Why Beauty is Deeply Implicit Throughout Stoicism | Stoicon

John Vervaeke explores the intricate relationship between beauty and stoicism. Vervaeke delves into the philosophical underpinnings of stoicism, focusing on its emphasis on beauty as a pathway to understanding reality and virtue. He articulates how stoicism aligns beauty with wisdom, offering insights into cognitive science, virtue ethics, and the transformative power of beauty in perceiving the world.   Resources: Dr. John Vervaeke: Website | YouTube | Patreon | X | Facebook The Vervaeke Foundation   Books, Articles, and Publications Saving Beauty - Byung-Chul Han The Agony of Eros - Byung-Chul Han Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis - John Vervaeke, Christopher Mastropietro, Filip Miscevic On Bullshit - Harry G. Frankfurt The Catholicity of Reason - D. C. Schindler Bearing Witness to Epiphany: Persons, Things, and the Nature of Erotic Life - John Russon The Experience of Meaning - Jan Zwicky  On Beauty and Being Just - Elaine Scarry Plausible Reasoning: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Plausibilistic Inference - Nicolas Rescher (Out of print) Practical Induction - Elijah Millgram  Inference to the Best Explanation - Peter Lipton On defining wisdom. The International Journal of Aging & Human Development McKee, P., & Barber, C. (1999). Wisdom science in a polarized world: Knowns and unknowns. Psychological Inquiry, Grossmann, I., Weststrate, N. M., Ardelt, M., Brienza, J. P., Dong, M., Ferrari, M., Fournier, M. A., Hu, C. S., Nusbaum, H. C. & Vervaeke, J. (2020).  Time Codes: 00:00:00 — John Vervaeke introduces the theme of his talk: Why beauty is deeply implicit in stoicism, especially in its commitment to rationality and virtue to stoic principles 00:02:22 — Vervaeke discusses the cycle of self-deception and its reinforcement by societal bullshit 00:10:33 — Explanation of how our culture attempts to control appearances to make them easily accessible and superficial 00:17:06 — Discussion on the normative aspect of realizations and their implications for action and responsibility 00:23:44 — Exploration of the concept of 'musicality of intelligibility' and its relation to our perception of reality 00:35:45 — Discussion on the intersection of stoicism and cognitive science 00:39:22 — Examination of virtue as a form of wisdom and its beautiful appearance in various contexts 00:47:49 — Insights into the concept of joy and its distinction from pleasure, emphasizing a deeper connection to reality 00:49:08 — Question: Inquiry about whether the exclamation "wow" in response to elegance signifies awe and how this relates to beauty, plausibility, and recognition 00:51:27 —  Question: Exploring whether stoicism's concept of dwelling on beauty is an intellectual or embodied relationship 00:52:27 — Inquiry: Recognizing the difference between triviality and plausibility 00:53:47 — Question: How to respond appropriately to someone spouting nonsense 00:58:29 — Question: What is the relationship between beauty and confirmation bias 01:00:47 — Question: Has the "smoothing" of reality led to societal disdain or denial of complex narratives, and can individual yearnings overcome this superficially created simplicity 01:02:57 — Question: What to do in cases in which authentic natural salient beauty is misleading 01:07:33 — Inquiry: Suggest ways to self-reflect and determine if one is being truthful or just spouting nonsense 01:10:02 — Inquiry: Requesting further insights on whether stoicism, often linked with beauty and perceived romantically, is a philosophy following Aristotle's path, a religion, something in-between, or if Stoics were deceiving themselves about their own practice