To my friends and supporters

The Philosophy Garden, Stoicism and beyond

Marble portrait heads of four Greek philosophers. From left: Socrates, Antisthenes the Cynic, Chrysippus the Stoic, and Epicurus; Roman copies after Hellenistic originals. Image from worldhistory.org, CC license.

Dear friends and supporters,

As you know, The Philosophy Garden (formerly Figs in Winter, here is why we changed name) is an outlet that allows me to pursue what is increasingly becoming my main mission: studying and practicing philosophy as a way of life and helping interested others to do likewise to the best of my abilities.

Reflecting on this in my private philosophical journal, I decided to make all posts here at The Philosophy Garden free so that more people can access them and, hopefully, benefit from them. This includes 2-3 new entries per week, the entire archive, video interviews, e-books, suggested readings, book recommendations, and the Practical Wisdom podcast episodes. It just seemed to be the virtuous thing to do, if you will forgive me the self-indulgence. (And remember: all our content is generated by humans, guaranteed to be AI free.)

Of course, I still hope that many of you will continue to support The Philosophy Garden financially, on the ground that that too is the virtuous thing to do! If you decide to keep supporting the publication, remember that our monthly subscription ($5) is the lowest allowed by Substack, and that the annual one ($30) gives you a further significant incentive in the form of a whopping 50% discount.

As a supporting subscriber to The Philosophy Garden you will get not just all of the content, but also access to our growing community of practitioners, including the ability to post comments on discussions threads and to participate to our book club chats. If you decide to go all the way and become what Substack calls a “founding” member, then you’ll have the ability to direct message me for any questions you may have about philosophy as a way of life (of course, make sure to use this option with temperance!).

Either way, please spread the word about not just this modest publication, but Stoicism in general and, even more broadly, the very notion of philosophy as a way of life. The world might just be a slightly better place if you do so, and as Marcus Aurelius aptly put it:

“Dream not of Plato’s Utopia, but be content if the least thing goes forward, and count the outcome of the matter in hand as no small achievement.” (Meditations, IX.29)

Philosophia longa, vita brevis!

~Massimo

The Philosophy Garden, Stoicism and beyond is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.