Lecture: Imperial Stoicism. The Esotericism of Power Amidst a Crisis of Resilience

Lecture: Imperial Stoicism. The Esotericism of Power Amidst a Crisis of Resilience

• Date & Time: Saturday, August 22, 2026, at 14:00

• Format: Offline (Plato's Cave) + Online (Zoom)

• Duration: 2–3 hours

• Recording: Yes, available for participants

• Language: Ukrainian

• Note: If you want to receive the recording only, please register via "online participation".

We are accustomed to viewing Marcus Aurelius as the ultimate standard of rationality: a philosopher on the throne, author of Meditations, who teaches us to maintain composure amidst global chaos. Today, his texts often serve as an ultimate guide to "unbreakability"—we demand the very same stoic calmness of ourselves in the dead center of catastrophe. But there is one problem: this guide failed even for the emperor himself.

What happens to a strict rational doctrine when the army is exhausted by plague, the frontline is bursting at the seams, and an existential crisis reaches its peak? The stoic ideal of complete detachment shatters under the pressure of reality. And then an emperor who professes contempt for superstitions suddenly heeds bizarre oracles, surrounds himself with magicians on the battlefield, and issues orders that turn into military disasters simply because of blind faith in ritual.

Late Stoicism lost its foundation—the logic and physics of early Greek thinkers. Philosophy turned into eclectic painkillers. And the imperial elite's attempt to "repress" emotions paradoxically led to an escape into esotericism and magical thinking.

Key themes of the meeting:

• Systemic degradation: how the sleek philosophy of Zeno and Chrysippus turned into a set of dogmas for self-soothing.

• The illusion of control and magical thinking: secret rituals on the Danube, prophetic dreams, and the uncomfortable truth about Marcus Aurelius's state decisions.

• The "unbreakability" trap and crisis of resilience: why emotional detachment does not equal strength.

True socio-cultural resilience is the courage to remain in contact with reality, whatever it may be.

After registration, you will be redirected to a Telegram group chat where all necessary information will be posted.

• Lecturer: Ksenia Zborovska — historian of philosophy, medievalist, classical scholar, PhD in Philosophy, lecturer at the Department of History of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (KNU).