Stoicism in a Time of Pandemic

Re-reading a newspaper article that I wrote at the start of the pandemic about how Marcus Aurelius used Stoicism, in the Meditations, to cope with the Antonine Plague. It struck me that, in part at least, the Meditations can be seen as Marcus’ notes to himself on coping with the psychological and moral challenges of the plague — or, if you like, as a manual for coping Stoically during a pandemic.

Highlights

• How Marcus used Stoicism to cope with his own pandemic

• The Dichotomy of Control

• Modelling virtue

• Contemplating our own mortality

Original article titled Stoicism in a Time of Pandemic, from The Guardian newspaper, April 2020.