Keith Seddon

It took me a while to get into this book. It was recommended by one of the Stoic websites I have visited. I was a little confused when I first picked up the book. It was published by Lulu, a self-publishing platform, and for a time this put me off. But this is actually an annotated work of an original Greek work written some time in the early 3rd century CE, and then translated into English by [a:Yonge, Charles Duke|5249095|Yonge, Charles Duke|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] in 1853, and then re-worked by [a:Keith Seddon|325924|Keith Seddon|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] in 2007. The original author, [a:Diogenes Laërtius|5752152|Diogenes Laërtius|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1368727583p2/5752152.jpg], has, in effect, written a literature review of some of the major Stoic philosophers, and listed their various works. Unfortunately, only fragments of the original work, [b:The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers|2110329|The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers|Diogenes Laërtius|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348591373s/2110329.jpg|549576], of which the present work is drawn, from Book 7, have been recovered. Once I had the provenance under control, I appreciated Seddon's work in resurrecting a Stoic classic, and then the knowledge of how much I don't know began to flow in. Without [a:Diogenes Laërtius'|5752152|Diogenes Laërtius|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1368727583p2/5752152.jpg] work, the existence of many of the Stoic works would be unknown, as it seems that none of these other works has survived. These Stoic authors wrote on logic and ethics and physics and so on, and were far more sophisticated in their philosophy then simply not budging when somebody punched them in the face. As I am currently reading [a:Aristotle's|2192|Aristotle|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1390143800p2/2192.jpg] [b:Rhetoric|281735|Rhetoric|Aristotle|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328864570s/281735.jpg|423608], there is some congruence with the basic elements of the philosophy that all piece together as I read more of the classics. What surprises me most is that much of my knowledge of the classics, gleaned as it was from the formal education system, is a facsimile of a facsimile copied and recopied and passed on through the ages until what I have been given barely resembles a mere trace of the original. There is too much in this for one reading, and it really is a study piece rather than a work for easy leisure, pointing to further studies to be done more than a standalone piece of literature (as one would expect of a literature review). That scholars were so sophisticated 2,000 years ago makes me wonder how humanity went so backward and has arrived today at what is barely an echo of the wisdom of the past. It haunts me in that if it happened before, it can and will happen again, so our present circumstances could easily dumb things down, if it is not already too late. And all this from reading a book published on Lulu. It is enough to change my opinion of the self-publishing platform!… (meer)

An excellent introductory text on Stoic philosophy. This is a revision of a correspondence course that the author used to teach, so each chapter has reading and writing assignments based on the writings of classical Stoic authors. Although I was already familiar with the main points Seddon discusses, this book organizes these classical writings which makes studying them easier. Plus, I appreciated the author's modern perspective in discussing what the classical authors had to say. Be aware that you'll need copies of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations and Seneca's Moral Letters to get the most out of this book since Seddon discusses them at length and only quotes short bits himself. I'd recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in learning about Stoicism.… (meer)