Is your philosophy practice actually making you a better person, or is it just a hobby?

The difference between studying Stoicism and living the ancient path.

I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life trying to learn, and live, like a Stoic. I try to put Stoic philosophy into practice, to live it as a philosophy as a way of life. It is part of who I am. It is not a hobby.

I had a recent email exchange with a reader who brought up an interesting point about this.

This reader pointed out that in Japanese culture, there is often a focus on dedication to lifelong pursuits, rather than hobbies.

These are all characterized by the suffix “-do”, meaning the path or way:

Judo - The gentle way

Kendo - The way of the sword

Sado - The way of tea.

I am a brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and have been training since I was a child. I grew up in the ‘do-jo’, literally the place to practice your ‘-do’.

What differentiates a ‘-do’, or path, from a hobby, is the connotation of a life-long pursuit, and the focus on the process rather than the result.

You might pursue a blue-belt in BJJ as a goal of external validation, but this is not to practice it as an art. The martial artist, the one committed to the ‘-do’, is pursuing perfection of the craft, not the external result of a belt.

More people should think about philosophy like this, as a craft to perfect over a lifetime, not a set of tools to get what you want in the short-term.

This distinction got me thinking: What would it mean to talk about the ‘-do’ of ancient Greek philosophy, like Stoicism? Is this a helpful way to talk about Western philosophy?

The distinction between hobbyist and people on the ‘path’ of ancient philosophy seems to resonate with the way we talk about Stoicism. When we criticize ‘Broicism’, or ‘$toicism’, we are criticizing people who have taken on Stoicism as a tool. The $toic uses the resiliency of Stoicism to pursue wealth at all costs, even though this goes against the Stoic teaching that wealth is indifferent, and that virtue is what makes a good life. The Broic uses Stoic strategies for emotional regulation because they think it is shameful, as a man, to feel emotions, not because they’ve internalized the idea that many extreme emotions come from false judgements.

These are people who have co-opted components of Stoic philosophy (the dichotomy of control, memento mori) to fulfil their pre-existing goals, without internalizing the values of the philosophy itself. They are hobbyists. They don’t subscribe to the ‘-do’.

Other people have hit on a version of this distinction between levels of philosophical commitment before as well. In his book Breakfast with Seneca, David Fideler makes the distinction between Deep Stoicism and Shallow Stoicism. Shallow Stoicism is when you integrate the tools of Stoicism into your life without understanding its larger ethical, metaphysical and epistemological commitments. Deep Stoicism is to approach the entire school as an interconnected system. To practice it as the ancient philosophers would.

The idea of Deep vs. Shallow Stoicism is related, but not identical to the idea of ‘-do’

Perhaps the closest we get to the idea of the ‘-do’ of ancient philosophy is when we talk of ‘philosophy as a way of life’. However, often the emphasis there is differentiating philosophy that is actually practiced, that aims at ethical and personal transformation, from philosophy as a purely intellectual pursuit. There are the academic philosophers, and then there are the ‘practicing philosophers’.

If your first exposure to ancient philosophy was through a movement that treated these as philosophies as a way of life, you may be surprised that many academic experts on ancient philosophy do not ascribe to any of these schools. Studying philosophy academically is not the same as living it, nor should it be.

What does it mean to walk the path of ancient Greek philosophy?

I want to try to define here what the ‘-do’ of ancient philosophy would be. What is the path of philosophy as a way of life? Not just for Stoicism, but all the major hellenistic schools of thought (Epicureanism, Cynicism, Skepticism, Peripatetics). What are the commitments of anyone truly trying to practice ancient Greek philosophy as a way of life, regardless of the school?

Here I’ll list what I take to be the shared commitments of any practitioner of the ‘-do’ of ancient greek philosophy:

1. Some lives are better than others.

First, and most importantly, practicing ancient Greek philosophy means taking as a core belief that some lives are better than others. This is a rejection of nihilism and total subjectivity.

Ancient Greek philosophy begins with the idea that it is possible for your life to go objectively better or worse. We can judge correctly that some lives are bad, and praise others as good.

We can have disagreements about what lives are better than others. You can argue if it is better to be a celebrity who dies young, or a boring family man, or if it is better to be a rich scrooge, or a poor saint. But, ancient greek philosophy says there is a fact of the matter. In these arguments, someone is right and someone is wrong.

2. What defines a good life is determined by facts about our nature and our place in the world.

Ancient Greek philosophers believe our lives can go better or worse because there are certain facts about what we ‘are’ as humans. This is a teleological position - the belief that humans have an ‘ends’, purpose, or function. We judge lives in relation to the nature of humans, and the role humans play in the larger universe. In other words, we flourish or flounder based on how well we achieve our function as humans. This becomes the measuring stick we use to judge lives.

The rich scrooge who eats lobster but is mean and lives alone has a worse life than the poor but loved family man because of certain facts about how humans are supposed to live. Ancient schools disagree about the proper function of humans (achieve knowledge / maximize pleasure / cultivate social relationships), but they all have some teleological position.

3. We have a high degree of agency over whether we achieve a good life or not.

Ancient philosophy also believes that we have the ability to influence how our life turns out. This might seem obvious but it is important. This is where ancient philosophy deviates from something like the modern “black pill” movements.

Someone who is ‘black pilled’ - or believes the quality of their life is determined by factors outside of their control or ability to influence - also believes some lives are better than others. But because they think they have no agency in improving that situation they do not commit themselves to self-improvement or practice. Think, for example, of the person who considers themselves as being born too unattractive to achieve their romantic goals. Or, the view that a problem outside your control, be that the climate crises or economy, has made life not worth living, or at least the good life impossible. This leads to apathy, or worse, anger at an unjust reality.

Ancient philosophy believes we participate in the project of determining if we flourish or flounder.

Schools may disagree about to what degree we exercise influence. For example, Aristotelians think we have less control than the Stoics, but they all think our actions influence whether or not we achieve a good life.

Ancient philosophy rejects apathy towards the project of living well. It is our responsibility to exercise the agency we have here.

4. The most important thing we can do, above any other pursuit, is direct ourselves towards improving our lives.

Since some lives are better than others, and we have agency over how well our life goes, then the project of living well, the ‘-do’ of ancient philosophy, is the most important thing to commit ourselves to.

I think this is where ancient philosophy differs from the ‘-do’ of other pursuits. Unlike practicing Judo, which is a martial art that has lessons for living, living well is a kind of meta-pursuit. Anything else you do either contributes or subtracts from it.

Practicing Judo might be an essential part of who you are, but a distinct part from your other roles as a parent, coworker, or friend.

Since the subject matter of ancient philosophy encapsulates literally everything we do, then it must be the most important pursuit. In other words, you cannot practice ancient philosophy and then think it is ok to be a bad person or live poorly if it means success in a different domain.

Ancient philosophy demands other pursuits always be aligned with its goal - living well.

Aristotle argued that everything we do is, although we may not realize it, an attempt to live well. Every action we take is in pursuit, in some way, of our idea of the excellent life. Someone practicing the ‘-do’ of ancient philosophy recognizes this fact and makes it the explicit central focus of their life.

5. Living well is a craft

So how do we pursue this goal of living well? Ancient philosophers thought of living well as a craft - not something you acquire or achieve.

A craft is not a result, but an application of knowledge and skill to the subject of the craft.

For example, being a good carpenter is not HAVING a good house. It is both having the knowledge of carpentry, and applying that knowledge to the subject of carpentry - building houses. Someone cannot become a good carpenter by buying a nice house, or having their friend build one for them. They simply become someone who owns a nice house.

Likewise, Ancient philosophers think that the craft of living well is not having the external things we typically associate with success. It is an action, a verb, a way of engaging with the world.

In other words, Ancient philosophy is the craft of exercising the agency we have to improve our lives. If you are a Stoic, it is about making the right choices. If you are an Epicurean, it is about giving up the desires and beliefs that are causing you to suffer. If you are a Cynic, it is about ignoring the pressures of society and being true to yourself.

The carpenter takes wood, and builds a house.

The ancient philosopher takes the challenges of their particular circumstances, and builds a life worth living.

6. Crafts require practice aimed at a specific goal.

The final commitment of the path of ancient philosophy is the belief that because living well is a craft, it needs to be practiced. As the Stoic Epictetus said:

“Every habit and capacity is preserved and strengthened by the corresponding actions, that of walking, by walking, that of running, by running. If you want to be a reader, read; if a writer, write.” (Discourses 2.18.1-2)

Ancient philosophy thinks you become a better person by practicing the craft. If you are practicing ancient philosophy, then life is your literal dojo - the place where you develop your craft. You should be practicing in safe environments, like talking with friends, reading philosophy, and journaling.

But then you should also be going out and testing yourself in environments where you can fail and understand the limits of your current skill. You should be doing things that require courage, or test your patience. Things that test your strength and your empathy.

Again, Epictetus who led a school of philosophy for young students captures this idea the best:

“And whenever you encounter anything that is difficult or pleasurable or highly or lowly regarded, remember that the contest is now, you are at the Olympic games, you cannot wait any longer, and that your progress is wrecked or preserved by a single day and a single event.” (Handbook 51)

A martial artist has to travel for a competition. As philosophers, our competitions, our Olympic games, are how we handle the day-to-day realities of life.

Conclusion

This was my attempt to summarize the ethos of ancient Greek philosophy. I think that anyone trying to practice philosophy as a way of life - or follow the path - is committed to these 6 beliefs.

I hope that by calling these out, and making them explicit, it can be helpful for people interested in actually living in accordance with ancient philosophy.

There are other ways to live, but if you disagree with these, then I think you are not walking the path, the ‘-do’, of ancient Greek philosophy.