Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Epictetus

Negative emotions like sadness, anger, guilt, and anxiety can feel overwhelming. But what if those uncomfortable feelings aren’t problems to fix, but signals worth listening to? As part of our series on how to spring clean your wellbeing, Dr. Laurie revisits a conversation with H ...  Show more

Our beliefs shape more than we realize. They influence what we notice, how we respond to setbacks, how connected we feel to others, and whether we take action to improve our lives. As part of our series on how to spring clean your wellbeing, Dr. Laurie sits down with happiness ex ...  Show more

Today we talk about the lessons found in the ancient Greek play titled Hecuba. We talk about the great Stoic ethicists Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. We talk about Martha Nussbaum and her work looking to infuse classical Stoic ideas with all that we've learned in the scie ...  Show more

This week on the podcast, we shift our focus back to Western philosophy. On this episode, we learn about Epicureanism—one of four schools of thought that were prevalent during the Hellenistic Age, which will be our focus for the next few episodes. We find out why Diogenes liked E ...  Show more

Peter discovered that the most popular course in Yale’s over 300-year history was the “Class on Happiness”. Really, no Really! In the modern era, happiness has become an industry, with motivational speakers and self-help gurus promising to teach techniques that unlock the gates t ...  Show more

Author and philosophy professor William Irvine goes in-depth on Stoicism, and why the fundamental tenets of this ancient philosophy can provide answers to some of the toughest problems in today’s society. On this episode Irvine offers a definition and some useful background on St ...  Show more