Beyond Stoicism A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers

An exclusive excerpt from The Experiment Publishing

PAC would like to express our deepest thanks to The Experiment Publishing and to Massimo Pigliucci , Gregory Lopez, and Meredith Alexander Kunz for this exclusive excerpt from Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers.

Greco-Roman Philosophers in Their Historical Context

The practice of philosophy in the Western tradition flourished from the period of classical Greece (beginning in the sixth century bce) to the Roman Empire (through the fifth century ce), including the intermediate periods of Hellenism (323–30 bce) and the Roman Republic (509–27 bce).

While Plato and Aristotle are known to most everyone, some of the philosophers and schools that we discuss in this book aren’t exactly household names and are correspondingly much less understood. Quite a few didn’t leave a lot of written words that have been preserved to this day. And in many cases, they focused more attention on how to live in a practical sense rather than on bestowing on posterity a corpus of ideas fit for academic study—for instance, by outlining systemic changes to the way we think about government and metaphysics (like Plato) or creating broad taxonomies for categorizing the world (like Aristotle). The lesser-known thinkers of this period (like Aristippus, Carneades, and Stilpo, for instance) can be found on the dustier, under-explored corners of the ancient map; nevertheless, they provide intriguing clues to how we can wisely approach day-to-day life.

The ideas of the thinkers discussed in this book were articulated to help people cope with a world in turmoil and over which they had little, if any, control. And that’s no coincidence. Much like our own turbulent times, the ancient world that gave birth to these philosophies was a period of unrest, war, and political and social upheaval. Philosophers in ancient Greece and Rome could rarely be found relaxing on long sofas drinking wine and nibbling on cheese (though they likely did a bit of that, too). By and large, they were out there in the real world, teaching others how to deal with the chaos. Many were subject to persecution and, in some cases, violent death at the hands of courts, mobs, or tyrants. As a result, their blueprints for thinking about how to live well are highly relevant to our modern angst during times characterized by major social changes and the accompanying challenges.

To understand the context even better, let’s take a quick look at the historical period these thinkers lived through that set the stage for their often radical ideas.

In the political sphere, conquest and crisis were the norm in this period, oscillating from Athenian democracy to Alexander the Great’s empire, and then from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. This unstable and often dangerous political milieu created a need for finding a way to live a good life in the midst of turmoil. Philosophy provided a solution.

Warfare was the source of unspeakable hardships in the Greco-Roman world, which clearly affected the philosophers we’ll meet in this book. It included the wholesale destruction of cities and the enslavement of their citizens, and at least a couple of our philosophers, Aristotle and Stilpo, saw their own hometowns razed. Some of these thinkers were forced from their homes, schools, or jobs by political strife and tyrannical rulers. Plato was imprisoned by a tyrant he had tried to teach to be a better leader, and Socrates was executed on the orders of the Athenian assembly. Protagoras had his books burned, while Hypatia was brutally murdered by a mob. In addition, slavery was a universal practice; Epictetus was an enslaved man who was physically abused and left with a long-term injury.

It was also a period of enormous cross-fertilization among cultures and geographies throughout the Mediterranean. During this time of rampant colonization, Greek philosophers were born in places as far from Greece as modern Libya (Aristippus), and Roman philosophers came from far-flung areas of the empire, including what is now Turkey (Epictetus).

Observing culturally different ways of life and other spiritual traditions in distant lands had a powerful influence on our philosophers. When Alexander the Great traveled to India, new ideas and practices reached the Greek and later the Roman consciousness. That included fruitful interactions between Greeks and Indian sages, and possibly even early Buddhists in the case of Pyrrho. Persian Magi were said to have taught some of our philosophers, including Protagoras, and the Egyptians, too, contributed to the wisdom of Pythagoras and Hypatia.

Philosophy was not reserved for a handful of academics in this period. And for most thinkers, it was not a navel-gazing, esoteric exercise, but rather meant to be applied to common people’s lived experience. Many of our philosophers—the influencers of their day—engaged with folks of varying walks of life, including regular citizens, to offer their ideas and guidance or to speak to crowds. Others, including Plato and Aristotle, focused on making their world a more secure and rational place by trying to educate political leaders, often with mixed results. Another philosopher, Epicurus, escaped the troubling world of politics to create a calming existence in a country garden, accepting women and slaves into a surprisingly inclusive community.

And despite the innumerable limitations placed on women in this period, there were a handful who were educated in philosophy and who grew to be respected for their ideas. Ancient sources give us insight into their lives and teachings, and we have included two women philosophers in this book, Hipparchia of Maroneia and Hypatia of Alexandria.

Later in the philosophical period covered in this book, Rome gained political and cultural dominance. The Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla laid siege to Athens, sacking and destroying Plato’s and Aristotle’s famed schools in 86 bce, causing a cultural diaspora that shifted the center of philosophical teaching to Rome. Despite this setback, philosophy lived on and indeed flourished anew. One of our thinkers, Carneades, helped popularize Greek thought in Rome, regardless of the concerns of conservative Romans who didn’t want their children influenced by the Greeks! As the Roman period continued, more people began to take on Greek-originated ideas and explore them further, as in the case of Epictetus and Stoicism.

But in Rome just as in Greece, philosophy could be a dangerous profession that did not always gain favor at the top. Roman emperors outlawed philosophers and expelled them from the capital, forcing Epictetus and others to flee. Later on, local rulers and Christian bishops oversaw the destruction of philosophical knowledge in Hypatia’s Alexandria. Eventually the classical period came to a close in the fifth century ce and philosophy went dark until the appropriately named Renaissance.

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Excerpt from Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers © Massimo Pigliucci, Gregory Lopez, and Meredith Alexander Kunz, 2025. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, The Experiment. Available everywhere books are sold. theexperimentpublishing.com

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Massimo Pigliucci is an author, blogger, podcaster, as well as the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His academic work is in evolutionary biology, philosophy of science, the nature of pseudoscience, and practical philosophy. Massimo publishes a regular column in Philosophy Now entitled “The Art of Living.” His books include How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life (Basic Books) and Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk (University of Chicago Press). Massimo’s latest is Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers (with Greg Lopez and Meredith Kunz, The Experiment). More by Massimo at figsinwinter.substack.com.

Gregory Lopez is the founder of NYC Stoics, co-founder and board member of The Stoic Fellowship, member of the Modern Stoicism team, co-host of Stoic Camp NY, and co-author of A Handbook for New Stoics (Live Like a Stoic in the UK) and Beyond Stoicism (Live Like A Philosopher in the UK). His main work is outside of Stoicism, where he is Research Lead for Examine.com and a contract researcher at Spark Wave. You can learn more and reach out at his personal website: greglopez.me.

Meredith Alexander Kunz is a writer and communications leader in Silicon Valley who creates compelling stories about complex ideas. Her work as Head of Communications and Engagement at Adobe Research focuses on computer science and innovative people who are changing the world with their discoveries. She writes and speaks on ethics and practical philosophy, with a special focus on how Stoic ideas can help us live better today. She created The Stoic Mom blog in 2016 to explore how Stoicism can help parents and kids. In 2025, she launched The Philosopher’s Compass podcast, sharing conversations about practical philosophy. She is also a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and an ICF Associate Certified Coach, using an approach rooted in Stoic principles. She helps clients set meaningful goals and find inspiring ways to work towards them.