The Philosopher’s Compass interview

I don’t typically write separate posts for podcast appearances. The book-promotion circuit involves a lot of thoughtful conversations with generous hosts, and if I tried to recap every one of them, this blog would become a running media log.

But this conversation merits a specific callout. I had the privilege of joining Meredith Alexander Kunz on her podcast, The Philosopher’s Compass. Meredith, who is also a co-author of Beyond Stoicism, writes The Stoic Mom substack, and she published a reflection on our conversation here.

I want to highlight it not just because it was a good conversation (though it was) but because, for me personally, it held some specific meaning. Long before I ever appeared on Meredith’s show, I had read her writing (off and on) over the years, specifically as a parent trying to see how a philosophical view has been helpful in others’ parenting experiences.

One of the things I’ve always appreciated about The Stoic Mom is that it refuses to turn Stoicism into a productivity hack or a grit fetish. Stoicism, and philosophy writ large, can certainly contribute to finding grit and discipline for those who struggle with such things. But Meredith writes about parenting, gratitude, fallibility, moral progress, or in other words the slow, often unglamorous work of trying to become a better human being. As a father of three, I appreciate that deeply.

Let’s be real: I am not the typical guest for her show. A substack called the Stoic Mom, and its author’s associated podcast, is just going to have a largely-female audience. Mostly mothers, probably. Thoughtful readers navigating family life, work, and philosophical practice in the ordinary pressures of daily life. What are such people going to want to hear from a military guy writing about warrior philosophy?

On paper I’m going to look like another grifter importing “broicism” into the discourse. I’m well aware of this and in fact that’s part of the package. The openly acknowledged bait-and-switch (Surprise! The knife was a metaphor, suckers!) is in that I aim to show young firebrands that what they’re looking for is indeed virtue, and this is a very old and very natural impulse. Come because you wanted to be a badass, leave a better person. And a badass.

Meredith took a big risk in having me on and putting me in front of her audience. She addresses that tension directly in her piece, especially when she discusses the “different flavors of Stoicism circulating today,” among which “the military” has long been understood to contribute a particularly nefarious heresy. I appreciate the opportunity to represent the warfighter to communities that might otherwise harbor a caricatured view of who we are and what we’re about, and it was also a great opportunity for me to engage and learn some stuff I didn’t know. +1000 XP for me, hopefully we can do it again.