Seneca on overcoming doubts and fears

I pity those who ignore the lessons from antique thinkers because they are leaving remarkable wisdom on the table. It is a sign of deep ignorance to categorise Socrates (470-399 BC), Plato (427-347 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC) as impractical, and to sustain that their works are no longer worth studying. Curiously enough, Seneca often battled with prior Greek and Roman thinkers; he regarded their conclusions as superficial or incomplete, and claimed for himself the credit of having discovered a higher truth. Are those debates too theoretical? No, not at all. Does it make a real difference whether we favour modern thinkers to the detriment of the ancients? Yes, it makes a large difference because it is costly to acquire wisdom. If we foolishly discard our intellectual inheritance, we may prove unable to replace it when things turn from the worse. If we fail to absorb the wisdom from the past here and now, we’ll miss those insights when we need them badly. Seneca made this mistake in his treatment of doubts, fears, and threats. In his 90th Letter to Lucilius, he put aside the ideas and wisdom of Posidonius (135-50 BC) all too quickly and all too recklessly, just because Posidonius was not a Stoic. Let’s not forget that Posidonius had written fifty-two history books that, in Seneca’s lifetime, constituted the most accurate record of the late Roman Republic. Those books contained lots of details about philosophy, psychology and culture. Posidonius’ works gave a first-hand account of how Ancient Romans addressed problems, individually and societally. Their stories illustrated especially how people dealt effectively with doubts and fears. In the 90th Letter to Lucilius, Seneca discards all inherited wisdom as fruitless, and calls for “returning to nature” in terms of clothing, nourishment, habitation and social mores. He calls Posidonius’ reflections undesirable because they make our life easier and safer. Seneca expects readers to use their philosophical skills to overcome doubts, fears, poverty and lack of comfort, but fails to realise the high cost associated with his recommendation. This error becomes obvious when Seneca, discussing how people protect themselves from cold, puts on an equal footing primitive fur clothing and a well-built, comfortable home. Who can affirm truthfully that the former is as good as the latter? Antique philosophy teaches us how to overcome doubts and fears by thinking rationally. This entails employing the insights and resources available in our culture. It would be foolish to go back in history and discard the knowledge accumulated by our predecessors. In the 39th Letter to Lucilius, Seneca somewhat remedies his mistake because he praises a moderate lifestyle as the essential Stoic strategy for dealing with doubts and fears. He speaks in favour of “aiming high when following our natural drives” and avoiding excesses. Stoicism calls for dissolving doubts and fears through daily virtue. Seneca does not expect his readers to deploy impossible levels of willpower and determination. His method is soft and incremental, and simply encourages us to live in accordance with nature. In the 39th Letter to Lucilius, Seneca regards “uncontrolled passions” as the most dangerous enemy to Stoic virtue. His call for a tempered, moderate lifestyle summarises his prescription against doubts and fears. Does Seneca’s recipe work in real life? Only to the extent that we complement it with state-of-the-art knowledge. Unless we adopt Posidonius’ love for existing know-how, chances are that our attempt to “return to nature” will create more problems than it solves. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/seneca-on-overcoming-doubts-and-fears/