Beyond Stoicism by Massimo Pigliucci, Gregory Lopez, and Merdith Alexander Kunz is  an effortless walk-through of ancient Greek (and Roman) eudaimonic philosophies. 

What does this book cover?

Beyond Stoicism is a quick walkthrough of thirteen ancient philosophies, grouped into four categories:
Philosophers of pleasure

1. Cyrenaics (Aristippus)
2. Epicureans (Epicurus)

Philosophers  of character

1.    Peripatetics (Aristotle)
2.    Stoics (Epictetus)
3.    Cynics (Hipparchia)
4.    Platonists (Plato)

Philosophers  of doubt

1. Socratics (Socrates)
2. Sophists (Protagoras)
3. Academic Skeptics (Carneades)
4. Pyrrhonists (Pyrrho)

Philosophies of “The dragons” 

1. Pythogoreans (Pythogoras)
2. Megarians (Stilpo)
3. Neoplatonists (Hypatia)

How is this book structured?

The book is built around these thirteen philosophies, arranged by themes rather than in chronological order. Each philosophy is explained mainly through the eyes of a single philosopher (see above). Each chapter starts with an imaginary scenario, cleverly constructed from available ancient writings. It then introduces a philosopher, explains their philosophy in simple terms, and ends with exercises that let the reader practice the philosophy. 

Interesting features of the book

Several features of the book make it useful and interesting:

• The authors provide a 2200-year philosophy timeline. This is particularly useful because the book does not follow a chronological order.
• Beyond Stoicism is cleary written with no jargon to put off a casual reader. Although there are three authors with different backgrounds, the book speaks with a single voice without any unevenness of writing. (An excellent editor, perhaps?)
• The concepts are not only well-explained but they are also supported by good examples and useful references to the sources.
• At the end of each chapter the authors offer a five-day program so the readers can test drive the philosophy and get a feel for it.
• The book also contains some pleasant surprises, such as the description of Bayes’ theorem (in its correct mathematical form no less!) and the funny anecdote about B.F. Skinner – how his students shaped his behaviour without his knowledge using the principles he taught them.

The descriptions are not comprehensive but representative. If you consider the different philosophies as different cuisines, what is presented here are representative meals of different cuisines. For me, it means that I can avoid my frequent forays into Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of Eminent Philosophers or Long and Sedley’s The Hellenistic Philosophers and online philosophy encyclopedias.

Smorgasbord vs. synthesis

The authors encourage the readers to evaluate the ideas and, and if they don’t find them satisfactory, to move on to other philosophies. It is like moving from one station at smorgasbord to another one too quickly. I am a bit uncomfortable with this approach. We are often tempted to reject unfamiliar ideas prematurely. Why not withhold our judgments a little longer and let the ideas percolate in our minds until we understand how they are connected to our current understanding of things? 

Aldous Huxley in his classic Perennial Philosophy observed that many apparently disperate philosophies have common themes, although they may not be readily apparent. Richard Schoch expressed this idea even more eloquently: 

If we listen patiently to the wisdom of ages, we will hear, faintly at first, and then ever more loudly, a single and sustained  refrain, played in different keys and tuned to different pitches, but still, and always, the same resounding chords. - Richard Schoch, The Secrets of Happiness

An index would enhance the value

The value of a book like this can be greatly enhanced with an addition of index. Without it, it is hard to quickly compare different philosophies on any given topic or locate something that interested the reader during the first read. I was frequently frustrated when I needed to compare what I was reading with something I had read earlier in the book. I hope this oversight is corrected in the next printing of the book.

Conclusion

Beyond Stoicism is an excellent review of Hellenistic and related philosophies. It is clearly written, accessible, well thought out, and well structured. I highly recommend this book to practioners of Stoicism or any other ancient philosophy.

Beyond Stoicism by Massimo Pigliucci, Greg Lopez & Meredith Kunz. The Experiment LLC. 2025. 302 pages. http://https:/ /amzn.to/4gMMOcF

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