Practical Wisdom for the New Year

Starting 2025 with resourcefulness, deliberative excellence, and more

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I’m sure everyone is busy diving into all the tasks January brings, so I’m going to keep this post short and hopefully sweet. We’ll just briefly consider how the ancient Stoics defined wisdom and what this means for us today.

Reading summaries of Stoicism by Diogenes Laertius, Cicero, and Arius Didymus (preserved by Stobaeus), the main thing that strikes me is how extremely practical the ancient Stoics envisioned wisdom to be. I think many of us picture wisdom as austere and a bit distant, removed from the world and lost in contemplation rather than vibrantly participating in life. This vision is no doubt informed by centuries of Christian monasticism, as well as the contemporary veneration of Buddhist meditation as the pinnacle of enlightenment. But the ideal of wisdom as separated from the world goes back to Plato, who assigned the highest form of wisdom to intellectual study and contemplation—unsullied by the practical cares of the world and the annoying distractions of other people. And this vision of “pure” wisdom probably stretches even further back to the Pythagoreans in the 6^th century BCE, and most likely even further into the mists of unrecorded prehistory.

So it’s understandable that many of us tend to think of the wise sage on the hill looking down on the world from afar. But that’s not the type of wisdom Stoicism advocates. Stoics followed in the footsteps of Aristotle in emphasizing practical wisdom, phronesis. This term was later translated into Latin as prudentia, from whence our modern (but definitely old-fashioned) term prudence. Prudence has fallen out of favor both linguistically and conceptually, but I want to mention it here because it does still retain more of a practical connotation than wisdom does today. If anyone ever happens to use the word “prudence” these days, it means being cautious or careful in everyday decision-making. And it’s this everyday decision-making with which Stoic wisdom is also concerned.

Let’s focus for the moment on how Arius Didymus (through Stobaeus) defines prudence or practical wisdom:

Prudence is knowledge of what one is to do and not do and what is neither or the knowledge in a naturally social and rational animal of good things, bad things, and what is neither.

Stobaeus, 5b1, cited in Inwood and Gerson’s The Stoics Reader

There is a lot going on in this definition, but I think you get the sense that this type of knowledge is very practical, concerned with what we are to do in everyday life. It’s not about contemplating a separate divine realm, but about knowing what you should and shouldn’t do, knowing what’s worth pursuing and what isn’t. There is nothing in this definition that suggests a separation from the world or a distancing from human social life.

As he does for all the virtues, Arius Didymus further defines the subvirtues characteristic of practical wisdom: “To prudence are subordinate deliberative excellence, good calculation, quick-wittedness, and good sense, a good sense of purpose, resourcefulness” (5b2). Just in case you had any doubts about the practicality of prudence, all these subdefinitions concern making good choices in the thick of life. Let’s see how he further defines these terms:

• Deliberative excellence is a knowledge of the type and manner of actions which we must perform in order to act advantageously

• Good calculation is knowledge which draws up a balance and summarizes the value of what happens and is produced

• Quick-wittedness is knowledge which instantly finds out what the appropriate action is

• Good sense is knowledge of what is better and worse

• A sense of purpose is knowledge that achieves its goal in each action

• Resourcefulness is knowledge that discovers a way out of difficulties

Are you getting an image of a hermit on a remote mountaintop, or of a reclusive scholar sequestered away in his library? Not at all. This sounds like an extremely active, lively, and engaged person who is right in the middle of things. She is industriously doing her job, taking care of business, helping out all the people who stop by to ask for a hand with something. She is someone other people can count on, someone they turn to when they need leadership, sympathy, or advice. She has good judgment, makes good decisions, and gets along well with most people. The wise person knows what’s important, what isn’t, and how to get things done. She’s smart and resourceful, making the best of difficult situations and solving practical problems in ways nobody else has thought of.

To sum it all up, here's another description of the wise person found later in Stobaeus (11m):

Since the virtuous man is affable in conversation and charming and encouraging and prone to pursue goodwill and friendship through his conversation, he fits in as well as possible with the majority of people; and that is why he is lovable and graceful and persuasive, and again flattering and shrewd and opportune and quick-witted and easygoing and unfussy and straightforward and authentic.

This definition of virtue makes me think of one person in particular: Antoninus Pius, the Roman emperor and adoptive father of Marcus Aurelius. Marcus writes about him at length in his Meditations, and it’s clear what an outstanding person and emperor Pius was. Of everyone Marcus mentions, he reserves his highest praise for the man who was clearly not only a father figure but also a role model and mentor:

Be in everything a true pupil of Antoninus: imitate his energy in acting as reason demands, his unchanging equanimity, his piety, the serenity of his expression, the sweetness of his character, his freedom from vanity, and his eagerness to get to the heart of matters. And remember how he would never dismiss a matter until he had examined it carefully and clearly understood it; and how he would put up with people who reproached him unjustly, and would never respond in kind; how he never acted in haste, and refused to listen to slander, and how acute he was in appraising people’s characters and actions, and how he was never one to criticize, or to be easily flustered, or over-suspicious, or pretentious; how it took little to satisfy him, in his lodgings for instance, or his bed, his dress, his food, his attendants, how hard-working he was, and how patient; how he would stay at his post from morning until evening, and because of his frugal diet would not even need to relieve himself except at his accustomed hour; his firmness and consistency in friendship; how he would tolerate frank opposition to his views and was pleased if somebody could point to a better course; and what reverence he showed to the gods without a trace of superstition. Follow his example, then, so that you may have as clear a conscience as he when your final hour arrives.

Meditations, 6.30

Antoninus Pius must have been pretty close to sagehood! To display these qualities while doing one of the hardest jobs in the world is enormously impressive. And when we think about how many men held the top job and failed miserably, turning themselves into monsters and tormenting the people around them, the achievements of Antoninus Pius seem quite extraordinary. It’s no wonder Marcus looked up to him and modeled his own behavior on that of his adoptive father.

And once again, from all these descriptions we get an abiding sense of practicality, good judgment, and a cheerful resourcefulness in interacting with the world. These are qualities Marcus also strove to emulate, and I think we would all agree that these are qualities we would like to see in our leaders (and friends, family members, etc.) today. A person who demonstrated the “unchanging equanimity,” “sweetness of character,” and “freedom from vanity” of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius would be a beloved and effective leader, companion, colleague, spouse—and overall human being.

My suggestion, as we go into 2025, would be to spend some time thinking about these descriptions of practical wisdom and see which qualities we can incorporate into our own behavior. I think we can usefully adopt some of these descriptors as goals for ourselves. What definitions, descriptions, or themes particularly resonate with you? Maybe put it on your phone wallpaper, or write it down on a sticky note and post it on your bathroom mirror. Is there a quality that would be especially valuable for your unique social or professional role(s)? Then try to meditate on it and set it as your intention for each day.

If you’d like to expand your thinking in this direction, I would recommend reading all of Book I of the Meditations, as Marcus details the good qualities of other people he knew. And although it takes much longer, you might also find it worthwhile to read Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of Eminent Philosophers, where he describes the Stoics from Zeno to Chrysippus. (He actually goes back to the pre-Socratics and covers all of the famous Greek philosophers, if you’re up for a really intensive study!)

This concludes our brief tour of practical wisdom in Stoicism—I’ve kept my promise and kept it short. Nevertheless I hope you find this useful and inspiring as you make your plans for 2025. My best wishes to everyone in the new year!

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