In the previous post , I raised a few problems with Stoicism, as presented by William Ervin. My overall judgment was that Ervin presents a "philosophy" that doesn't compete well with other self-help strategies such as Covy's "Seven Habits". Here, I want to drill a bit deeper and present more fundamental objections. We have "rational" arguments throughout Ervin's presentation for whatever habit of mind is recommended. The problem is that nobody can define "reason," and these days, we see the frontal lobes of the brain as mainly suppressing more basic instincts. Ervin's image of the brain is almost like a mechanical calculator that always comes up with the right answer based on logic alone.  I started skimming when Ervin was finding reasons why sex should be confined to the procreation of children. In later chapters, he laments the unpopularity of Stoicism. In this case, as in most others, he doesn't entertain "reasonable...

 With a nod to Rachel Maddow , I will designate Earth 2 as the place where Donald Trump won the 2020 election but it was stolen from him by any number of factors. Back on Earth 1, we regard these "factors" as having one thing in common. They are imaginary. For the sake of discussion, I will lump all imaginary universes into Rachel's Earth 2. In Earth 2: Jesus is the son of God We have a soul that survives death with various fates according to which continent of Earth 2 you inhabit Numerous observations about the real world or the nature of human beings (such as evolution or the distressingly meaty nature of the human) must be overlooked or outright denied. The reader can readily see what I mean by Earth 2 and perhaps guess how easy it is to travel from one portion of Earth 2 (where Trump is saving children from Democrat pedophiles) to another, where Jesus reads our thoughts and helps us find our car keys. In philosophy, Earth 1 is a place where "It is that case that ...