Podcast appearances and mentions of William O Stephens

In this conversation, Caleb speaks with William O Stephens about his 6 core themes of Stoicism.Epictetus's 'Encheiridion': A New Translation and Guide to Stoic Ethicshttps://williamostephens.com/(04:12) Self-Control(09:31) Seeing Things As They Are(14:34) Living In Accordance With Nature(22:12) Role Ethics(35:57) Virtue Depends On Knowledge(42:59) Stoicism Is Aspirational***Learn more about our new year's course: stoameditation.com/courseSubscribe to The Stoa Letter for weekly meditations, actions, and links to the best Stoic resources: www.stoaletter.com/subscribeDownload the Stoa app (it's a free download): stoameditation.com/podIf you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we'll set you up with a free account.Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/

In this podcast episode, myself and guest Dr. William O. Stephens, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Creighton University, delve into the concept of free will in Stoicism, defined as "uninhibited freedom of choice." Initially, I share my emotional response to criticisms received on a previous episode about free will. Recognizing my response as un-Stoic, I offer an apology and clarify my views, emphasizing my responsibility in presenting Stoicism accurately, especially to the young and impressionable audience. Dr. Stephens and I explore whether Stoicism supports the idea of free will. We discuss the Stoic view of the universe as a blend of fate and individual agency, emphasizing that Stoicism is not deterministic but compatibilist - it allows for free will within a framework of causal determinism. This perspective aligns with my understanding of free will in Stoicism, which I define as the ability to make one's own choices, free from external coercion. We delve into Stoic psychology and the concept of 'lecta' (sayables or propositions) and how these relate to human decision-making. Dr. Stephens explains that while Stoics believe in fate, they also maintain that individuals have the freedom of ascent, the ability to agree or disagree with presented propositions, thus exercising free choice. The episode also touches upon different philosophical positions regarding determinism and free will: hard determinism, soft determinism (compatibilism), and libertarianism. We establish that Stoics are compatibilists who believe in both causal determinism and human freedom to choose, making them morally responsible for their actions. A significant part of our discussion revolves around the Stoic concept of 'prohairesis' (faculty of choice or volition), particularly in the teachings of Epictetus. This faculty is central to Stoic ethics, embodying the idea that our choices and decisions define us. We also address misconceptions about Stoicism being fatalistic, using examples like the 'lazy argument' to illustrate how Stoics view the role of human agency in a predetermined universe. Additionally, we discuss the Stoic doctrine of eternal return and its relevance (or lack thereof) to Stoic ethics and individual freedom. In conclusion, Dr. Stephens and I affirm that freedom of choice is a crucial component of Stoicism. This episode reaffirms my commitment to Stoicism and its practical application in modern life, regardless of minor differences in interpreting some of its ancient doctrines. -- Support my work directly on Patreon : https://stoicismpod.com/members Subscribe to my Everyday Stoicism blog : https://everydaystoicism.com Join the Actual Stoicism discord community : https://stoicismpod.com/discord -- Online copy of Meditations (A.S.L Farquharson) : https://link.stoicismpod.com/farquharson Online copy of Enchiridion (Elizabeth Carter) : https://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why does Musonius Rufus lecture on food and men's fashion?Caleb talks to William O Stephens to find out. Learn how the Stoics thought about ordinary issues of life in order to live extraordinarily well.https://williamostephens.com/(01:11) Musonius Rufus and Epictetus(09:09) Why Care About Food and Fashion?(13:42) Food(23:16) Optimizing Health(29:58) The Social Dimension(36:14) Beards(45:17) What is Natural?(52:42) Epictetus on Beards***Subscribe to The Stoa Letter for weekly meditations, actions, and links to the best Stoic resources: www.stoaletter.com/subscribeDownload the Stoa app (it's a free download): stoameditation.com/podIf you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we'll set you up with a free account.Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/

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In this episode: Professor, philosopher and scholar of Stoicism William O. Stephens speaks with recently graduated football coach and Stoic practitioner Nick Davis about the analogy between team sports and the ethical/theological ideas found in Stoicism.  Learn more about Professor William O. Stephens: williamostephens.com ABOUT THE WALLED GARDEN The Walled Garden Philosophical Society is a global community of philosophers and students gathering in search of truth, wisdom, virtue and the Divine. There are many ways to get involved: Attend Events: thewalledgarden.com/events Find a Philosophical Mentor: thewalledgarden.com/mentoring Explore Our Groves: thewalledgarden.com/groves Become a Member: thewalledgarden.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Simon Drew and renowned Stoic scholar and professor William O. Stephens discuss the theology and cosmology of the Stoic school of philosophy.  William O. Stephens is the Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Creighton University. His interests include ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Stoicism as a way of life, Stoicism and popular culture, ethics, animals, and the environment. He has published multiple scholarly books, including Marcus Aurelius: A Guide for the Perplexed,  Stoic Ethics: Epictetus and Happiness as Freedom, and The Ethics of the Stoic Epictetus.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An in-depth conversation about Stoicism with William O. Stephens, Author and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Creighton University.  

Writing Stoicism & Happiness My interview with Philosophy Professor William O. Stephens. Discuss sabbaticals, writing process, purpose, stoicism and happiness. Enjoy! Leigh Martinuzzi · 938 William Stephens – Writing Stoicism & Happiness Guest Bio. William O. Stephens is Professor of Philosophy at Creighton University.  His four books are Marcus Aurelius: A Guide for the Perplexed … Continue reading 938 William Stephens – Writing Stoicism & Happiness

Writing Stoicism & Happiness My interview with Philosophy Professor William O. Stephens. Discuss sabbaticals, writing process, purpose, stoicism and happiness. Enjoy! Guest Bio. William O. Stephens is Professor of Philosophy at Creighton University. His four books are Marcus Aurelius: A Guide for the Perplexed (Continuum 2012), Stoic Ethics: Epictetus and Happiness as Freedom (Continuum 2007), The Person: Readings in Human Nature (Prentice Hall 2006), and The Ethics of the Stoic Epictetus, an English translation of Adolf Bonhöffer’s 1894 classic (Peter Lang 1996). His dozens of articles and book chapters on Stoicism include the topics of food, farming, refugees, love, death, animals, sportsmanship, travel, habit, ecology, the Star Wars films, and the film Gladiator (2000). He has also published on friendship, ethics and animals, and philosophical vegetarianism. His current book projects are Epictetus’ Enchiridion: A New Translation and Guide to Stoic Ethics (Bloomsbury) and Stoic Lessons in Liberation: Epictetus as Educator.

William O. Stephens was born in June 1962 in Lafayette, Indiana. He was raised in West Lafayette, Indiana, the second son of Purdue University professors. He attended West Lafayette Senior High School where he earned varsity letters in tennis and began his study of ancient civilizations and Latin with an inspiring teacher named Oliver S. Oesch. After two years at the College of Wooster in Ohio studying philosophy with James Coke Haden and Latin with Joe and Leslie P. Day, Stephens transferred to Earlham, a Quaker college in Richmond, Indiana. At Earlham he studied philosophy with Robert L. Horne and Peter Suber, Greek and Latin with Steve Heiny and Liffey Thorpe, and played varsity tennis (doubles). After graduating from Earlham in 1984, Stephens moved to Philadelphia to do his graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania. At Penn he studied with Charles H. Kahn, Alexander Nehamas, and Martin Ostwald, and received his doctorate in philosophy in 1990. In autumn of that year he joined the Arts & Sciences faculty at Creighton University.   He has published articles on topics in Stoicism, Epicureanism and friendship, ecology and food ethics, ethics and animals, sex and love, sportsmanship, and the concept of a person. His books include an English translation of Adolf Bonhöffer's work The Ethics of the Stoic Epictetus (Peter Lang, 1996), an edited collection The Person: Readings in Human Nature (Prentice Hall, 2006), Stoic Ethics: Epictetus and Happiness as Freedom (Continuum, 2007), and Marcus Aurelius: A Guide for the Perplexed (Continuum, 2012). A manuscript entitled Lessons in Liberation: Epictetus as Educator is his current research project. He teaches a variety of courses in philosophy.   Stephens has traveled widely. In May 2016 he toured much of Poland, from Wiżajny (near the Lithuania border) and Suwałki in the northeast to the lakes of Mikołajki. After presenting two papers at the University of Warsaw he visited Kraków, the Wieliczka salt mine, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. In June 2017 he returned to Poland, presented two papers at the University of Warsaw, and visited Poznań, Jastrowie, and the village of Chwalimie before traveling to Marseille and Aix, France.   He has presented papers abroad at conferences in London, England (Stoicon 2018), in Toronto, Canada (Stoicon 2017), at Aix-en-Provence, on the island of Rhodes, at Vilia, Greece, and at Palmerston North, New Zealand. He has toured the island of Crete, the northern and southern islands of New Zealand, Iceland, and several of the Galapagos Islands. Stephens has taken cruises to Ensenada, Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Isle of Symi in the Dodecanese island chain. His expedition aboard the National Geographic Endeavor to the Antarctic peninsula was by way of Santiago, Chile and Ushuaia, Argentina. In England he has toured Cornwall, East Sussex, Bournemouth County, the Salisbury Plain (and Stonehenge), the Lake District, the Scottish Highlands, and the Isle of Skye. He has visited Montreal, Vancouver Island, and Victoria, British Columbia. In the Hawaiian islands he has visited Maui (and Haleakalā), Kauai (and Waimea Canyon), and much of Oahu.   Stephens enjoys tennis, chess, hiking, spelunking, kayaking, and nature photography. His domestic treks include the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier, the Cascades, and the Olympic peninsula in Washington. He has kayaked in the San Juan Islands of Washington and in the Point Reyes National Seashore area of California. He has visited Crater Lake in Oregon and Boundary County, the Kootenai River, and Coeur d' Alene in the Idaho panhandle. In California Stephens has hiked in Redwood, Yosemite, and Joshua Tree National Parks, spelunked in Lava Beds National Monument, and visited Crescent City, Tule Lake, Bodega Bay, Monterey, and Big Sur. He has explored Arches National Park, the Moab area, the Valley of the Gods, and Monument Valley in Utah. His travels in Arizona include the Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Petrified Forest National Park, Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, and Sedona. He has visited Shiprock, Petroglyph National Monument, and Santa Fe in New Mexico. In Colorado he has visited Rocky Mountain National Park, Crested Butte, Mesa Verde, Durango, Royal Gorge, Silverthorne, Breckenridge, Vail, and has traveled over Loveland Pass. In August 2016 Stephens drove Mount Herman Road from Monument to Woodland Park, Colorado. As a boy he visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. His travels include the Badlands, Wind Cave, and the Black Hills of South Dakota, Madeline Island off the northern coast of Wisconsin, Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave of Kentucky (the longest known cave system in the world), Acadia National Park in Maine, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and many parts of Florida. He has yet to visit Alaska, Louisiana, Arkansas, or Mississippi.   From an early age Stephens has closely followed the misadventures of the Chicago Cubs, which helps explain his interest in Stoicism. Stephens watched his Cubs win game seven of the World Series Nov. 2, 2016 at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. He lives in the Bemis Park neighborhood of Omaha in an arts & crafts style house built in 1912 he shares with four cats and a talented chef blessed with a beautiful singing voice. Website: https://williamostephens.wordpress.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-stephens-b76369b/   Simon Drew Links   Patreon: patreon.com/simonjedrew Coaching: simonjedrew.com/coaching/ Practical Stoic Mastermind: facebook.com/groups/practicalstoicmastermind Facebook: facebook.com/simonjedrew Instagram: instagram.com/simonjedrew LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/simonjedrew Website: simonjedrew.com

Here's the William's essay that inspired this interview Stoicism and the Philosophies of the Jedi and the Sith http://collegeofstoicphilosophers.org/show_book/PDF/StoicsStarWars Check out the quotes used in this podcast on Instagram Memento the Stoics: www.instagram.com/memento_the_stoics/ Message me anytime at mementothestoics@gmail.com William O. Stephens' website: http://williamostephens.com/ William O. Stephens' books Stoic Ethics: Epictetus and Happiness as Freedom Marcus Aurelius: A Guide for the Perplexed --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/time-flies/message