AHC/WI: Stoicism Resurges in the 20th Century

Alrighty folks, I'm taking a break from my usually politically related forum postings to ask a little about another realm of intellectual thought that interests me greatly - philosophy. While I don't know in full detail the history of the philosophical thoughts that emerged in the wake of WWI and WWII, I do believe it is largely considered to be the realm of a lot of more modern nihilist, existentialist, and absurdist veins of philosophical thought. (If anyone has some good sources beyond wikipedia on the history of those philosophical thoughts, I would love to know, and would greatly appreciate a PM on the matter.)

But my question is how do you get Stoicism to reemerge and come to a resurgence in the 20th Century either along with those aforementioned veins of thought or instead of - and what are the consequences of it doing so?
 
More people read Marcus Aurelius's Meditations after Clinton says it's his favorite book?

Problem is the cultural zeitgeist in the 90s is pushing in an opposite direction to the underlying tenets of classical Stoic thought.
 
More people read Marcus Aurelius's Meditations after Clinton says it's his favorite book?

Problem is the cultural zeitgeist in the 90s is pushing in an opposite direction to the underlying tenets of classical Stoic thought.

I mostly meant the mid-twentieth century, though I suppose I didn't specify.
 
FDR -- Again

POD: While recovering from polio, FDR is introduced to Epictetus, among others, and finds the crippled ex-slave's teachings to be beneficial in dealing with his situation. Meanwhile, the Black Dog gnaws on Churchill again, and he recalls the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius from his school days.

In their speeches, interwar, they both frequently mention their favorite philosophers, which leads to a certain revival of interest in the stoic brand.

This is taken up by soldiers and sailors as it fits in well with their profession.

During the war, Flight Lieutenant Donald Pleasance is taken prisoner when his Lancaster NE112 is shot down over Germany in August 1944. He finds a tattered edition of the Meditations in the camp library and relies on them for solace. After the war, he writes a best-seller, Meditations of a Prisoner of War, which greatly expands interest in stoicism. Postwar Britain was yet under rationing and other unpleasantries, and the philosophy "caught on", so to speak, finally coming to America in pop culture with the Beatles' hit, "Don't Worry About Yesterday."

:cool:
 
I think Admiral Stockdale was a fairly prominent Stoic. No idea how much influence he could possibly have outside of military circles though.
 
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POD: While recovering from polio, FDR is introduced to Epictetus, among others, and finds the crippled ex-slave's teachings to be beneficial in dealing with his situation. Meanwhile, the Black Dog gnaws on Churchill again, and he recalls the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius from his school days.

In their speeches, interwar, they both frequently mention their favorite philosophers, which leads to a certain revival of interest in the stoic brand.

This is taken up by soldiers and sailors as it fits in well with their profession.

During the war, Flight Lieutenant Donald Pleasance is taken prisoner when his Lancaster NE112 is shot down over Germany in August 1944. He finds a tattered edition of the Meditations in the camp library and relies on them for solace. After the war, he writes a best-seller, Meditations of a Prisoner of War, which greatly expands interest in stoicism. Postwar Britain was yet under rationing and other unpleasantries, and the philosophy "caught on", so to speak, finally coming to America in pop culture with the Beatles' hit, "Don't Worry About Yesterday."

:cool:

Quite an interesting idea you've got there. :D
 
Thanks

Quite an interesting idea you've got there. :D

Thanks for the kind words.

I just wondered who might be the "James Stockdale" of WW2, and recalled the cast of The Great Escape. Pleasance actually was a POW in Germany, in a Luft camp. (He also, for trivia's sake, was in both of the Fifties productions of 1984 as Syme/Parsons.)
 
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