Orlando Stoics

This week, we go back to the foundations of economics during the industrial age. We begin with Adam Smith, who is constantly invoked and rarely read. The Smith of caricature is a booster of unfettered self-interest. The actual Smith, author of both The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations, was a moral philosopher first. He admired markets because, under the right conditions, they channeled self-interest into mutual benefit. But he was clear-eyed about those conditions: a functioning system of justice, public investment in roads, schools, and the goods private actors will not provide, and above all, a wary stance toward the merchants and manufacturers whose interest, he warned, is never the same as the public's. Smith would not recognize much of what is defended in his name. He would ask, of Argentina and of the United States alike, whether the markets in question are competitive or captured.

We then turn to Karl Marx, whose diagnosis has aged better than his prescriptions. Marx's central claim, developed across the three volumes of Das Kapital, was that capitalism is not a steady state but a dynamic system with built-in tendencies, toward the concentration of capital, toward recurring crises, and toward a state that, whatever its formal arrangements, tends to serve those who own productive assets. A bailout that protects bondholders while wages compress is precisely the pattern he described. So is the funneling of AI investment to the few firms with the capital to train frontier models. One need not accept Marx's theory of history to find his theory of concentration uncomfortably accurate. The harder question he leaves us is whether democratic politics can meaningfully constrain those tendencies, or whether democratic politics is itself shaped by them.

Finally we come to Joseph Schumpeter, who admired capitalism more honestly than most of its defenders. For Schumpeter, the engine of capitalism was not equilibrium but disruption, "creative destruction," the entrepreneur tearing up the old to make room for the new. Yet he predicted capitalism would not fall to external attack. It would erode through its own success: bureaucratization would replace the entrepreneur, prosperity would breed a hostile intellectual class, and the system would drift, almost imperceptibly, into something else. AI is the sharpest test his framework has faced. Is what we are watching creative destruction, in which the displacement is the price of broader gains, or destruction without the creation, in which the gains accrue to a few and the displacement is everyone else's problem? Schumpeter would not flinch from the question, and he would not let either side answer it cheaply.

Esta reunión es cada miércoles a las 7 p.m. EST
CALENDARIO
EPICTETO DISERTACIONES POR ARRIANO

4/22/2026 XVI SOBRE LA PROVIDENCIA
4/29/2026 XVII QUE LA LÓGICA ES NECESARIA
5/6/2026 XVIII QUE NO HAY QUE ENFURECERSE CON QUIENES SE EQUIVOCAN
5/13/2026 XIX QUÉ ACTITUD HAY QUE MANTENER FRENTE A LOS TIRANOS
5/20/2026 XX DE CÓMO LA RAZÓN ES ESPECULATIVA SOBRE SÍ MISMA
5/27/2026 XXI A LOS QUE QUIEREN SER ADMIRADOS
6/3/2026 XXII SOBRE LAS PRESUNCIONES
6/10/2026 XXIII EN RESPUESTA A EPICURO
6/17/2026 XXIV CÓMO HAY QUE LUCHAR CONTRA LAS CIRCUNSTANCIAS DIFÍCILES
6/24/2026 XXV SOBRE LO MISMO
7/1/2026 XXVI CUÁL HA DE SER LA NORMA DE VIDA
7/8/2026 XXVII DE CUÁNTAS MANERAS SE PRESENTAN LAS REPRESENTACIONES Y QUÉ AYUDAS HAY QUE TENER A MANO FRENTE A ELLAS
7/15/2026 XXVIII QUE NO HAY QUE IRRITARSE CON LOS HOMBRES Y QUÉ COSAS SON PEQUEÑAS Y CUÁLES GRANDES ENTRE LOS HOMBRES
7/22/2026 XXIX SOBRE EL APLOMO
7/29/2026 XXX QUÉ HAY QUE TENER A MANO EN LAS DIFICULTADES

ZONAS HORARIAS

Hora de encuentro (EE. UU.):
19:00 h, hora del este
18:00 h, hora central
17:00 h, hora de las montañas
16:00 h, hora del Pacífico

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ENLACE ZOOM

IN-PERSON ONLY - Thursday Session — Advanced Stoicism Study Group
This session is designed as a more rigorous and structured exploration of Stoic philosophy for those seeking a deeper, course-level understanding. Moving beyond general discussion, the group will examine Stoic principles in their original context, drawing from primary sources and engaging with the underlying philosophical frameworks.
Participants should expect a more analytical format, including close reading, conceptual breakdowns, and guided discussion focused on ethics, logic, and practical application. While still accessible, this session is best suited for those who are interested in a disciplined study of Stoicism and are willing to engage more critically with the material.

READING

Stoicism And The Art Of Happiness by Donald Robinson.

Course Material: