Greg Sadler: Understanding Anger, online via Zoom
Course Description: The emotion of anger proved as troublesome and ubiquitous in ancient times and culture as it continues to do in our late modern times. Many philosophical schools and thinkers devoted considerable thought and attention to understanding this difficult emotion and developing perspectives and practices useful for dealing with the response of anger, its causes, and its effects. During the class sessions, we will examine five main robust and reasonable approaches to anger worked out in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. We will also outline a number of practices helpful for evaluating, understanding, and dealing with anger.
12 participants may enroll
Week 1: Sunday, March 9, 2025, 1:00-3:00 p.m. EST
Platonic Perspectives and Practices
Readings:
— Plato, short selections from Euthyphro, Gorgias, Republic book 4
— Plutarch, On Controlling Anger
Week 2: Sunday, March 16, 2025, 1:00-3:00 p.m. EST
Aristotelian Perspectives and Practices
Readings:
— Aristotle, short selections from Nicomachean Ethics books 2, 4, & 7, and Rhetoric book 2
Week 3: Sunday, March 23, 2025, 1:00-3:00 p.m. EST
Epicurean Perspectives and Practices
Readings:
— Epicurus, short selections from Principal Doctrines, Vatican Sayings, and Letter to Menoecius
— Lucretius, short selections from On The Nature of Things
— Philodemus, On Anger
Week 4: Sunday, March 30, 2025, 1:00-3:00 p.m. EST
Stoic Perspectives and Practices
Readings:
— Seneca, selections from On Anger
— Epictetus, short selections from Discourses
— Marcus Aurelius short selections from Meditations
Week 5: Sunday, April 6, 2025, 1:00-3:00 p.m. EST
Early Christian Perspectives and Practices
Readings:
— John Chrysostom, short selections from Homilies
— John Cassian, Institutes book 8
— Augustine of Hippo, Letter 38, short selections from Commentaries and Sermons
10 hours, 10 credits, maximum 12 participants
Open to Associate, Adjunct, Affiliate, and Certified members
Program fee: $249
Associate, Adjunct, Affiliate, and Certified members enroll here
Cancellation policy: If APPA cancels the course, program fees will be 100% refunded. If a participant cancels their participation before the course starts, $200 will be refunded. If a participant cancels their participation during the course, the refund will be $200 minus $40 per week of attendance.
Greg Sadler is the president of ReasonIO, adjunct professor of philosophy and humanities at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and the co-host of the Wisdom for Life radio show. His popular YouTube channel has nearly 3,000 videos, and has drawn 14 million total views. He is a member of the Modern Stoicism team, and edited Stoicism Today from 2016-2022. He recently finished the Half Hour Hegel project, providing line-by-line commentary on the Phenomenology of Spirit. After serving in the US Army as a combat engineer, Greg earned a B.A. in mathematics and philosophy from Lakeland University, then his M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He has been a faculty fellow at Notre Dame University’ Erasmus Institute, a visiting scholar at the European Graduate School, a Charles Chesnutt Library fellow, and recently completed the LEAP Institute for non-profit leaders at the Kacmarcik Center for Human Performance. His publications include one book, two edited volumes, dozens of academic articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries, and numerous pieces written for popular audiences. His philosophical counseling and consulting work focuses on the emotions, ethics, leadership, and specifically on anger management. His past and present clients include corporate executives and leaders, CEOs of smaller and start-up companies, psychotherapists, psychologists, medical professionals, professors, lifelong learners, and students.
