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John Vespasian

JOHN VESPASIAN is the author of eighteen books, including “When everything fails, try this” (2009), “Rationality is the way to happiness” (2009), “The philosophy of builders” (2010), “The 10 principles of rational living” (2012), “Rational living, rational working” (2013), “Consistency: The key to permanent stress relief” (2014), “On becoming unbreakable” (2015), “Thriving in difficult times” (2016), “Causality: Aristotle’s life and ideas” (2024), “Foresight: Schopenhauer’s life and ideas” (2024),

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All Episodes

00:06:28

Seneca’s thoughts on mental strength

John Vespasian ·

2026/01/13

Stoicism is the only philosophy that aims at increasing one’s mental strength. Its founders, #Zeno of Citium (334-262 BC) and Cleanthes (330-230 BC) devoted more efforts to avoiding emotional misery than to achieving success and happiness. Seneca followed the line of thought of his predecessors, but his recommendations are more subtle. It’s not hard to understand why: #Seneca was more knowledgeable than the earlier Stoics. Not only was he familiar with the ideas of #Socrates (470-399 BC), Plato

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00:06:33

Seneca’s misconceptions about mental strength

John Vespasian ·

2026/01/13

It’s useless to be strong in situations where strength plays no meaningful role. Will mental strength alone help you achieve your business, professional and social #goals? Will it render you healthier and happier? I very much doubt it. #Seneca viewed mental strength as the answer to all questions. How do we minimize trouble in life? How do we prevent a nervous breakdown and maintain our motivation after a setback? Through mental strength, he argued. The problem is that Seneca’s questions are

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00:07:33

Seneca’s reflections on personal growth

John Vespasian ·

2026/01/13

How can we grow in #effectiveness and happiness? Is there a proven method we can use to improve our station in life? Can we rely on advice given by philosophers in previous centuries? #Seneca was already aware of those questions when he wrote his Letters to Lucilius. His answers are concrete and coherent, and have been proven true in countless cases. In contrast to today’s self-development gurus, Seneca didn’t call for intense effort and dedication. Why not? Because he had learned from experience

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00:05:57

Seneca on effectiveness

John Vespasian ·

2026/01/13

In history, few philosophers have proven qualified to speak about effectiveness. They were disqualified by their economic, professional and social failure, or by their sheer ignorance of practical matters. #Seneca belongs to the opposite category. He is the archetype of the realistic, savvy, experienced thinker that has been everywhere and seen everything. The 118th Letter to Lucilius leads me to acknowledge the key importance of wisdom in life enjoyment. Unless we learn how to lead a proper life,

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00:07:25

Critique of Aristotle’s thoughts on human nature

John Vespasian ·

2026/01/08

Many philosophers have attacked Aristotle’s conception of human beings as rational and self-directed, capable of setting goals and making plans to achieve them, and driven to achieve happiness. Aristotle (384-322 BC) presented his thoughts on human nature in his works “Eudemian Ethics,” “Nicomachean Ethics” and “Politics.” All of them were written or dictated in the years 335-321 BC after Aristotle had opened The Lyceum, his school in Athens. The optimism in Aristotle’s work is seldom shared by

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00:05:00

Cultural impact of Aristotle’s philosophy of logic

John Vespasian ·

2026/01/08

The cultural impact of Aristotle’s philosophy of logic begins with Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), who undertook to couple Christian theology to Aristotelian philosophy. The combination is far from self-evident and Aquinas did it only by twisting the ideas of Aristotle almost beyond recognition. In his “Summa Theologiae,” Aquinas provides a systematic presentation on how to merge syllogistic logic and Christianity. According to Aquinas reason and faith are both important and should coexist harmoniously

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00:05:14

Critique of Aristotle’s theory of the prime mover

John Vespasian ·

2026/01/08

In life, it is wise to correct errors swiftly because otherwise they will grow and grow. The longer you wait, the worse it will get. The more lies you tell yourself, the higher the barriers to recovery. Eventually, you’ll reach the point where recovery is no longer possible. Despite his enormous wisdom, Aristotle (384-322 BC) put forward the theory of the prime mover. He should have soon realized that the theory is false. Maybe he did realise, but the error remained uncorrected in the existing

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00:08:43

Opponents to Aristotle’s theory of virtue and...

John Vespasian ·

2026/01/08

The sound principles established by Aristotle (384-322 BC) in the field of ethics were quickly abandoned. His philosophy of virtue and character development gathered a vast number of enemies precisely because it is fair and realistic. Too many people don’t want to hear the truths enunciated by Aristotle, namely, that human beings are rational, that they are responsible for their own choices, and that their happiness will depend on making the right choices. In his books “Eudemian Ethics” and

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00:06:47

Putting Aristotle’s theory of virtue and character...

John Vespasian ·

2026/01/08

Various thinkers have tried to put rational systems of virtues and character development into practice. Their attempts have attained success to the extent that they are aligned with the ideas presented by Aristotle (384-322 BC) in his “Eudemian Ethics” and “Nicomachean Ethics.” In those works, Aristotle outlines his five key ideas about virtue and character development. Let’s summarise those five ideas. First, Aristotle placed at the centre of philosophy the fact that human beings are rational, or

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00:06:48

Aristotle’s teachings on logic and reasoning

John Vespasian ·

2025/12/11

If fourteen-year old students received a solid introduction to Aristotle’s logic, it would change their lives; it could help them stay away from trouble, prevent bad decisions and acquire self-confidence. Aristotle (384-322 BC) did not teach ready-made solutions, but methods for solving problems. The purpose of logic is to see beyond the obvious, assess the facts, and draw conclusions that are in line with all available evidence. Aristotle’s teachings on logic and reasoning are presented in his book

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00:05:56

Aristotle’s thoughts on human nature

John Vespasian ·

2025/12/11

The great Aristotle (384-322 BC) presented his thoughts on human nature in his three books “Eudemian Ethics,” “Nicomachean Ethics,” and “Politics.” He wrote or dictated them in the last period of his life after he had started his own school (“the Lyceum”) in Athens. What is Aristotle’s key idea on human nature? He defined humans as “rational animals.” Compared to all other creatures, humans are the only ones that possess the ability to reason and choose their behaviour on ethical grounds. Modern

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00:08:09

Education and Aristotle’s theory of virtue and...

John Vespasian ·

2025/12/11

Aristotle (384-322 BC) made a large understatement in his work “Politics” by writing that “education is the best provision for old age.” He should have written that “education is the best investment one can make.” The problem is that most education lacks quality, but should we not say the same about most newspapers, clothing, movies, television shows, books, songs, food, and many other items? If you apply the Aristotelian theory of virtue and character development, you should do well, but can you

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00:06:04

Putting Aristotle’s theory of rhetoric and persuasion...

John Vespasian ·

2025/12/11

In his work “Rhetoric,” Aristotle (384-322 BC) identified a triad of pillars for persuasion and effective speaking. His three pillars (ethos, pathos and logos) refer to the three key elements in communication, namely, the speaker’s fame and credibility, the strength of his arguments, and their emotional impact. Hundreds of books have been written on the subject of how to communicate effectively, but most of them rehash Aristotle’s teachings on rhetoric without adding value. Although it only takes a

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00:07:26

Impact of Aristotle’s views on knowledge and learning

John Vespasian ·

2025/12/11

Despite its innovative, accurate character, philosophers first rejected the philosophy developed by Aristotle (384-322 BC) on knowledge and learning. His empiricism fell into disregard, and his detailed causal analysis (material cause, formal cause, efficient cause, and final cause) was seldom taught to students. For instance, Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was a fierce contender of Aristotle’s philosophy, and exerted great influence in medieval Europe. Bernard of Clairvaux was born in Burgundy,

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00:06:53

Michel de Montaigne’s thoughts

John Vespasian ·

2025/12/11

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) was more a gatherer than a creator of philosophical ideas. He devoted twenty years of his life to writing essays on history, literature and morality, but all his conclusions are based on prior philosophers. Montaigne’s contribution is the personal touch that he gave to his compilations of knowledge. He mixed up observations on ancient literature with comments about his own children, his farm, and his personal troubles. When we read his personal comments nowadays, we

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00:07:09

Michel de Montaigne and literary exploration

John Vespasian ·

2025/11/06

It is a myth that Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) had an extraordinary interest in literary exploration. Although he used many literary quotations, those are drawn from a couple of dozen books. Montaigne reread those books frequently, but rarely added new ones to his library. His literary explorations serve just one purpose, namely, to provide materials for his research in ethics. The latter constitutes the primary purpose of his work. The key contents of his essays revolve around ethics, not

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00:07:06

Michel de Montaigne and the art of introspection

John Vespasian ·

2025/11/06

Despite his practice of recounting anecdotes about himself, Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) failed to learn much from introspection. In fact, he often misunderstood his own motives or drew the wrong lessons. I attribute Montaigne’s constant references to introspection to self-aggrandisement, not to philosophical wisdom. He spent twenty years writing his essays, and many of those, include an anecdote about Montaigne’s personal life. However, Montaigne almost never draws a clear conclusion from those

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00:06:04

Michel de Montaigne’s personal reflections

John Vespasian ·

2025/11/06

Personal reflections can render essays colourful and lively, but cannot guarantee correct judgement. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) made dozens of personal reflections in his essays, but more often than not, he drew trivial or wrong conclusions. Nonetheless, his essays remain worth reading because they prompt us to think. They confront us with numerous arguments favouring or opposing a thesis, or numerous answers in reply to a question. Montaigne’s faulty logic challenges the readers’ philosophical

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00:05:55

Accuracy of Michel de Montaigne’s personal reflections

John Vespasian ·

2025/11/06

The insertion of personal reflections is the most innovative aspect in the essays of Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592). The previous centuries had relegated personal reflections to poetry. Montaigne is the first author who gave his personal views on a wide range of subjects, placing his reflections on equal level to quotations from Plato, Aristotle, or Cicero. Since Montaigne did not possess expertise in all those areas, it is fair to question the accuracy of his personal views. I have read his essays

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00:11:37

Michel de Montaigne and the nature of human experience

John Vespasian ·

2025/11/06

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) is still widely read today because of one reason. He wrote essays on the nature of human experience and drew conclusions of permanent value. He used numerous examples from ancient Greece and Rome, and those remain fresh and fascinating for today’s readers. What is Montaigne’s main conclusion after devoting twenty years of his life to writing essays? Did he endorse the doctrines of scepticism and relativism, or discovered universal behaviour patterns that lead to

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