Lucy Vickery

Spectator competition winners: Epicureanism vs Stoicism

Credit: mmac72 
issue 14 October 2023

In Competition No. 3320 you were invited to submit a poem extolling Epicureanism over Stoicism or the other way round.

Stoicism is enjoying something of a revival, embraced by everyone from billionaire tech bros to self-help devotees. But Mary Beard is no fan of Marcus Aurelius and has said that she finds it ‘mystifying’ that people could be interested in ‘a philosophy that, if you looked at it really hard, was nasty, fatalistic, bordering on fascist’.

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