Since its beginnings in ancient Greece, Stoic philosophy has gained avid followers from different walks of life. However, today Stoicism is generally unpopular and poorly understood. Holiday’s goal is to “restore Stoicism to its rightful place as a tool in the pursuit of self-mastery, perseverance, and wisdom” (1). Holiday argues that Stoic perspectives are particularly helpful in military professions, pointing to several historical and modern military leaders who have embraced Stoic philosophy in their work.

Founded in ancient Greece, Stoicism teaches that virtue encompasses four traits: courage, self-control, wisdom, and justice, and that only by becoming virtuous can people be happy. Stoicism also claims that people’s perceptions of the world can cause them deep trouble and unhappiness, and it emphasizes that people should focus on their reason and agency while responding to events outside of their control. As originally developed in Ancient Greece, Stoicism was a “comprehensive philosophy” (3), which included physics, cosmology, and other disciplines. However, Roman Stoics changed the philosophy by refocusing it on ethics and logic. They developed practical questions about how to live the best life and attempted to come up with “actionable” answers (4). Ultimately, this led Roman Stoics to establish three Stoic disciplines: the

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now