Epictetus
c. 50/60 - c. 135 CE · Greek (Roman Empire) · Stoic Ethics, Practical Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Pedagogy
Of things some are in our power, and others are not.
Born a slave in a Roman household owned by one of Nero's secretaries, Epictetus attended Stoic lectures while still enslaved. After manumission he taught in Rome until Domitian expelled philosophers from Italy in 95 CE, then founded a school at Nicopolis. He was lame, lived simply, and never wrote — what survives are the Discourses and the Enchiridion, transcribed by his student Arrian.
Topics Epictetus addresses
- the dichotomy of control
- what is in our power (eph' hêmin)
- prohairesis
- the discipline of impressions
- the use of impressions (chrêsis tôn phantasiôn)
- assent (synkatathesis)
- desire and aversion (orexis and ekklisis)
- impulse (hormê)
- the three disciplines
- progress (prokopê)
- the prokoptôn
- freedom from passion (apatheia)
- the passions (pathê)
- innate preconceptions (prolêpseis)
- conceit (oiêsis)
- self-examination
- kinship with God (syngeneia tôi theôi)
- the fragment of God (apospasma tou theou)
- providence and Zeus
- Stoic cosmopolitanism
- the Stoic paradox of freedom
- inner slavery and inner freedom
- the first topic of philosophy
- Socratic dialectic
Questions to put to Epictetus
What Is in Our Power and What Is Not
- What do you mean when you say some things are in our power and others are not?
- Why do you say the body is not mine?
- How can I tell whether something is really in my power?
- If outcomes aren't in my power, why should I bother trying to achieve anything?
- What's the difference between desire and aversion in your teaching?
Prohairesis and the True Self
- What is prohairesis?
- How is prohairesis different from the mind or the soul?
- Why do you call prohairesis the only thing that's truly mine?
- Can anything actually damage or enslave my prohairesis?
- What does it mean that I am a fragment of God?
The Discipline of Impressions
- What is an impression and how do I test it?
- What do you mean when you say it's not things that disturb us but our judgments about things?
- How do I practice the discipline of impressions in daily life?
- Why do you tell me to kiss my child as mortal?
- How can I reshape habits of judgment that have been with me for years?
Freedom and Slavery
- How can you say only the wise are free when you yourself were a slave?
- What's the difference between political slavery and the slavery you're warning against?
- How does someone become inwardly free?
- Why do you say most people who think they're free are actually slaves?
- What does freedom have to do with not wanting things outside my control?
Providence and Kinship with God
- What do you mean by kinship with God?
- How do you know the cosmos is providentially ordered?
- Why should I will what happens just because it happens?
- How can I sing hymns to God when terrible things are happening?
- What's the connection between your theology and the discipline of impressions?
Progress and the Philosophical Life
- What does progress look like in your school?
- Why do you put desires and aversions before logic and physics?
- How do you use Socratic questioning with your students?
- What's the difference between conceit and diffidence in a student?
- How should I examine myself each day?
Converse with Epictetus on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in the texts that record Epictetus, cited to the page.