You Cannot Be Just a Stoic

You Cannot Be Just a Stoic

From Practical Stoicism by Tanner Campbell

May 4, 2026 · 7 min · Season 1 · Episode 18

About this episode

Tanner Campbell discusses the concept of 'stoa shaming' and the misunderstanding of Stoicism as requiring perfection from its practitioners.

In this episode, I take aim at what I call “stoa shaming”—the habit of pointing out someone’s failure to be perfectly Stoic as a way of dismissing both them and the philosophy. You’ve seen it. Someone loses their temper, struggles with their weight, or makes a mistake, and the response is: “That’s not very Stoic of you.” On the surface, it sounds like a call to higher standards. In reality, it reveals a misunderstanding of Stoicism itself. Stoicism does not expect perfection from its practitioners. It defines perfection—sagehood—as something effectively unattainable. The Sage is a theoretical ideal: someone who never errs in judgment, never assents incorrectly, and never acts viciously. That’s not us. That’s not anyone. What we are, instead, are prokoptôns—progressors. People in motion. People practicing. This matters because if you misunderstand Stoicism as requiring perfection, then every mistake becomes evidence of failure, and every practitioner becomes a hypocrite. That’s the logic behind stoa shaming. It reduces a philosophy of progress into a brittle standard no one can meet. But Stoicism isn’t a label you “achieve.” It’s a framework you use. Saying “I’m a Stoic” doesn’t…

People in this episode

Host: Tanner Campbell

Topics covered

  • Stoicism
  • self-improvement
  • philosophy
  • perfection
  • progress
  • stoa shaming

Keywords

  • Stoicism
  • stoa shaming
  • perfection
  • progressors
  • philosophy
  • self-improvement

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