Before they were the stuff of dry college courses, the twelve thinkers showcased here were radical, sometimes persecuted, thought pioneers. They also meant their work to be useful, rather than theoretical. As a college student plagued by panic attacks and depression, Jules Evans found a powerful kind of self-help in the ancients. They "saved his life" and prompted his five-year journey to find how others were currently using classical philosophy. Along the way he met the founders of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), who have turned ancient thought into the evidence-based science used by millions of therapists today. He speaks with the director of the U.S. Army's new resilience program, which employs ancient techniques to help build inner strength. From anarchists to astronauts, Skeptic summer camps to Stoic conferences, he finds living lessons in happiness, fortitude, and fulfillment, at work and at home, for self and community, in love and loss.
When philosophy rescued him from an emotional crisis, Jules Evans became fascinated by how ideas invented over two thousand years ago can help us today. He interviewed soldiers, psychologists, gangsters, astronauts, and anarchists and discovered the ways that people are using philosophy now to build better lives. Ancient philosophy has inspired modern communities — Socratic cafés, Stoic armies, Epicurean communes — and even whole nations in the quest for the good life.
This book is an invitation to a dream school with a rowdy faculty that includes twelve of the greatest philosophers from the ancient world, sharing their lessons on happiness, resilience, and much more. Lively and inspiring, this is philosophy for the street, for the workplace, for the battlefield, for love, for life.
