THINKER'S ALMANAC - April 11

How did a Stoic philosopher react when he was giving a speech and someone in the audience walked up to him and spat in his face?

Subject:  Stoicism - Seneca's “Of Anger”

Event:  The film Anger Management is released, 2003

The comedy Anger Management starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson opened on this day in 2003.  Sandler plays a businessman who is sentenced by a judge to undergo anger management by a therapist played by Nicholson.

Although the film grossed nearly 200 million dollars, anger is not really a laughing matter.  As the Stoic philosopher Seneca explained in his work “Of Anger,” it can be one of the most debilitating of all emotions:

Some of the wisest of men have in consequence of this called anger a short madness: for it is equally devoid of self-control, regardless of decorum, forgetful of kinship, obstinately engrossed in whatever it begins to do, deaf to reason and advice, excited by trifling causes, awkward at perceiving what is true and just, and very like a falling rock which breaks itself to pieces upon the very thing which it crushes. 

In his book The Stoic Challenge, William B. Irvine recommends the Stoic approach to life as an antidote for dealing with anger and other negative emotions.  As Irvine explains, people have a misconception about Stoics, thinking that they were “emotionless beings whose primary goal was to stand there and grimly take whatever life threw at them . . “  Instead of trying to rid themselves of emotion, the Stoic approach is to embrace positive emotions and try to reduce negative emotions, such as anger, grief, jealousy, or frustration.  The Stoic prescription is a concept that modern psychologists call the framing effect:  the conscious act of mentally characterizing a situation in order to reduce negative emotional reactions and encourage more positive ones.  

Imagine, for example, that you have been waiting in a doctor’s office much longer than you should.  You find yourself growing impatient and can see yourself growing angry if you have to sit much longer without seeing the doctor. Instead of allowing the negative emotions to take over, you can instead make the conscious choice to think yourself out of becoming angry.  After all, when you get angry you are only hurting yourself.  Irvine recommends reframing the situation:  instead of a setback that leads to anger, put a positive spin on it and reframe it as a challenge that puts your resourcefulness and resilience to the test. 

Imagine another scenario:  you’re in front of a group of people, giving a lecture on anger.  As you are presenting a key point, someone walks up to you and spits in your face.  Could you possibly control your emotions enough to not get angry?  In “Of Anger,” Seneca tells the story of how two Stoics from the past reacted in this exact situation:

Someone has offered you an insult? Not a greater one, probably, than was offered to the Stoic philosopher Diogenes, in whose face an insolent young man

 spat just when he was lecturing upon anger. He bore it mildly and wisely. "I am not angry," said he, "but I am not sure that I ought not to be angry." Yet how much better did our Cato behave? When he was pleading, one Lentulus, whom our fathers remember as a demagogue and passionate man, spat all the phlegm he could muster upon his forehead. Cato wiped his face, and said, "Lentulus, I shall declare to all the world that men are mistaken when they say that you are wanting in cheek." (Book 3, Chapter 38)

Unlike a religion, Stoicism is not concerned with the afterlife; instead, it attempts to give people strategies for living a better life here on Earth. Going to see an anger management therapist is an option, but you might just be able to take care of the problem yourself. 

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How is the Stoic approach to anger consistent with their philosophy?

Challenge - Sensible Sentences by Seneca:  Visit Wikisource and read some of the free online works of Seneca.  Find a passage you like, quote it, and explain what you like about it:

On the Shortness of Life (De Brevitate Vitæ)

Of a Happy Life (De Vita Beata)

Of Providence (De Providentia)

On the Firmness of the Wise Man (De Constantia Sapientis)

Of Anger (De Ira)

Of Leisure (De Otio)

Of Peace of Mind (De Tranquillitate Animi)

Sources:

1-Irvine, William B. The Stoic Challenge:  A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient.  New York:  W. W. Norton & Company, 2019.

2-Seneca “Of Anger.” translated by Aubrey Stewart (1900).