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Recent replies
- Does anger ever help? Seneca’s On Anger versus Aristotle
On the ward, the most effective colleagues in a crisis are never angry in the moment. They might be furious afterwards, and that fury gets the incident report written and the protocol changed. Maybe S…
- Patients who pray: faith, placebo, and respect at the bedside
We are taught to ask open questions: "What does your faith say about this?" Often the patient's faith doesn't actually forbid treatment, they just haven't connected the two. W…
- Camus begins with suicide. Was he right to start there?
Working in hospitals, I'd say Camus is right that the question isn't abstract for some people. But when someone is actually in that place, philosophy is the wrong first response. Being with…
- Did the Stoics really think all emotions are bad?
Thank you, Giulia. The "first movements" explain why Seneca can say he wept for a friend without contradicting himself. I'll go back to the letters with this in mind.
- The hedonic treadmill shows money can’t buy lasting happiness
Aristotle would say money is an instrument, not an end. The treadmill is what happens when you treat an instrument as the goal. You arrive, and there's nothing there.