Since this is the inaugural episode of Stoicism On Fire it would be natural for you the listener to wonder what this podcast is about. Obviously, it’s about Stoicism, but What is Stoicism on Fire? As the introduction states, this podcast is about Stoicism as a philosophical way of life, which includes a rational form of spirituality. That form of Stoicism has become known as traditional Stoicism in modern times.

Ancient Stoicism: 300 BCE – 200 CE

Many credible sources are available to explore the doctrines of Stoicism. Both of these trusted sources provide accurate explanations of Stoic doctrines and contrast that with modern or contemporary versions of Stoicism:

* Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Stoicism

* Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Stoicism

Neo-Stoicism: 16th and 17th centuries

* Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Neo-Stoicism

Modern Stoicism

Has its roots in Lawrence Becker’s book A New Stoicism in 1998 – an attempt to revive Stoicism in a secular form.

* Modern Stoicism Blog

Traditional Stoicism

Grew out of Erik Wiegardt’s creation of the New Stoa in 1996. Traditional Stoicism is an attempt to make sense of the ancient Stoic way of life in light of what we have learned about human nature and the cosmos over the last two thousand years while remaining true to the deeply religious nature of Stoicism.

* Traditional Stoicism Blog

The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King's College London, takes listeners through the history of philosophy, "without any gaps." The series looks at the ideas, lives and historical context of the major philosophers as well as the lesser-known figures of the tradition.

Lectures 60 through 68 address Stoicism; they can be found here:

* 60 – Walking on Eggshells: the Stoics on Logic

* 61 – Nobody’s Perfect: the Stoic on Knowledge

* 62 – We Didn’t Start the Fire: the Stoics on Nature

* 63 – Like a Rolling Stone: Stoic Ethics

* 64 – David Sedley on Stoicism

* 65 – Anger Management: Seneca

* 66 – You Can Chain My Leg: Epictetus

* 67 – The Philosopher King: Marcus Aurelius

* 68 – John Sellars on the Roman Stoics

John Cooper

John Cooper, of Princeton University, also provides a great one-hour long lecture on ‘The Stoic Way of Life’ as part of the 2011 John Locke lecture series produced by University of Oxford. Some key points of interest for traditional Stoics:

@ 6:29 – The coherence of the Stoic philosophical system

@ 6:48 – John Cooper argues:

“In order to understand properly the Stoic way of life and its philosophical basis, we’re going to have to learn a great deal about their metaphysica...