Tuesday, March 08, 2022

Stoicism And Stockdale And A Research Project

 Every now and again one finds a post, which leads to a link, which leads to something so stunning in terms of content that one realizes that one needs to write something about it.  And of course, one finds out that it is an entirely new area of study that one has to engage in to be able to speak about it intelligently.

The "thing" is a speech by Vice Admiral James Stockdale entitled "Stockdale of Stoicism I:  The Stoic Warrior's Triad".  It is about a 20 page read and is a speech given by the Vice Admiral in 1995.  In a short summary, it is a brief introduction to Stoicism and its practical application.

I have fuzzy memories of Stockdale. I only really "know" him from his Vice-Presidential candidacy with Ross Perot (and as it turns out, he died from Alzheimer's, so that is a small link that we share).   But that was it:  a blip in my political awareness, and then I carried on with my life. As it turns out, I missed a very great deal, which apparently I now need to rectify, both for the man and the philosophy.

Stoicism, most people know, was originally found by Zeno of Citium sometime around 300 B.C.  Less people maybe know that it was names after the Stoa, or columns, of the market place (Agora) where Zeno lectured in Athens.  A great many people know of its most currently famous practitioner, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, whose book Meditations has waxed and waned in popularity (I believe now it is more on the "waxing" side).  Perhaps less people know other practitioners of whose works we have extant:  Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger or Epictetus (both whose quotes have graced these pages in recent years).  And many of course will know of Marcus Porcius Cato the Younger (Uticensis), the Roman Senator upright in practice and avowed enemy of Julius Caesar in his quest for power who ultimately committed suicide at Utica. 

Our modern perception of Stoicism, were one to gather opinions, would be (I suspect) a version of the Vulcan Mr. Spock from Star Trek:  Emotionless, passionless, logical.  Some readers of Aurelius' Meditations might throw in a regular consideration of our life in the face of death, but that would likely be it.



Like most modern interpretations and trends, this is at best about 10% and at worst, none at all.  Even I, in my little world, know it is much more than that.

As it turns out, Stoicism (up to the 3rd Century A.D.) was something of a thing up with early Christians (not the religious aspects of it of course - because there were religious aspects - as much as the other parts of the philosophy) as well as through the Middle Ages to a lesser extent.  So even Christianity found aspects that were compatible with it.


 So rather than write a half-baked article on Stoicism, it appears that I have a new research project (well, really two with Admiral Stockdale).  Which is not really what I intended to end up with, but the subject matter almost begs that I do - because reading people's interpretation of it, it seems (not surprisingly) that as with many other things Ancient, modern society can barely focus its attention long enough to even know such a thing existed once upon a time. 


All we in the modern world can seem to manage is that the sayings make nice inspirational posters.



10 comments:

  1. I know very little about Stockdale and even less about Stoicism so I guess I'll see what others have to say. I do admit however, that I am not a very stoic individual.

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    1. Ed, what I have found - even from my brief review of Stoicism - is that I know nothing about Stoicism. I, I think like many, have confused the outer appearance of detachment and calm from the actual practice.

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  2. We used to get the Reader's Digest when I was a kid. By the time I got it, everyone that wanted to read it had. Because I wore it out. I read and reread everything. It would be page worn by the time the next one showed up.

    One article that really held my interest was an interview on the POW's time in the Hanoi Hilton. Stockdale was there. IIRC he was the top ranking officer held, number one in the chain of command for US forces held in Hanoi. There were drawings of the tortures they suffered. And I realized then the severe cost that had been paid to fight communism. My uncle was KIA in Operation Allen Brook in '68. But there were far more sacrifices than the death of a loved one.

    If you ever want to get outraged, look into how a senator from AZ ran the committee looking into POW's from that war that might possibly have been abandoned there.

    And Perot did some amazing stuff. He rescued his staff from Tehran during the unrest there in 1979(?) He hired the guy that ramrodded the Son Tay raid. And they were successful. But he ruined the US as far as I concerned by allowing 40% of the vote to elect Clinton.

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    1. STxAr, if you go to the link above he talks some about his time there, including some about the physical torture.

      The ultimate problem with Perot is that his was short term view of the election. He polled as high as third party candidate has in recent memory, but he only pulled from one side of the column. Like many, he wanted to do good things but insisted that it be about him rather than about the best way to do those things.

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    2. As I recall, Bush is the one who ruined America. Perot tried to save us. That is when it died. Bush and Clinton were partners, not opponents.

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    3. Just So, Bush was certainly nothing like his predecessor, but I think a 2nd term of Bush would have been somewhat different than two terms of Clinton.

      Perhaps Bush should have simply stepped aside - this is actually a problem for the Red Party. For years, they have put up candidates who did their time or end up with liabilities that make them unelectable to a certain portion of the population. And even if they do win, there tends to be not much difference between their execution and the Blue parties execution. I often wonder if they are serious about winning and governing or just enjoy playing government.

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  3. thank you. Julia

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  4. GAH - If I recall, I *think* the central tenet of stoicism is that it is the way we perceive life events that determine whether we are happy and fulfilled or not. So if you can accept life's adversities like failure, betrayal, illness, bad fortune - and perceive it as a necessary part of life - you will be immeasurably better off for it. It seemed to boil down to "suck it up, buttercup" and that by doing so you can attain a level of peace and even joy if you do it right. It called for too much commitment for me, and a disciplined mind that I don't have...

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    1. Glen, I honestly do not know. I know what I thought it was, I am just not sure that it is true. So we can learn together!

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