Consider also:
- Epicurus, Lucretius, Machiavelli, Mill means-end and utilitarianism.
- Aristotle, Kant, virtue and deontology as distinguished from the Stoics
- and do enjoy the stoics (basically Romans influenced by the Greek rule-follower types) like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius.
You could also just read this article about happiness.
It is neat to see tech elites getting teased for talking about philosophy. The one midwestern classicist guessing why such people are liking these ideas is a bit of a stretch. Basically: “These people are embracing Stoicism like the last time rich people talked philosophy, the romans”. (Did Rockefeller follow Marcus Aurelius? Did Kravis? Neither did the Romans: they also had their Neros and Caligulas.) Stoicisms ideas start long before the Romans, and were embodied by the penniless, street-living, hemlock-drinking gadfly types. Stoicism is certainly not a philosphy for the rich and powerful, primarily, and when such people talk virtue I would expect a more favorable reaction than of they talked hedonism. Oh well.
I think there is a simple reason tech people like stoicism: it is super stressful to start and build companies. Other things are stressful too out there. But tech is a bit more of a rollercoaster than the other rich-people professions like consulting or banking perhaps.
But the tech elites should also read a bit more widely. There is more great stuff to consider, like the sublime and the euphoric, or madness and eukrasia. The stoics don’t quite handle it all.
Anyway, here is some stoic news you can use (or epicurean, depending on what you want to pay this person):
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