There is no upside to anger

Comedian Lewis Black always pretends to be angry, but he’s actually an incredibly nice person. Image from wbur.org.

Anger is a big deal for the Stoics. Seneca wrote a whole book about it, and it is still just as good—if not better—than the advice you find on the anger management site of the American Psychological Association.

The basic idea is that anger is one of the pathē, or unhealthy emotions, as distinct from the eupatheiai, their healthy counterpart, an example of which would be love for th...