[Resource] A List of the Best Stoicism Videos on YouTube
Understanding Stoicism requires a lot of reading, there's no way around it. I encourage everyone interested in Stoicism to look into the FAQ entry on introductory reading, perhaps starting with either an academic overview (like Stoicism by John Sellars) or a practical introduction (like Stoicism and the Art of Happiness by Donald Robertson), and then the original texts of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca. Or if you're feeling brave, tackle the original texts head on. Any good translation will include a short introduction to the author and the philosophy.
With my rant on the importance of reading out of the way, I've put together a list of what I think are the best videos about Stoicism on YouTube. Lots of people come here requesting videos, and there are a lot of bad, misleading videos about Stoicism on YouTube. So I thought it would be useful to have a list of some of the best ones. Three channels (Academy of Ideas, Carneades.org, and The School of Life) have additional videos on philosophy which you may also find useful/interesting.
Prof. Massimo Pigliucci:
A professor of philosophy, author, writer on Stoicism, and a member of the Modern Stoicism nonprofit group.
- The Philosophy of Stoicism - Short introduction
- Stoicism 101 - Longer introductory lecture
Donald Robertson:
A CBT psychotherapist, author, writer on Stoicism, and a member of the Modern Stoicism nonprofit group.
(I later realized that these videos are not on YouTube but on Donald's course site. These and several others are free, but require you to create an account.)
Prof. Gregory Sadler:
A professor of philosophy, author, writer on Stoicism, and a member of the Modern Stoicism nonprofit group.
He has hours of free material online, and I'm surprised he's not brought up more on r/Stoicism. The following three links go to playlists rather than individual videos.
Prof. Michael Sugrue
Lecture from "The Great Courses" series. There are a few minor nitpicks with this video, the biggest one I think is the idea that the Meditations were a "chink in the Stoic armor" of Marcus Aurelius. Pierre Hadot wrote an entire book (The Inner Citadel) showing how Meditations is the working philosophical journal of a practicing Stoic rather than merely the diary of a lonely emperor with no one else to talk to (as the lecturer holds). I also doubt that Marcus was quite as perfect as the lecturer makes him out to be (surely the Meditations were meant to remind Marcus of the things he needed to work on rather than the things he already did well). But the larger point he makes about all of the (potentially) corrupting power that Marcus held is certainly valid. Prof. Sugrue is an excellent speaker, and I enjoyed this talk very much.
Prof. Philip Hansten
A professor of Pharmacy Science who presents us with an apparent labor of love: an overview of Stoicism and the major extant Stoic authors.
- Stoic Philosophy by Philip Hansten (Part 1)
- Stoic Philosophy by Philip Hansten (Part 2)
- Stoic Philosophy by Philip Hansten (Part 3)
Academy of Ideas
Produces a number of excellent videos on philosophy, not exclusively on Stoicism. The production quality is not as high as those of The School of Life, but the content seems to be more comprehensive (while still remaining relatively short).
Stoicism:
- Introduction to Stoicism
- Epictetus and Stoicism: The Wisdom of the Slave Philosopher
- Stoicism: Letters from a Stoic and the Wisdom of Seneca
- Stoicism: Meditations and the Wisdom of Marcus Aurelius
Related:
- Introduction to Ethics
- Philosophy as a Way of Life
- The Ideas of Socrates
- The Psychological Benefits of Contemplating Death
- Introduction to Heraclitus
- Introduction to Diogenes the Cynic
- Viktor Frankl: Logotherapy and Man's Search for Meaning
- Epicurus and the Good Life
Carneades.org
Like Academy of Ideas, another channel that produces a number of excellent short videos on philosophy and philosophers.
Stoicism:
- What Is Stoicism? (Philosophical Position) - A more broad description of Stoic philosophy than many other introductary videos, touching on Logic and Physics in addition to Ethics
- Who Was Seneca? (Famous Philosophers) - A short video on the life of Seneca, without really going into his philosophy
Related:
- What is Virtue Ethics? (Philosophical Definition) - Note that he focuses more on Aristotlean virtue, which is a little different from Stoic virtue
- Who Was Socrates? (Famous Philosophers)
- Who Was Plato? (Famous Philosophers)
- Who Was Epicurus? (Famous Philosophers)
- What is Epicureanism? (Philosophical Position)
- Who was Benedict De Spinoza? (Famous Philosophers)
The School of Life
Created by author Alain de Botton. The School of Life's videos have a very high production quality and are designed to be accessible to a wide audience. In my opinion, some of the videos have excellent content, while others are subpar. Decide for yourself.
Stoicism:
- PHILOSOPHY - The Stoics - Decent, but slightly misrepresents Stoicism as rather grave and somber
- Why Stoicism Matters - I like the video overall, but the School of Life seems to overemphasizes the role of suicide in Stoicism in its videos. For a more detailed analysis of suicide (and death) as it relates to the Stoics, see the article Epictetus on Fearing Death: Bugbear and Open Door Policy.
- Resilience - A video about resiliency that focuses on Seneca
Related:
- PHILOSOPHY - Plato
- PHILOSOPHY - Epicurus
- PHILOSOPHY - Baruch Spinoza
- Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy
- The Seven Deadly Sins
The Rugged Pyrrhus
This user has recorded himself reading all 124 of Seneca's letters to Lucilius (the public domain Loeb version).
Ancient Recitations
- The Enchiridion of Epictetus (Full Text) - Elizabeth Carter translation
Last updated 22 July 2018
Posted Jul 17, 2018, 10:19 PM UTC · edited