ART OF GOOD LIVING: APPROACHES BETWEEN STOICISM AND COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

Abstract

The art of good living or happiness (eudaimonia) was the center of concerns of many philosophers in the field of ethics. Of course, that the individual's welfare does not depend only on his choices, but on many factors that are beyond his control, such as having a place to live, work, social interactions and health conditions. The stoic philosophers directed their reflections to the changes that the subject can carry out in himself through practices and exercises that would constitute, in Foucault's words, the technologies of take care of yourself, in order to providing us with tranquility of the soul and mental stability. Currently, the care of the soul is largely left to psychologists, but we can still see many points of contact between Stoic philosophy and certain therapeutic practices. In this paper, we will present how the Stoics intended to carry out a philosophical therapy of the soul and how many of their philosophical ideas remain as foundations of certain currents of Psychology, particularly the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy of Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck. In addition, we will also explore the points of departure and speculate whether the philosophy of the Stoics still had something to tell us about good living in the contemporary world.