March Update: Favorite Tweets, Books, and More
Running, reading, and writing
The Stoa Letter: Increased The Stoa Letter frequency to 3 times a week. It has been on a fast growth trajectory and as such is taking most of my time.
This Newsletter: I’m slowing down on this Substack – I still have some longer projects planned, but pushing forward the letter has turned into one of my primary focuses.
Tweets:
Running: Ran the Oakland marathon and set a new record.
Musonius Rufus: Reread Lectures and Sayings in preparation for this conversation with Michael Tremblay:
Musonius used to say that it was the height of shamelessness to think about how weak our bodies are when enduring pain, but to forget how weak they are when experiencing pleasure.
Religion: Started reading Zena Hitz’s A Philosopher Looks at Religion. Amongst other things, she argues that life is meaningless without God – I don’t think the argument is compelling, but she takes the problem seriously. The focus on renunciation, sacrifice, love, and God are equal parts challenging and inspiring. I haven’t finished yet.
Szasz: Read several works by Thomas Szasz. I’ve been sympathetic to his position about mental illness after reading Bryan Caplan’s paper The Economics of Szasz. To be more precise, I’ve thought that some mental illnesses are a useful social construction for some time. Reading Szasz brings me closer to the view that mental illness is not a useful idea at all. Don’t worry – I’ve been told that this view is crazy and to look into something called the p-factor.
Interesting pairing Szasz with A Philosopher Looks at Religion – many families preferred to label a newly converted family member as “mentally ill” than allow them to join a convent.
Szasz’s works are interesting beyond the issue about mental illness. The Myth of Psychotherapy argues that psychotherapists should be seen not as doctors of the mind but as closer to priests, ancient Greek philosophers, and sophists. Medicalization of Everyday Life correctly argues against so much therapeutic culture. More generally, Szasz has a wealth of aphorisms in The Untamed Tongue and Words to the Wise. I’d recommend any of these books over The Myth of Mental Illness. Curiously, in his battle against psychiatry, Szasz appears to take medicine too seriously. His view is enriched with Hanson and Illich. I also read Viktor Frankl’s The Will to Meaning – excellent, but also not without philosophical issues.
Crisis: I also read Kieran Setiya's book Midlife– the political framing of this Amazon review is misguided, but it’s an apt review nonetheless:
The book is conceptually clear and cleanly lays out different philosophical issues. At the same time, one gets the sense that it takes things too seriously – midlife crises are a joke – but not serious enough – the whole of life calls for tears. Perhaps I’m still too young.
For that reason, I’d recommend A Philosopher Looks at Religion or Meditations over Midlife if you’re experiencing a midlife anxiety. All this talk brings to mind Szasz’s lines:
The word “crisis” comes from the Greek for choice or crossroads. Its core meanings are choice, challenge, opportunity, and risk. It is significant that we use the word to mean disaster, catastrophe, emergency, plight, and predicament.