An interesting fellow:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posidonius
Posidonius – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
Posidonius (Greek: Ποσειδώνιος / Poseidonios, meaning “of Poseidon”) “of Apameia” (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or “of Rhodes” (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (ca. 135 BCE – 51 BCE), was a Greek[1]Stoic[2]philosopher, politician, astronomer, geographer, historian and teacher native to Apamea, Syria.[3] He was acclaimed as the greatest po
Shared by JohnH
The Eagle will not feed on flies.
Shared by JohnH
NNT to launch his new book Dec.7 at this free public London School of Economics event. They say podcasts of the event should be available a few days later! You know where to find it.
Date: Tuesday 7 December 2010
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: LSE campus, venue tbc to ticketholders
Speaker: Professor Nassim Nicholas Taleb
We cover the inapplicability of economic methods statistically, methodologically, empirically, and, mostly, ethically.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb is Distinguished Professor of RIsk Engineering, NYU, and author of The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms. His previous books Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan have been published in thirty-one languages.
This event marks the launch of Taleb’s new book The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms|.
This event is free and open to all however a ticket is required. One ticket per person can be requested from 10.00am on Monday 29 November.
Shared by JohnH
NNT with Umberto Eco, in the library. I see only a slight resemblance.
Shared by JohnH
Have been interested in Stoicism since hearing NNT talk about it. This book might be a good way in.
On adopting Stoicism, I discovered how much the world has changed since the philosophy was first formulated. Back then, if you told someone you were a practicing Stoic, they would have understood what you meant. In ancient Greece and Rome, it was common for people in the upper classes to adopt a philosophy of life; indeed, parents sent their sons to schools of philosophy (prominent among which were the Stoic, the Epicurean, and the Academic schools) in part to acquire such a philosophy.
Tell modern individuals that you are a practicing Stoic, though, and they are likely to be puzzled. “Is it some kind of religion?” they will ask.
My standard response: “No. Religions generally concern themselves with the afterlife; philosophies of life such as Stoicism concern themselves with daily life. They teach us what things in life are most valuable and how best to attain them.”
This response is likely to give rise to a new question: “And just what did the Stoics think was valuable?” My response: “Not what most people think is valuable — namely, fame and fortune. To the contrary, the Stoics (and in particular the Roman Stoics) valued tranquillity, and by tranquillity they had in mind not the kind of numbness that can be attained by downing a third martini, but instead the absence of negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, grief, and fear, from their life. They had nothing against positive emotions, though, including that most positive of emotions, joy. The Stoics were also confident that people who exchange their tranquillity for fame and fortune have made a foolish bargain.”
