Your own philosophy
Follow Nazanin as she turns the whole course into four working principles, then use the same steps to draft, test and keep a few principles of your own.
WHAT YOU'RE BUILDING
A principle you can actually use
'Be a good person' is a wish, not a principle. A working principle is short, says what to do in a situation you really meet, and carries its reason. A useful template: When X, I will Y, because Z. The reason matters: it lets you check the principle later, and adjust it when life throws you a case it didn't foresee.
Vague: 'Stay calm.' Working: 'When a message makes me angry, I wait until the next morning to reply, because my first judgement is often one I'd revise.' That's the Stoics from lesson 4, turned into a rule for your inbox.
Your toolkit from this course
- Socrates and arguments (lessons 1–3): question your beliefs, look for counterexamples, check premises, beware false dilemmas.
- Stoics, Epicurus, Aristotle (4–6): focus on what's up to you, tell natural needs from empty desires, aim for the mean and build it by habit.
- Consequences, duty, hard cases (7–9): count everyone affected, don't use people as tools, look for option C.
- Free will and meaning (10–11): shape the causes of your future choices, and own the choices you make.
Check yourself
Nazanin lists what keeps troubling her. Match each problem to the tool that fits it best.
Show the answer
- Lying awake over a harsh client review she can't change → The Stoics: separate what's up to her
- Longing for a bigger flat she can't afford → Epicurus: natural need or empty desire?
- Being either too blunt or too soft with her team → Aristotle: find the mean
- A supplier offering her an expensive 'gift' → Kant: could everyone act on this rule?
- Choosing which of two charities to support → Consequences: where does it do most good?
Building one principle
- Start from a real, repeating situation
Not 'life' in general: the argument with your brother, the Friday overtime, the late-night scrolling.
- Draft it as When–I will–Because
Name the tool it comes from. If you can't give a reason, it isn't ready.
- Attack it like Socrates
Hunt for a counterexample, a case where following it would clearly be wrong. Then narrow or reword it.
- Run the three lenses
Does it harm people you forgot? Does it make an exception for you? Is it what a wise person would do?
- Review it weekly
Like the Stoics' evening review: where did I live it, where didn't I, and does it need changing?
Nazanin's first draft
'Always tell the truth, no matter what.'
Socratic attack: find a counterexample
- A friend's surprise party: should she tell?
- Sara's grandmother asking about her late husband (lesson 9)
-> 'no matter what' is too absolute
What she actually cares about (Kant + Aristotle)
- not deceiving people for her own gain
- saying hard things with care, at the right time
Second draft
'I don't deceive people to get something from them.
When the truth will hurt, I choose my time and words carefully,
because people deserve both honesty and kindness.'Narrower, but she can live by it every day,
and she knows which lessons it rests on.A principle that fails its first counterexample isn't a failure. Refining it is exactly the Socratic method from lesson 1.
Check yourself
Nazanin's colleague Kamran shows her four draft principles. Which one is closest to a working principle?
- 'Always follow your heart and trust whatever feels right in the moment.'
- 'Never do anything that could upset anyone, whatever the situation.'
- 'When I'm angry at work, I sleep on it before replying.'
- 'Be a good person and try hard to do the right thing every day.'
Show the answer
'When I'm angry at work, I sleep on it before replying.'
Yes. It names a real situation and a concrete action, and its reason is easy to state: first reactions are often judgements you'd revise. It can be followed and checked.
WHEN PRINCIPLES COLLIDE
A few principles, held with humility
Your principles will sometimes pull against each other, as honesty and kindness did in lesson 9. Decide in advance what you'll do then: look for option C first, and if there's none, know which principle usually gives way. And hold the whole set the way Socrates held his beliefs: firmly enough to act on, open enough to revise when a real counterexample shows up.
Nazanin adds one line under her list: 'When two of these clash, I look for a third way first. If there isn't one, I don't deceive, even to be kind; I find the kindest true thing to say.'
Check yourself
Kamran says: 'Once you've written your principles, you should never change them. If you revise them, they weren't really principles.'
Show the answer
False
False. Revising a principle when a real counterexample shows it's wrong is the Socratic method at work, not a weakness. The thing to avoid is the opposite: dropping a principle every time it's inconvenient. That's the lawyer trap from lesson 9.
Check yourself
Nazanin has more candidates than she needs. Which should she keep, and which need rewriting?
- When a worry is outside my control, I write down one thing I can do and let the rest go
- Be positive
- I never say no to anyone who asks for help
- Before a big purchase, I wait a week and ask whether it's a real need
- Rules can bend for me when I'm under pressure
- Every Friday evening, I note where I acted against my principles
Show the answer
Keep: When a worry is outside my control, I write down one thing I can do and let the rest go, Before a big purchase, I wait a week and ask whether it's a real need, Every Friday evening, I note where I acted against my principles
Rewrite: Be positive, I never say no to anyone who asks for help, Rules can bend for me when I'm under pressure
Nazanin's four principles
| When… | I will… | Because… (from) |
|---|---|---|
| Something is outside my control | Name one thing I can do, drop the rest | Worry can't change it (Stoics) |
| I want something big | Wait a week, ask if it's a real need | Empty desires never fill up (Epicurus) |
| The truth will hurt | Never deceive; choose time and words with care | People deserve honesty and kindness (Kant, Aristotle) |
| I catch myself saying 'I had no choice' | Name the choice I'm making | It's mine to own (Sartre) |
Check yourself
A month later, Nazanin's manager asks her to tell a client a feature is 'almost done'. Work on it hasn't started. Which response fits her principles best?
- Say it: the manager decided, so it isn't really her choice or her responsibility
- Refuse to mislead the client and offer to help write an honest timeline
- Say it, since the client will be happier this week and nobody will know
- Refuse loudly in front of the team and threaten to quit on the spot
Show the answer
Refuse to mislead the client and offer to help write an honest timeline
Yes. She won't deceive (principle 3), she names her own choice instead of hiding behind the manager (principle 4), and offering a better option is honesty with care, not a scene.
Course recap
- A working principle names a real situation, an action and a reason: When X, I will Y, because Z.
- Test each one like Socrates: hunt for counterexamples and refine it, and run it past the three moral lenses.
- Keep three to five; decide in advance what happens when two collide, and look for option C first.
- Review them weekly and revise for real counterexamples, not for convenience.