Stoicism: our most successful module to date

The Stoics Reader by Ben Walker (licensed under Creative Commons)

Today marked the start of a new term teaching Stoicism across three sites; Warren Hill, Hollesley Bay and Whitemoor. With its focus on emotional coherence, justice and cosmopolitanism, the ancient Hellenistic school of Stoicism must rank, hands down, as the most popular course we run at the Crito Project. Class discussions of the good life, how we preference different desires, and daily journaling are all features of what make this most practical philosophy so popular. Here’s a few of the many remarks our alumni have made on the module’s effects on them:

“It’s made me reassess certain things, question things…how I was dealing with certain things. I think the course has helped me reflect on my own reality….my self and ideal self…to really think about the reality I created and the reality I want to create.”


“Less impulsive, less susceptible to peer pressure, [Stoicism] has lengthened my fuse. … For them three reasons – through knowing that concept of ‘it’s out of your control’ – yeah, it’s changed me.”


“If I hadn’t been doing what I had being doing in prison on the course…I don’t know where I’d be. I’ve been real serious about the course, it certainly has made me see the past clearly – and also where I want to go.”