Kai Whiting: Clearing up Misconceptions about Stoicism

“The other fans that have a dangerously inaccurate idea about what it means to be Stoic are the ‘Broics.'”

On July 6th, Merion West’s Johanna Leo spoke with Kai Whiting, who is a researcher and lecturer in sustainability and Stoicism at the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium. In this interview, Mr. Whiting discusses his latest book Being Better: Stoicism for a World Worth Living In. In this book, which he co-wrote with Leonidas Konstantakos, the authors seek to apply Stoic principles to contemporary life and dispel the myth that it is an ancient philosophy only applicable to another era. They also challenge the conception of Stoicism as being predominately a philosophy for men. As such, in this discussion, Mr. Whiting and Ms. Leo discuss common misconceptions about Stoicism, how the philosophy might play out differently in various cultural contexts, and how Stoicism might help a person navigate modern life, from social media on down.

Hello Kai, it’s nice to talk to you. I enjoyed your book, and congratulations on your Vice feature, by the way.

Thank you.

To get started, in chapter one, you write that there is “this nuanced understanding of the Spartan code of conduct [that] is a far cry from the egotistical and macho Sparta of pop culture or indeed from the type of Stoic philosophy that gets promoted by ‘experts’ on social media, life-hacking blogs, and in mainstream newspapers.” So, I want to ask you: What would you say is the biggest misconception about Stoicism that you see spread through social media or mainstream media?

Where do I start? Part of the challenge is that there are so many. With any philosophy, religion, even language, we mirror it, right? We inject our values and our observations and our perceptions into that mix. Then we say, “that must be Christianity” or “That must be Mexican culture” because that’s my understanding of it. So, unfortunately, a lot of people have injected their values.