I wanted to write a little post about the negative side of Stoicism.
- focusing heavily on what can go wrong
- Stoicism is quite austere and at times humourless maybe good for Roman Emperors but not mere mortals.
- Stoicism accepts suicide as an act of self control.
I think stoicism focuses a lot on things that can go wrong and is thus a little dreary. I could imagine being a stoic could be quite depressing at times. Stoicism seems to require a lot of self control and discipline which frankly many of us don’t have. Maybe special forces commandos but not the average boob. Also I think that the acceptance of suicide within stoicism is a problem. I agree that maybe a stoic who has meditated on a situation and thinks it’s preferable to take their own life. I worry that the pro-suicide philosophy might fall into the hands of people with mental health issues who aren’t able to see things clearly.
