Stoicism This Week (6/28)

This week, a conversation and a book.

Ed Latimore

I'd like to highlight our conversation with Ed Latimore. Ed focuses on teaching stoic street smarts. He has an impressive range of knowledge and experience, from boxing to social media to writing. But he remains down to earth. Highly recommend listening.

The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy

There's a new edition of Donald Robertsons' book, The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy available! It's a persuasive defense of the idea that Stoic influence mattered for the construction of CBT. Here's a line from Aaron Beck, one of the founders of CBT:  

The philosophical origins of cognitive therapy can be traced back to the Stoic philosophers, particularly Zeno of Citium (fourth century BC), Chrysippus, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. Epictetus wrote in The Enchiridion: ‘Men are disturbed not by things but by the views which they take of them’ ...Control of most intense feelings may be achieved by changing one’s ideas.

The most recent edition includes links between Stoicism and "Third-wave" approaches to cognitive behavioral therapy. This is a welcome edition. Something we've tried to do with Stoa is link Stoic practice to acceptance commitment therapy. I'm glad so many people have found it useful.