James Stockdale

James Stockdale received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his conduct in guiding his men in the Hanoi torture camp in North Vietnam. He credits Stoicism with the ability to endure the camps. On crashing down in his A4, he recalls in a memorial essay that he thought: “Five years down there, at least. I’m leaving the world of technology and entering the world of Epictetus” (7). His practice on Stoicism joins two dimensions of the ancient ethical tradition. First, with Epictetus, he argues that one should aim to control only what is under one’s influence. Second, that it is shame and not pain that can bring a person down. Overcoming the sources of one’s shame proves central to living well, ...View all