The Cambridge Stoics is a Meet-up event that I started to organise in January 2019.
It is open to everybody who is interested in the practice of Stoicism in day to day life.
The meet-ups are intended to be a discussion about the daily practice of Stoicism. During the meetings we use ancient texts like Senaca’s and Epictetus’ side by side with modern ones like D. Robertson’s as a source of inspiration for our conversations.
Stoicism has been for centuries one
of the most successful and influential schools of thought, spanning every class
of the Roman/Greek society. It is now having a rebirth in the modern day with
the same goals of 23 centuries ago.
Nowadays we are inclined to consider philosophy as a series of complex
conversions about abstract topics. On the contrary ancient philosophies like
Stoicism address questions pertinent to peoples life, primarily: How can we
live a life worthy of living? How can I become a good person (‘arete’ in
Greek)? How can I be happy (‘ataraxia’)?
In English, the term ‘stoic’ is often associated with the idea of being an emotionlessrobotic, a sort of Spock, or a long-suffering situation, “a lonely cow under the rain in the dark”.
However, a Stoic (capitol S) is nothing like. He/she is a person who pursues moral growth, to cultivate ‘virtues’ and practical wisdom.
The main Stoic books are: Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, Seneca’s Letters and Essays and Epictetus’ Enchiridion and Discourses.
All of these texts are part of the public domain and freely available ( https://stoicfellowship.com/stoicism-resources.html ), other recommended books are listed here.
“Cambridge Stoics” is part of the Stoic Fellowship ( https://stoicfellowship.com/stoic-groups.html ), an international community whose aim is to foster the knowledge and practice of Stoicism through online and in-person activities throughout the world.
Hi Mattia,
I’m organizing a Stoicon-x event in London on Saturday 12th October, once again in Senate House (location of Stoicon 2018 and Stoicon-x 2017). Everything is to be confirmed but I’d like to spread the message and if you or any of your group would like to be involved, please do get in touch.
John
Hi John,
That sounds great! I’ll gladly do that.