Darren Harper

This course will increase our understanding of Stoicism as a guide to life by focusing on the first of the three stoic disciplines, the Discipline of Desire. Using lectures, discussion and meditation, we will explore the Stoic framework of fate and free will, their attitude of joyful acceptance, their approach to love and friendship, as well as their ideal of the Sage.

In this day course we will start to explore ‘Practical Virtues’.  In the first session, German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer will help us the see the relationship between humanity, humility and ‘humour’, in the second session Austrian-British philosopher Karl Popper will show us how our mistakes help us to make ‘music’, and in the final session Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu will help us to cultivate the virtue of ‘stillness’.

For the Stoics, the emotions (or ‘passions’) were of great concern.  They did not seek to to repress their emotions, but rather to cultivate the ‘healthy’ ones and overcome the ‘harmful’ ones.  Seeing ‘harmful’ emotional reactions as the result of faulty value judgments, they retrained their minds to seek what is intrinsically ‘good’.

For the Stoics, the emotions (or ‘passions’) were of great concern.  They did not seek to to repress their emotions, but rather to cultivate the ‘healthy’ ones and overcome the ‘harmful’ ones.  Seeing ‘harmful’ emotional reactions as the result of faulty value judgments, they retrained their minds to seek what is intrinsically ‘good’.

For the Stoics, the emotions (or ‘passions’) were of great concern.  They did not seek to to repress their emotions, but rather to cultivate the ‘healthy’ ones and overcome the ‘harmful’ ones.  Seeing ‘harmful’ emotional reactions as the result of faulty value judgments, they retrained their minds to seek what is intrinsically ‘good’.

For the Stoics, the emotions (or ‘passions’) were of great concern.  They did not seek to to repress their emotions, but rather to cultivate the ‘healthy’ ones and overcome the ‘harmful’ ones.  Seeing ‘harmful’ emotional reactions as the result of faulty value judgments, they retrained their minds to seek what is intrinsically ‘good’.

In this day course we will continue to explore ‘Practical Virtues’.  In the first session, American philosopher Martha Nussbaum will show us how compassion and understanding lead to ‘wisdom’, in the second session, philosopher and psychologist William James will teach us to awaken our wonder, and in the final session, German philosopher Hannah Arendt will show us how to nurture our wellbeing through ‘work’.

‘The life truly worth living is the considered life’, said Socrates, two and a half millennia ago.  Socrates meant a life that was well informed and has goals which will benefit both oneself and society.  The Good Life, ergo, allows us to grow autonomously, and, rather than be dictated to by duty, empowers us to live a full and flourishing life.  Beginning with the Ancients, taking a whistle stop through the Renaissance, and then summarising with the Modern, this course will give us a taste of the Good Life from some of the greatest minds that reflected upon it.

Few leaders could live up to Plato’s ideal concept of the philosopher-king; the wise unruffled ruler, seeking not self-preservation, but the preservation of peace in his lands.  To the best of his ability, this is what Marcus Aurelius did.  Using extracts from his Meditations, we will glimpse into the life and Stoic philosophy of this great man.

Few leaders could live up to Plato’s ideal concept of the philosopher-king; the wise unruffled ruler, seeking not self-preservation, but the preservation of peace in his lands.  To the best of his ability, this is what Marcus Aurelius did.  Using extracts from his Meditations, we will glimpse into the life and Stoic philosophy of this great man.

Few leaders could live up to Plato’s ideal concept of the philosopher-king; the wise unruffled ruler, seeking not self-preservation, but the preservation of peace in his lands.  To the best of his ability, this is what Marcus Aurelius did.  Using extracts from his Meditations, we will glimpse into the life and Stoic philosophy of this great man.

In this day course we will start to explore ‘Personal Virtues’.  In the first session, Algerian-French philosopher Jacques Derrida shows us the importance of ‘forgiveness’ in the modern world, in the second session, French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil teaches us that ‘gratitude’ is more than words,  and in the final session, medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas gives us grounds for ‘hope’.

In this day course we will conclude our exploration of virtues.  In the first session, poet and playwright Oscar Wilde will show us that ‘individuality’ trumps individualism, in the second session Plato will help us to navigate the complexities of ‘love’, and in the final session of the series, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung will teach us the truth about ‘me’.