’t something to hide from – but something that we should stare right in the face. [powerpress /] Read moreVon sophia_my_blog

While ancient Stoics no doubt held some views that are at odds with modern science, proper understanding of Stoicism requires that we differentiate the actual principles of the philosophy from context-specific influences in the ancient writings. Upon doing this, we Read moreVon sophia_my_blog