Ancient philosophers and schools of Ancient times have always been influential in shaping the modern theories of on psychological and social aspects of society. Lou Marinoff’s groundbreaking book Plato not Prozac! marks a milestone in applying philosophy to everyday problems of modern humans. Since then, there have been a tremendous work in terms of both investigating philosophical issues in therapeutic processes and applying philosophical views of philosophers and schools to our daily concerns. As one of the first philosophical schools of Ancient times, Stoicism offers a political moral theory from centuries ego.  Will Johncock, in his book  Stoic Philosophy and Social Theory attempts to highlight commonalities between Stoic political moral philosophy and social or sociological theory by offering dialogues between Stoic thinkers and their modern counterparts. 

This book is mainly designed around the discussions on the intersection of the limits of subjectivity and social existence. Stoic philosophy, as Johncock aptly points out in the Introduction, represents each of us not only as a self-contained master but also as a site where our internal selves express a universal beyond. Since sociology in particular explores the common constitution of an individual self with a broader (collective) world beyond the individual, Johncock chooses sociology or social theory as a ground to set the commonalities and differences between Stoic philosophy and modern thinkers. In doing this, Johncock carefully compares the Stoic positioning of the subject with his own impressions of modern theses of sociality. 

Johncock applies a standardized structure to emphasize the timing of the paired theoretical components in each chapter. After introducing the topic or the question of the chapter, he first offers a comprehensive account of Stoic perspective before integrating the social or sociological theory with the intention to develop close readings of precise points that are communicable between the paired theorists. The book starts with an extended discussion of essential versus external social being in the Introduction and then continues with five parts devoted to the discussions on the topic of subjectivity in the first part, followed by knowledges and epistemologies, physical conditions, collective ethics and finally emotions. 

The first part of the book titled Subjectivity comprises of three chapters on the topic, which could also serve as an aid to a newcomer to comprehend the Stoic thought since they cover some basic elements of Stoicism. The first chapter of this part is titled Who Controls Your Thoughts? where he engages Epictetus and Émile Durkheim on a discussion on mental structure. This introductory first chapter presents Stoic philosophy’s dual positions regarding our social existence and via Durkheim’s structuralist theory of socialization, considers whether anything about these ways of thinking and being is entirely internal to the self. The second chapter asks When Are You Present? and explores being present in an everyday regard by incorporating interpretations of the conceptual division of time into past, present, and future states through the dialogues between Chrysippus and Henri Bergson on continuous time. The last chapter, Why Do You Care About Yourself?, in this part is on self-preservation. By comparing the views of the Early Stoics and Herbert Spencer, Johncock explores the question of why living beings are impelled to maintain their existence.

The second part of the book is titled Knowledges and Epistemologies.  Johncock explores this issue firstly asking whether preconceptions determine new knowledge by comparing the views of Epictetos and Max Weber. He opens the discussion on the premise that our knowledge is contingent on preconceptions of the knowledge that manifest, and then goes on to investigation of whether this makes the knowledge less certain. The second paper in this part is on ignorance and the question he takes under consideration is Do People Know Why They Travel? Johncock starts the discussion with a simple fact that working in an unrewarding job, a recently ended relationship, or otherwise feeling stagnant in the all too familiar surroundings of home, regularly represent motivations for travel and connects this with the self-awareness of the individual that change in c his/her environment would benefit him/her by comparing the views of Seneca and Anthony Giddens.

The third part of the book is on physical conditions, where he takes up the issue firstly in terms of death and second, in terms of body. In the paper titled Is Climate Change Natural?, he discusses whether we deem humans to be intruders on what was otherwise a naturally cohesive environment/system through the readings of Marcus Aurelius and Barbara Adam. In the next chapter What Causes Your Behaviors? he starts the discussion with Stoic belief that only bodies have the capacity to act and be acted upon presented by Zeno and then gives the modern account of this question through Pierre Bourdieu. 

In the fourth part titled Collective Ethics he carries the discussion on the issues of sociality, egalitarianism and affection for others. The first chapter in this part, How Do We Regulate Our Affection for Others? he discusses whether and how kinship circles play a role in shaping our relationships with people in our lives through the readings of Hierocles and Claude Lévi-Strauss. The second paper Can Education Be Egalitarian? in this part compares the views of Musonius Rufus and Julia Kristeva on gendered labor. The last paper starts with an interesting question: “At what point in your life can you say that you become social?” and continues with a discussion between Marcus Aurelius and George Herbert Mead on Socialization.

Johncock, after considering what being civil or civilized means in the preceding chapters, in the last part focuses on emotions and writes three chapters focusing on the subjectivity and management of emotions. The first chapter titled Is Reason External to Passion? examines to what extent is Stoicism affirms aspects of the reason|emotion binarized division by compering the views of Posidonius, Ann Game, and Andrew Metcalfe on Self-Division. In the second chapter, Who Benefits from the Management of Feelings? Johncock starts the discussion stating that Stoic happiness is not an emotion exactly but rather is part of a rationalized way of living that involves the regulation of emotion  and continues the discussion with Epictetus and Arlie Hochschild on emotional labor. In the last paper, Johncock asks How Individual Is Happiness? and relying on a Stoic definition of happiness as a rationalized and internalized virtuous nature and a modern conception of happiness as feeling good or pleasure draws an intersection between these two different wordviews through readings of Chrysippus and Harriet Martineau on the universal end.

The relatability of what it means to be both an individual being and a collective being invites a readership for this book beyond the already reviewed relevance to students and scholars. Johncock’s unique method of combining Stoic philosophers and modern thinkers on issues such as subjectivity, knowledge, collective ethics, emotions regarding their positions concerned with sociality makes this book a valuable handbook for students, academicians and researchers. I believe, given the comprehensive way that the key elements of any chapter are unpacked, even  any lay person who lack a thorough background in Stoic, social, or sociological theory would feel accommodated by this book’s method.

Prof. Dr. Kamuran Elbeyoglu

Girne American University, Psychology Department, Girne, Cyprus