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Secretary & Board Member
Joe’s journey with Stoicism began at a young age when he picked up a copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius at his local bookstore. He went on to spend years studying the works of Stoic philosophers with the goal of building a personal system of ethics that had its roots in ancient wisdom. Stoicism connects Joe to the earliest branches of the Western intellectual tradition through a rational, virtuous, and tranquil philosophy of life that stresses the importance of personal agency and resilience. This empowers him to live his best possible life.
In 2020, Joe joined the Philadelphia Stoa to meet like-minded practitioners of Stoicism. His activities with the group focus on solving philosophical problems, defining what it means to live virtuously, and applying the Dichotomy of Control to everyday situations. He regularly participates in textual readings, group discussions, and project planning. Today, he serves as secretary and webmaster of the Philadelphia Stoa.
Joe obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in political science from the University of Pittsburgh, where he focused on linguistics, philosophy, and political theory. In his career, he has worked on numerous projects involving consumer-facing software applications, user experience design, finance, business start ups, and entrepreneurship. Joe lives with his fiancée in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
I am thrilled to have a role in leading the cultural renaissance of this timeless philosophy.
In Stoicism, I seek a framework for unlocking personal flourishing through the application of the Four Stoic Virtues: through wisdom, I strive to understand the perspectives that life has to offer, through justice, I seek to build a better world where individuals can exercise their personal agency; through temperance, I avoid excesses; and through courage, everyday I try to get out of my comfort zone and take on new challenges.
I believe Stoicism is well-suited to the challenges of modernity because it stands in direct opposition to many of the social ills plaguing our time, such as a widespread cultural disagreement on what makes for a happy life. A Stoic might reply that happiness in the modern vernacular is merely a fleeting state of mind, and that a truly good life is one where we flourish as rational beings navigating an uncertain universe of an almost infinite number of permutations; one where our integrity as logical agents, focused actively on personal challenges and eschewing passivity, is the true path to eudaimonia.
Stoicism can benefit the community by reversing the slide to societal nihilism that is permeating much of the post-Christian, post-national, Western world. It can fill the vacuum left behind by the decline of traditional ideologies and religions, in their places providing followers with a practical, non-dogmatic, empowering framework for living. This can manifest itself through Stoic communities, such as Philadelphia Stoa, to serve as ballast against the increasingly atomizing social conditions of modern life.
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