In Praise of Shadows

The first book in the essays of Seneca deals with good and evil. The dialogue is opened by Lucilius complaining with his friend Seneca that adversities and misfortunes can happen to good men too. How can this fit with the goodness connected with the...

Marcia actively mourned the death of her son Metilius for over three years. In Of Consolation to Marcia, Seneca attempts to convince her that the fate of her son, while tragic, should not have been a surprise. She knew many other mothers who had los...

Of a Happy Life is an essay written by Seneca around the year 58 AD. It was intended for his older brother Gallio, to whom Seneca also dedicated his dialogue entitled De Ira ("On Anger"). It is divided into 28 chapters that present the moral thought...

Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman empire from AD 161-180. He wrote the 12 books of the Meditations as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time ...

On the Shortness of Life was written by Seneca around the year 49AD. He argues that we waste so much time because we do not properly value it. We expend great effort in protecting other valuables such as money and property, but because time appears ...

Five classic works of modern analytic philosophy. What is an intention? Kant's Ethics Philosophical Knowledge A Priori Knowledge Analytic Truth vs. Formal Truth

The ninth essay from Lucius Annaeus Seneca. The work opens with Serenus asking Seneca for counsel, and this request for help takes the form of a medical consultation. Serenus explains that he feels agitated, and in a state of unstable immobility, "a...

The empirical sciences make assumptions that they are not themselves capable of justifying. Philosophy justifies those assumptions; that is its job.

Henry David Thoreau's essay, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, is a masterful exploration of the moral imperative to resist unjust laws and unjust governmental systems. By deploying a carefully crafted philosophical argument, Thoreau contends that ...