Seneca
The Stoic Philosopher
Intro
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, most often referred to by his last name, was a prominent philosophical figure in the Roman Imperial Period (27 BC to AD 476). He is one of the most influential figures of stoicism, a philosophical movement about the power of transformation through knowledge.1
However, Seneca was not your typical philosopher. Philosophy was not just something he studied - it was a way of life. He did not spend his days with his head in the books, but rather practiced philosophy in everyday actions. Aside from being a philosopher, Seneca was a statesman, an orator, and a playwright. Seneca was also known for his poetic tragedies that handled familiar Greek tragic themes.2
Overall, Seneca’s goal was to live meaningfully and authentically, as per stoic philosophy. He believed this could be achieved through an understanding of the world, nature, and himself.1 He was adamant that we should only concern ourselves with what we can control - the present - and not base our decisions on what is uncertain - the future. He strove to live life to the fullest, and his philosophies help guide his followers down the same path.
True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so, wants nothing.
- Lucius Seneca3
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Dr. Sekoul Krastev is a decision scientist and Co-Founder of The Decision Lab, one of the world's leading behavioral science consultancies. His team works with large organizations—Fortune 500 companies, governments, foundations and supernationals—to apply behavioral science and decision theory for social good. He holds a PhD in neuroscience from McGill University and is currently a visiting scholar at NYU. His work has been featured in academic journals as well as in The New York Times, Forbes, and Bloomberg. He is also the author of Intention (Wiley, 2024), a bestselling book on the science of human agency. Before founding The Decision Lab, he worked at the Boston Consulting Group and Google.
