Stoicism and Emotion

by Margaret R. Graver

On the surface, stoicism and emotion seem like contradictory terms. Yet the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome were deeply interested in the emotions, which they understood as complex judgments about what we regard as valuable in our surroundings. Stoicism and Emotion shows that they did not simply advocate an across-the-board suppression of feeling, as stoicism implies in today’s English, but instead conducted a searching examination of these powerful psychological responses, seeking to understand what attitude toward them expresses the deepest respect for human potential.

In this elegant and clearly written work, Margaret Graver gives a compelling new interpretation of the Stoic position. Drawing on a vast range of ancient sources, she argues that the chief demand of Stoic ethics is not that we should suppress or deny our feelings, but that we should perfect the rational mind at the core of every human being. Like all our judgments, the Stoics believed, our affective responses can be either true or false and right or wrong, and we must assume responsibility for them. Without glossing over the difficulties, Graver also shows how the Stoics dealt with those questions that seem to present problems for their the physiological basis of affective responses, the phenomenon of being carried away by one’s emotions, the occurrence of involuntary feelings and the disordered behaviors of mental illness. Ultimately revealing the deeper motivations of Stoic philosophy, Stoicism and Emotion uncovers the sources of its broad appeal in the ancient world and illuminates its surprising relevance to our own.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Psychology

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2007

Reviews

[Chris Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margaret Graver does a splendid job of dispelling the image of Stoics as emotionless, detached, and affectless. She wrote, "The founders of the Stoic school did not set out to suppress or deny our natural feelings; rather, it was their endeavor, in psychology as in ethics, to determine what the natural feelings of humans really are. With the emotions we most often experience they were certainly dissatisfied; their aim, however, was not to eliminate feelings as such from human life, but to understand what sorts of affective responses a person would have who was free of false belief" (p. 2). However, she also adds the work of the Stoics, "refuses to treat emotions as essentially harmless but rather demands that they be examined, corrected, purified-this indeed presents a challenge to many modern ways of thinking" (ibid).

This is a great read for anyone interested in emotions within the context of Stoicism. It is both scholarly and accessible to anyone with a basic grasp of Stoicism.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very rigorous, robust, nuanced, thorough and informative account on Stoic thought on emotions. Graver goes into great details from linguistic usage of stoic terms to the sources of ancient stoic philosophers to explain what the stoics thought about emotions. Graver even tries to give a very charitable account in order to dispel myths and misconceptions about how the Stoics view emotions. However, despite this impressive scholarly work, the book is rather dry and dull from the stylistic point of view. I can only say that reading this book takes a lot of effort, attention, and patience but to be realistic this wouldn't be for the general audience. Nonetheless, the book is worth reading if anyone does have an investing interest in stoicism.

[David Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, I had to give up halfway through the book. The author's prose is dull and rather technical; perhaps someone with more formal training in philosophy would appreciate it more. I was a bit disappointed that Graver focused almost exclusively on early Stoics, as I think the later Stoics had a lot to say about emotion, and their writings tend to be more accessible to someone not trained in philosophy (I'm thinking especially of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Cicero). Alas, perhaps a philosophy major will come and provide GoodReads a better, more accurate review.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly magisterial work on the view of emotions in Stoic philosophy. Highly recommended to Stoics and those interested in Stoicism.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me approximately a year to get through this book. I actually went through the first chapter, put the book down for a month, went back to it, forgot what it was about and had to start from the beginning again. 😁

The second time, I decided to read it one section at the time, thought intensely about the section upon finishing and summarised it afterwards. Yes I have a 1 hour bus/train journey to work so I did it almost everyday.

By the time I got to the chapter "feeling without assent", I was completely hooked. This book is one of the few rare reconstructions of Chrisyppus' work on Stoicism. It also quotes Cicero extensively, as well as many other ancient scholars such as Philo of Alexandria, as well as Seneca, but maybe a little less from Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.

This is one of the very few books that have a very deep discussion about Stoic emotions. The book argued that there are some really good Stoic emotions too, in fact, my favourite quote from this book is:

"we should think of them (good emotions) as being like the easy movements of a powerful athelet, forceful but without strain."

So the next time when you feel the urge of using the word "Stoic" to describe an emotionless psychopath getting a life sentence in court, don't assent to that feeling, read this book first! 😁

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting consideration of the role of virtuous affective response (as distinguished from common/base emotion) in the Stoic sage. While primary sources are excerpted extensively and no specific knowledge of Stoic writings is required, this would be an extremely challenging (not to mention substantially less rewarding) book to read if you have no prior grounding in Stoic philosophy.

[Readius Maximus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book explaining the Stoics and how they handled emotion. I have read several books about the stoics and this one really put it together for me. Emotion is a huge part of life and how they dealt with emotional experiences was very insightful and I highly recommend if you want a deeper understanding of this great school of thought.

[Random Anonymous Pseudonym* · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot to learn from Margaret Graver's insightful and lucid book 'Stoicism and Emotion'. Although some chapters (especially the first ones) tread familiar ground, the book quickly offers bold, cogent, and often original perspectives that enrich our understanding of Stoicism, particularly when it comes to the issues of character traits, character development, and the possible role of remorse within Stoic thinking. Graver writes beautifully. Her prose is clear, precise, and lively. Her readings of some important and some lesser-known Stoic texts are informative and persuasive. Even though Graver analyzes many different sides of Stoicism which can make the book conceptually dense (clearly not in itself a bad thing, especially when discussing ancient philosophy!), the argumentation and writing style really make this book a page-turner. I read this book relatively quickly because I was doing some research on Stoicism, and I found it a useful resource.

[Adam Slagell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely an academic take, avoiding judgements about Stoicism but simple trying to describe what they believed and practiced and why. The focus of this particular book was to build a model of the Stoic’s theory of emotion.

It was well-written, fairly readable for anyone with a college education, but probably aimed at undergraduates in Philosophy.

Personally, it didn’t add a lot beyond all the other books I have read, but it is the best volume I have read on the specific focus of emotions and hence is a useful reference book.

My 3 stars is mostly about me personally, and that I didn’t learn anything new, and I was looking more for something to help with the practice of Stoic principles.

[Jean-françois Virey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very balanced, meticulous and well-documented work. The only reason why I am not giving five stars is that it is a bit more limited than the title indicates. I expected a summa of the Stoics on emotions (I don't think such a book exists), but it is a more focused examination of the affects Stoics thought would still exist in the sage (propatheia and eupatheia), and how they contrast with their correspondents in the minds of the foolish. Graver's Stoic sources are mostly Chrysippus, Cicero's Tusculan Disputations and Seneca's works. There is no mention of Aurelius, for instance, and Epictetus is only mentioned briefly.

[The Raffter SF · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Very detailed study of what the Stoics understood by emotion and how much more nuanced their positions were than regularly portrayed.
The book is a bit technical and not a super easy read for a non-academic such as myself, so it took me sometime to work my way through it. At the end I found it to be very rewarding and worth the effort.

As a side note and what I hope to be a constructive critique: it would be good if they improved their ebook version. It’s not easy to work your way to and from the footnotes.

[Aryan Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.3/5 - I wanted to understand the difference between supressing emotions and stoic’s way of processing them. This book gave me more insights on that by specifically exploring stoics’ ideas on emotions and how to process them.

While the author shares the accounts of many ancient stoic texts, I find the flow of some ideas difficult to follow and could have perhaps be explained and expressed in a more accessible way. Maybe thats just a trait of philo books huh

[Brian Dougherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A foundational book for any prokopton today.

[Don Putnam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book. I quite enjoyed the methodical, organization of the book and the extensive use of primary sources. While many parts were difficult and technical, there were more parts which were very enlightening.

I highly recommend for those looking for an exhaustive explanation of emotions explained by the ancient Stoics.

For a great synopsis, refer to this review: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2008/2008.0...