That was an interesting read, thank you for sharing. I wasn't naturally empathetic growing up, it's something I've been working on since starting down the path of Stoicism around a decade or so ago. What strikes me is the ignorance of those acting without empathy because they think it is in their own interest, my go to Empathy Maxim is from Marcus Aurelius "What isn't good for the hive, isn't good for the bee." - of you do something that harm's others, you harm the world, and so harm yourself. 🐝
A good read, thank you. I had similar thoughts re: Vance's bastardization of Augustine and Augustine basically repeating Hierocles-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off. I know that in my readings of oikeiôsis the final circle was always considered "the Gods and Nature" (most probably from a reading of Cicero) so I always felt that the popular portrayals of that paradigm were particularly secularized and human-centric. I don't disagree with Whiting & Konstantakos at all in their position of the natural world ("Stoic Theology" was a great paper, in my opinion), but it's sad that we have to make the argument for Stoics to care about the wider world around them.
Thank you, I think - having thr outer circle as Nature / Environment, and drawing the circles closer together, is helpful to me in reminding myself to try and live 'in accordance with Nature' in a way.
Excellent and timely piece. Related supplemental reading: "Loathe thy neighbor: Elon Musk and the Christian right are waging war on empathy" - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/08/empathy-sin-christian-right-musk-trump
That was an interesting read, thank you for sharing. I wasn't naturally empathetic growing up, it's something I've been working on since starting down the path of Stoicism around a decade or so ago. What strikes me is the ignorance of those acting without empathy because they think it is in their own interest, my go to Empathy Maxim is from Marcus Aurelius "What isn't good for the hive, isn't good for the bee." - of you do something that harm's others, you harm the world, and so harm yourself. 🐝
A good read, thank you. I had similar thoughts re: Vance's bastardization of Augustine and Augustine basically repeating Hierocles-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off. I know that in my readings of oikeiôsis the final circle was always considered "the Gods and Nature" (most probably from a reading of Cicero) so I always felt that the popular portrayals of that paradigm were particularly secularized and human-centric. I don't disagree with Whiting & Konstantakos at all in their position of the natural world ("Stoic Theology" was a great paper, in my opinion), but it's sad that we have to make the argument for Stoics to care about the wider world around them.
Thank you, I think - having thr outer circle as Nature / Environment, and drawing the circles closer together, is helpful to me in reminding myself to try and live 'in accordance with Nature' in a way.