Notes for a Stoic theory of Well-being (WB)
Stoic philosophy is experiencing a revival as a way of life, inspired by groundbreaking works by Pierre Hadot, John Sellars, and others. It remains relatively minoritarian within academic philosophy, wherein ancient virtue ethics (considered as a metaethical, theoretical stance without practical-directive functions) is identified with forms of Aristotelianism.
Christopher Gill’s Learning to Live Naturally represents a landmark in redressing this situation, as well as correcting certain misreadings of Stoicism which have emerged in the context of its angloamerican popularisation.
Yet, the idea of Stoicism as a way of life, involving forms of prescriptive-practical exercises, places the philosophy in contact with a wider range of philosophical and extraphilosophical fields. One of these is contemporary scholarly discussions of wellbeing, which are largely taking place outside of academic philosophy, in medicine and the health sciences.
As a result of this interdisciplinary situation, the philosopher who looks to medical debates concerning what a good human life looks like can be surprised,
- firstly, that philosophical theories (notably, forms of hedonism, desire-fulfulment theories, and eudaimonism looking back [albeit selectively] to Aristotle are being discussed in connections with models of…