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John Sellars
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Stoicism (Ancient Philosophies) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by John Sellars (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 103 ratings
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This is the first introduction to Stoic philosophy for 30 years. Aimed at readers new to Stoicism and to ancient philosophy, it outlines the central philosophical ideas of Stoicism and introduces the reader to the different ancient authors and sources that they will encounter when exploring Stoicism. The range of sources that are drawn upon in the reconstruction of Stoic philosophy can be bewildering for the beginner. Sellars guides the reader through the surviving works of the late Stoic authors, Seneca and Epictetus, and the fragments relating to the early Stoics found in authors such as Plutarch and Stobaeus. The opening chapter offers an introduction to the ancient Stoics, their works, and other ancient authors who report material about ancient Stoic philosophy. The second chapter considers how the Stoics themselves conceived philosophy and how they structured their own philosophical system. Chapters 3-5 offer accounts of Stoic philosophical doctrines arranged according to the Stoic division of philosophical discourse into three parts: logic, physics, and ethics. The final chapter considers the later impact of Stoicism on Western philosophy. At the end of the volume there is a detailed guide to further reading.
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  1. ISBN-13
    978-1844650538
  2. Edition
    1st
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Routledge
  5. Publication date
    December 5, 2014
  6. Part of series
    Ancient Philosophies
  7. Language
    English
  8. File size
    6307 KB
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“If readers are interested in Stoicism and want a solid, thoughtful introduction, then this is the book to read.” ― Dialogue Published On: 2010-06-30

From the Inside Flap

"Stoicism needs a new work of this kind. Sellars not only takes good account of the last thirty years of research, he also has much of his own to contribute. I particularly applaud his focus on Epictetus and on Stoicism as an art of life. " A.A. Long, author of Stoic Studies

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00QRZE6P2
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (December 5, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 5, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 6307 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 265 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 103 ratings

About the author

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John Sellars

John Sellars

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John Sellars is a Reader in Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, and a Visiting Research Fellow at King's College London, where he is affiliated to the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle project. He is also a member of Wolfson College, Oxford, where he held a Junior Research Fellowship.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
103 global ratings
Poor quality printing
2 Stars
Poor quality printing
Bought for an upcoming course and just received this today, and I'm surprised by the poor quality. Upon initial examination, the binding feels and appears quite flimsy. I'll be surprised if this book holds up after a month's use. There are some spacing issues with typography, which I noticed beginning even on the cover with the author's name. Upon further examination, it also looks like this book was printed by a third party as I ordered it on 4/27 and it was printed on 4/28/2023. If I had known, I would have gone through the publisher rather than through amazon's printer to avoid defects.This is not a review of the intellectual content, which I am sure is excellent and knowledgeable, but rather the physical quality of the printing.
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Top reviews from the United States

Massimo Pigliucci
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good and serious introduction to Stoicism
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2019
Verified Purchase
These days one cannot turn around without seeing a new book on Stoicism coming out. And I'm not complaining, I think it's a good thing, as the philosophy has something very valuable to offer to people. But rarely one comes across the unusual combination of accessibility and rigor offered by John Sellars' Stoicism. Every chapter is a little gem, beginning with the (admittedly un-inspiredly titled) Introduction, which gives a solid overview of Stoicism, its history, and the sources we have available about it. The second chapter, "The Stoic system" is an excellent explanation of what Stoicism is, followed by a trio of chapters covering each of the three areas of study that an ancient student of the philosophy would have covered, had he attended school with Epictetus: "logic" (i.e., everything to do with good reasoning), "physics" (i.e., natural science and metaphysics), and "ethics" (how to live a life worth living). A must read for anyone newly approaching Stoicism, and a good refresher for people who have already been introduced to the philosophy.
44 people found this helpful
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J. Fh
5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2010
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Excelent Introduction. It sums up a lot of accurate information and doesn't assume prior knowledge. I would also recommend it for a advanced reader of Stoicism who wants a short book to help him remember some historical details. This book can help the advanced reader to organize many different bits of information we learn as we read different books. Therefore, it can be recommended for both the beginner looking for a good introduction and the more experienced reader of stoicism.
10 people found this helpful
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J
4.0 out of 5 stars Good comprehension introduction to classic stoicism
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2018
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Good book, does a fine job explaining classic stoicism. One thing to be aware of is that it is aimed at readers with an academic interest in stoicism so a quarter of the book consists of glossaries, references etc.
7 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great second step to dive deeper
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2015
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If you need to go beyond the "free websites" and get deeper into the Stoa, this book will take you there. It follows the standard threefold division of physics, logic, and ethics, spelling the deeper stoic ideas out in more detail, thus taking you beyond the stereotype of "emotionless Stoics".
8 people found this helpful
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Manuel "Moe" G
5.0 out of 5 stars Stoic morality, plus genesis and later thinkers inspired by the Stoics
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2012
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The Stoic system of logic and physics are uninteresting to me, and they take up two fifths of the book. But the rest is very readable and complete - a fine book to help undertake a Stoic personal morality project in your life.
5 people found this helpful
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David Marshall
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction.
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2008
Who were the Stoics? How did they understand philosophy? How did their ideas of "ethics," "physics" (including what we call "metaphysics" as well as science), and "logic" (also much broader than what Mr. Spock engages in) join together into an organic whole? What role did the sage play in the Stoic system -- if such a creature were even possible. (Stoic agnosticism on this point was very similiar to that of the early Confucians about a "sheng ren," BTW.)

Sellars begins by giving an overall answer to these questions. Then he describes the three Stoic categories -- physics, logic, and ethics -- in the following chapters. He finishes the book with a chapter on the "Stoic legacy" -- the influence they have had since their gradual disappearance in the 4th and 5th Centuries. (One surprise: John Calvin was sympathetic to the Stoics in an early writing -- I've read his commentary on Acts 17, in which Paul discusses the Christian faith with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers in Athens, and he didn't seem so open-minded there -- perhaps because he was jousting at "Papist" shadows. But Sellars spreads his comments out through the centuries -- this section is very succinct, but interesting.)

I wanted a good general introduction to Stoicism, before reading (as I plan to) more of the primary and secondary material. This book turned out to be great for that purpose. It's simple, fairly straightforward, though Sellars also interacts in a light way with the scholarship, and does an excellent job of "mapping out" key figures and questions. Sellars is objective, seldom intruding his own views on the discussion, but (in general) describing what is understood about the Stoics, and clearly marking out where opinions differ. All in all, an excellent introduction to an interesting school of thinkers.

One of several things that piqued my curiosity, was the dissonance between the tone of Cleanthes' Hymn to Zeus, and the role "God" plays in abstract Stoic philosophy. Sellars doesn't pick up on this, but the contradictions in Stoic philosophy seem as interesting to me as the continuity.
32 people found this helpful
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Epictater
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Next Level Intro Stoicism
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2018
I bought this book for the SES course offered by the College of Stoic Philosophers. Though Sellars doesn’t claim to be a Stoic (he’s an academic by trade), I thought this was a great next level reading to the basics of Stoicism. This is NOT a “pop” Stoic book... nor is it meant to offer advice on how to live a modern version of Stoicism... as some of the other reviewers point out... and I think that’s what makes this book great. Sellars isn’t selling his version of Stoicism... just getting to the actual classical understanding of how the ancients formulated their philosophy, which is suited for the serious student of Stoicism.
3 people found this helpful
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P Mc
2.0 out of 5 stars Poor quality printing
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2023
Verified Purchase
Bought for an upcoming course and just received this today, and I'm surprised by the poor quality. Upon initial examination, the binding feels and appears quite flimsy. I'll be surprised if this book holds up after a month's use. There are some spacing issues with typography, which I noticed beginning even on the cover with the author's name. Upon further examination, it also looks like this book was printed by a third party as I ordered it on 4/27 and it was printed on 4/28/2023. If I had known, I would have gone through the publisher rather than through amazon's printer to avoid defects.

This is not a review of the intellectual content, which I am sure is excellent and knowledgeable, but rather the physical quality of the printing.
Customer image
P Mc
2.0 out of 5 stars Poor quality printing
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2023
Bought for an upcoming course and just received this today, and I'm surprised by the poor quality. Upon initial examination, the binding feels and appears quite flimsy. I'll be surprised if this book holds up after a month's use. There are some spacing issues with typography, which I noticed beginning even on the cover with the author's name. Upon further examination, it also looks like this book was printed by a third party as I ordered it on 4/27 and it was printed on 4/28/2023. If I had known, I would have gone through the publisher rather than through amazon's printer to avoid defects.

This is not a review of the intellectual content, which I am sure is excellent and knowledgeable, but rather the physical quality of the printing.
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2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Lewis-93
5.0 out of 5 stars really good read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2017
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A really accessible book into Stoicism for beginners, it can be quite brief at times but it is a really enjoyable read. I enjoyed the academic writing style as it had a subtle casual flow to it, i think this is particularly important as Philosophical texts can be rather off putting at the best of times, so Sellars really impressed me with this aspect of his work. What I did think he could have done a bit better was a certain degree of clarity in regards to understanding the key aspects of Stoicism, for example regarding emotions it often felt as if he could be misleading the reader into the belief that the Stoics argued that they did not show fear in regards to first movements.
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Academic view on Stoicism
Reviewed in Germany on April 26, 2014
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This book offers an interesting view on Stoicism apart from the "self-help" aspect of many other books on the market (which is not a bad thing). However, this makes the book not an easy ethical guide, but rather provides a very good view inside the Stoic philosophy as a whole and not just for students of philosophy. If one is interested in Stoic philosophy, this book will be very a good purchase. If you need a book for academic studies, this may be a good start, but is not sufficient to reach a deep understanding of Stoicism.
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Anne
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide to the "real" meaning of Stoicism
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 28, 2015
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Brilliant guide to the people and processes of Stoicism. Sellars is an expert but wears his knowledge lightly so this is suitable for beginners - like me. The word "stoic" is so misused in popular culture, it is useful to get a real handle on the true meaning of this philosophical practice. The logic chapter is tough but worth sticking with and the book is an excellent introduction to the Stoic philosophers and their original works which I now feel more confident to read.
3 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book but poorly printed
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2024
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The book itself is excellent for studying the basics of Stoicism, clearly written and well structured. However, the print was terrible, lots of creases and poorly printed pages.
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Anagallis
5.0 out of 5 stars Best introduction
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2019
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The most clearly explained and comprehensive introduction to Stoicism I have read. A must for both novices and those already familiar with Stoicism.
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