Stoa Nova – Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations Books II & III : On Pain and Grief

With his political influence on the decline and after the death of his beloved daughter Tullia, Cicero retreated from public life and composed a several philosophical works.

As he recovered from his daughter’s death, he composed Tusculan Disputations, set at Cicero’s villa in Tusculum. The work is composed mostly as a series of dialogues between M (for either “Marcus” — Cicero’s first name — or “magister” — the Latin for master) and A (for either “Atticus” — Cicero’s good friend — or “adulescens” — the Latin for young man).

The goal of the work, in Cicero’s words, was to “expound the key issues we should bear in mind in our pursuit of happiness.”

Visit the Stoa Nova Meetup for information on how to join.

Massimo Pigliucci is the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His books include How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life (Basic Books), A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control (The Experiment, with Greg Lopez), How to Live a Good Life (Vintage, co-edited with Skye Cleary and Dan Kaufman), and Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. His forthcoming book (out September 15th) is A Field Guide to a Happy Life: 53 Brief Lessons for Living. More by Massimo at massimopigliucci.com.

Hosted by philosopher Massimo Pigliucci, Stoa Nova is inspired (with a bit of immodesty) to the ancient Greco-Roman schools of philosophy. Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Epictetus and many others simply gave lectures about their favorite topics and engaged in Socratic discussions with people interested in what they had to say. In our case, we will examine the theory and practice of Stoicism as a modern applied philosophy that aids us in navigating a world in some ways just as confusing and uncertain as that of ancient Athens and Rome. For more on Stoicism, click here (http://tinyurl.com/m7hzr4x)!