Modern Self-Help Is Killing Stoicism

Is the ancient philosophy being reduced to hackneyed self-help advice?

Steven Gambardella
Forge
Published in
6 min readMay 1, 2020

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Photo: Ashley Corbin-Teich/Getty Images

“Read Sun Tzu, The Art of War,” says Gordon Gekko, the ruthless finance titan in the 1987 film Wall Street. “‘Each battle is won before it’s ever fought.’ Think about it.”

His protégé nods, as if Gekko has imparted real wisdom instead of reciting a laughably…

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Steven Gambardella
Forge
Writer for

History PhD. The lessons of history and philosophy for your life and work. Writes The Sophist: https://sophist.substack.com/