Discourses and Selected Writings (Penguin Classics)

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Here is a man of an unreachable status, and a rare caliber of virtue, but who struggles to put these principles into action, he reminds himself constantly of his failures and exhorts himself to put more effort in the matter. The majority of these dialogues is concerned with avoiding disturbance and maintaining peace of mind.

Epictetus also discusses the correct way to evaluate and utilize our impressions and the importance of the will. This ancestry was often evident while I read; Epictetus demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of psychology many centuries before such a discipline existed. The Handbook is the quickest route to practicing Stoicism right away, and should probably be read first before diving into the Discourses.This power—the power to change our attitude towards the external world—Epictetus regards as the ultimate and quintessential human faculty. And as opposed to many of the then current ethics (like Aristotelean, Skeptic and Epicurean ethics), and in line with Socratic conceptions of virtue as knowledge, the Stoic ethics consists in practice, not theory. The virtuous person knows they have power over these things and can practice discernment in how they perceive and take on the world through their own filtered mind. The virtuous philosopher that is led by their principles knows that nothing or no one external to themselves can truly harm them; no one has that power.

The entire book literally has one single central message: "Focus on what you can control: Your thoughts.CE) was a Greek freedman and quite an articulate Stoic philosopher, although these Discourses where written and published by his student Arrian.

He especially praises the philosophies and philosophers, Socrates and Diogenes, but criticizes and mocks Epicurus. Personally, I find the current state of things (which I dread to think of as a new normal) horrifying and depressing, as I discussed in this review. These were all written by Epictetus’s student Arrian, as Epictetus never wrote anything down himself. Yet serving this master at the court of Nero gave Epictetus a window into the personal lives of men who occupied the highest echelons of Roman power; and the young slave seems to have wondered whether their respective stations in life were not the opposite of what they appeared to be. But if everyone in his environment close themselves off from the world, he can then do what he wants.Instead of learning from it and preventing a similar thing from happening again (through strengthening yourself, punishing the offender, or whatever), you pity the man who did it since he degenerates himself by his acts. The true self is a divine, spiritual, immortal reality; yet our pervasive ignorance of this fact leads us to identify ourselves with externals, hopelessly seeking to preserve ourselves by grasping at things which inevitably change and perish.

All of our books are 100% brand new, unread and purchased directly from the publishers in bulk allowing us to pass the huge savings on to you! The Will, or Reason (capitals in original), are the main aspect of a man that is under his control, and Reason is held up as pretty much the defining force of humanity and the highest good. It forms certain and distinct preconceptions, which then can serve as measuring rod to evaluate all our sense impressions - this way we can learn to recognize truth and to see that good consists in a quiet mind (apathia).Either they still believe it, in which case they're terrible, or they no longer believe it, in which case they're an untrustworthy flip-flopper. His owner, Epaphroditus, was himself a former slave who rose to become a secretary in the imperial courts of Nero and Domitian. He believed in a single God who created all things and sustained them in being; the absolute reality which all of today’s major theistic traditions would recognize as God in the fullest sense of the word.