First and foremost, I thank my friends and colleagues of the Berlin Practical Philosophy International Forum, e.V.: its patron, John Lachs, for many years of stimulating exchanges; its chair, Maja Niestrój, for her constant encouragement to write about stoic pragmatism; its textual editor, Dr. Charles Padrón (formerly John Lachs’s doctoral student), for his unreserved readiness to offer his priceless help with textual and editorial issues for the present volume; its Conversaciones y polémicas Project Manager, Dr. Carlos Climent Durán, for innumerable discussions, and Dr. Farhad Bazyan, our filmmaking editor, for his inspired suggestions.
I thank my friends and colleagues from The Santayana Society, especially its current president, Dr. Richard Rubin, and its former President, Dr. Herman Saatkamp (formerly John Lachs’s doctoral student), for many rewarding exchanges throughout the years.
Great thanks go out to Dr. Daniel Moreno Moreno, ies Zaragoza and co-editor of Limbo: Boletín internacional de estudios sobre Santayana, for his intellectual companionship. It was through our frequent correspondence that some of my ideas became crystalized.
I thank professors Ángel Faerna of the Universidad Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo and Julio Soeane of the Universidad Álcala de Henares, for hosting me on numerous Erasmus visits there; some ideas for the present volume came up during my classes with Spanish students there.
I thank Dr. Antonio Lastra and my friends from La Torre del Virrey. During many sessions with them I developed some ideas for the present volume.
I thank David Wallis, Cambridge, England, for our stimulating exchanges.
I also thank my colleagues from the University of Opole. I hope that the present volume will contribute to the discussions held at the Department of Studies on Culture and Religion, of which I am proud to be a member.
Last but not least: my special thanks to my fiancée for inspiration, talks, and criticism.
The present volume contains references, revised short fragments or modified longer fragments from the following, previously published texts (I thank the publishers for their permissions to use the published materials):
“John Lachs’s Relativism in Philosophical Education as Seen from a Practical Perspective.” In: John Lachs’s Practical Philosophy: Critical Essays on His Thought with Replies and Bibliography. Leiden-Boston: Brill/Rodopi, 2018, pp. 59–73.
“Santayana as a Stoic Pragmatist in John Lachs’s Interpretation.” Overheard in Seville: Bulletin of the Santayana Society, 2020, No. 38, pp. 109–123.
“Stoic Pragmatist Ethics in a Time of Pandemic.” Ethics & Bioethics (in Central Europe), 2021, pp. 82–91.
“Cultural Diversity and Clashing Narratives about National Culture: A Central European Stoic Pragmatist Perspective.” Ethics & Bioethics (in Central Europe), 2022, pp. 212–220.
“Spirituality and Religion in Stoic Pragmatism.” Volume edited by Wolfgang Kaltenbacher, dedicated to Professor Ludwig Nagl, Böhlau-Verlag, Vienna (to be published in 2023).
“The Individual and the Community in Stoic Pragmatism.” Ruch Filozoficzny, 2022, vol. 4, pp. 49–65.
“Many Paths of a Common Plan? Rosa Maria Calcaterra on American and European Pragmatism,” in: Esperienza, contingenza, valori. Saggi in onore di Rosa M. Calcaterra. Macerata, Quodlibet 2020, pp. 191–194.
In some passages of the first section of the “Introduction,” I refer to material that was published in my book, Values, Valuations, and Axiological Norms in Richard Rorty’s Neopragmatism. Studies, Polemics, Interpretations. Lanham-Boulder-New York-London: Lexington Books (The Rowman & Littlefield Group), 2015.
Also, in one paragraph of the “Preface,” and in some places in “Chapter 1,” I refer to other pieces, especially “Lachs’ The Cost of Comfort in Light of Stoic Pragmatism” (2020), that were, in different forms, previously published on my blog at