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The Art of Living

Seneca On Anger

Massimo Pigliucci tells us how to avoid becoming irate.

Got an anger problem? If you decide to read just one book on the topic, it should be On Anger (De Ira, c.45 CE) by the Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE-65 CE). Even the American Psychological Association’s web page devoted to anger management does little more than restate, on the basis of modern systematic research, the basic points made by Seneca. And Seneca writes far more engagingly than whoever authored the APA’s summary.

Anger was a well-recognized problem in antiquity, and it concerned various philosophical schools. For example, we have writings on anger by the Stoic Chrysippus of Soli (279-206 BCE), the Epicurean Philodemus of Gadara (110-40/35 BCE), the skeptic Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), and the Platonist Plutarch of Chaeronea (46-119 CE). For the Stoics, anger was a primary example of a ‘passion’ (pathos). Nowadays we use that word with a positive connotation (as in “I have a passion for jazz”) but considering that pathos is the root of the word ‘pathology’, it clearly originally indicated an undesirable state of things. Indeed, the passions were opposed to what the Stoics termed ‘good feelings’ (eupatheiai). The general idea was that a good life results from avoiding as much as possible the pathê while actively cultivating the eupatheiai.

How do we tell whether an emotion falls under the class of pathê or eupatheiai? For the Stoics it was simple: the first group go against reason, while the second are in alignment with reason. Anger falls under the pathê because when we are angry we act haphazardly and often irrationally. We don’t listen to reason. By contrast, love for our partner or children can be classed under the eupatheiai because it is proper and justified. (Technically, in ancient Stoicism, only a sage is capable of experiencing eupatheiai; but we modern Stoics are concerned with what normal humans feel. Let me know if you encounter a sage, though, I have a few questions for them.) Seneca defines anger as a strong desire for revenge when you feel you have been harmed unjustly; but for the Stoics revenge is irrational because it is not a form of justice. There are more reasonable ways to address a perceived injustice. And of course, your perception could be wrong: it may turn out that you have not been harmed, or treated unjustly, at all.

According to Seneca – and to modern cognitive science too – there are three phases or ‘movements’ of anger. The first is involuntary, in the same way as blushing, or shivering when feeling cold water on your skin. You can’t help it, nor should you even try. We would describe this movement of anger in terms of the physiological reaction triggered by the fight-or-flight response, provoking a sudden rush of adrenaline that signals that something may be wrong and you need to pay attention, and maybe take action.

However, the second movement has a cognitive component. Having sensed our physiological reaction, we begin to construct a narrative around it, giving ourselves a reason why we’re angry, and coming up with a plan of action regarding what we should do about it. For instance: I’m angry because I was insulted; insults are injuries: I need to respond, forcefully! This is the moment when we decide to either grant assent to, or withhold assent from, the impression. Here we only have a short moment to divert ourselves from a path that leads to potentially violent action and outcomes we will likely regret.

The third movement is anger proper. At this point we have lost control of our reason altogether and we succumb to the anger by expressing it somehow. The only thing we can hope for if we reach this state is that we won’t do too much damage and that things can be fixed later.

So how, exactly, do we handle anger? Here is a series of suggestions that Seneca makes in order to help us prevent anger in the first place, as compiled by translator Robert Kaster for his introductory essay to the Univ of Chicago Press edition of On Anger:

(i) Avoid people, activities, and circumstances you know are likely to provoke anger.

(ii) Make your best effort to judge other people’s intentions and act fairly and accurately.

(iii) Consider grounds for excusing other people’s mistakes, if possible.

(iv) Reasonably assess yourself and your own actions. After all, you may be the one at fault.

(v) Use humor, and look at things calmly, in a detached manner.

(vi) Consider the costs of anger.

(vii) Remind yourself that whoever is wronging you actually suffers from their own wrongdoing, because their conscience will be troubled.

(viii) Remember that doing harm to another person is contrary to the fundamentally cooperative nature of humanity.

Seneca also advises us to build a soothing environment around ourselves, for instance by decorating our rooms in colors that help us relax, or by playing music. He says to never engage in important discussions when we’re tired, hungry, or sick, because this interferes with our ability to conduct ourselves reasonably and prosocially.

All of the above being said, should you find yourself in the midst of an anger episode, you can still save yourself if you disengage from the situation as soon as possible to curtail any rapid escalation. Take deep breadths; count to one hundred; excuse yourself and go for a walk – anything that gets you out of the pickle you find yourself in, gains you time to calm down, and stops whatever unwise course of action you might have followed. Once you regain composure, then is the time to go back to the list and critically reflect on the situation and your reaction to it.

According to the Stoics – and, again, to modern cognitive science – the passions are up to us, because their expression results from cognitive engagement with the first movements. Therefore we are morally responsible for what we do when under their influence. Just as there is no excuse for what you do if you drive while intoxicated, so there is no excuse for what you do when in the thrall of anger.

Massimo Pigliucci is the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His books include How to Be a Stoic (Basic Books) and Beyond Stoicism (with Greg Lopez and Meredith Kunz, The Experiment). More by him at massimopigliucci.org.