How to keep your cool with Seneca

Part XVII of the Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers series

[Based on How to Keep Your Cool: An Ancient Guide to Anger Management, by Seneca, translated by James S. Romm. Full book series here.]

People really want to be angry. Every time that I write about Seneca’s On Anger, one of the most important books in the Stoic canon, someone responds that of course anger can be good, it is natural, it can be righteous, and so forth.

Well, as Epictetus would put it, other people’s opinions are up to them. But in this case I’m squarely with Seneca: anger is always unequivocally bad, and we need to work on it. Let me explain why.

The Stoic theory of psychology, which is in line with modern cognitive behavioral science, is that emotions have a cognitive component. Which means that, contra popular misunderstandings, emotions and reasons are inextricably intertwined, and both Plato and Freud were wrong.

Consider, for instance, what happens when you get angry because someone insulted you. You may get angry. If I ask you why you are angry, you are perfectly capable of providing me with a narrative explanation, something along the lines of: “He said I was an idiot, and I’m not. It is offensive to be called an idiot. That’s why I’m angry.”