THIRD PILLAR - Portal για την Φιλοσοφία

Athena's Temple

Athena's Temple
ΑΕΙΦΩΤΟΣ ΛΥΧΝΟΣ

Search This Blog

Monday, September 14, 2009

Epictetus,Diatrives (Διατριβές) or Discourses and Manual

..
The good life :
is a life of inner tranquility which comes from coforming to nature - to reason and to truth.
..
To achieve the good life :
a man must master his desires,
perform his duties,and
think correctly concerning himself and the world.
..
To master desire :
one has only to bring desire to the level of facts ;
only what is within a man's power should be of concern to him.
..
Every man has a duty to others
because each man is a citizen of the world,
one of its principal parts.
..
To discover one's duty
one should be skilled in elementary logic,
in the art of disputation,and
in the right use of names.
..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epictetus
..
Thought of Epictetus :
"Of all existing things some are in our power, and others are not in our power. In our power are thought, impulse, will to get and will to avoid, and, in a word, everything which is our own doing. Things not in our power include the body, property, reputation, office, and, in a word, everything which is not our own doing. Things in our power are by nature free, unhindered, untrammeled; things not in our power are weak, servile, subject to hindrance, dependent on others. Remember then that if you imagine that what is naturally slavish is free, and what is naturally another’s is your own, you will be hampered, you will mourn, you will be put to confusion, you will blame gods and men; but if you think that only your own belongs to you, and that what is another’s is indeed another’s, no one will ever put compulsion or hindrance on you, you will blame none, you will accuse none, you will do nothing against your will, no one will harm you, you will have no enemy, for no harm can touch you. Enchiridion,1. Matheson translation”
..
So far as is known, Epictetus himself wrote nothing. All that remains of his work was transcribed by his pupil Arrian (author of the Anabasis Alexandri).[10] The main work is The Discourses, four books of which have been preserved (out of an original eight).[19] Arrian also compiled a popular digest, entitled the Enchiridion, or Handbook. In a preface to the Discourses, addressed to Lucius Gellius, Arrian states that "whatever I heard him say I used to write down, word for word, as best I could, endeavouring to preserve it as a memorial, for my own future use, of his way of thinking and the frankness of his speech."[10]
Epictetus focused more on ethics than the early Stoics. Repeatedly attributing his ideas to Socrates, he held that our aim was to be masters of our own lives. The role of the Stoic teacher, according to Epictetus, was to encourage his students to learn, first of all, the true nature of things, which is invariable, inviolable and valid for all human beings without exceptions.
The nature of things is further partitioned into two categories: those things that are subject to our exclusive power (prohairetic things) and those things that are not subject to our exclusive power (aprohairetic things). The first category of things includes judgment, impulse, desire, aversion, etc. The second category of things, which can also be called adiaphora, includes health, material wealth, fame, etc. Epictetus then introduced his students to two cardinal concepts: the concept of Prohairesis and the concept of Dihairesis. Prohairesis is what distinguishes humans from all other creatures. It is the faculty that, according to our own judgments, makes us desire or avert, feel impelled or repel, assent to or dissent about something. Epictetus repeatedly says that "we are our prohairesis." Dihairesis is the judgement that is performed by our Prohairesis, and that enables us to distinguish what is subject to our exclusive power from what is not subject to our exclusive power. Finally, Epictetus taught his students that good and evil exist only in our Prohairesis and never in external or aprohairetic things. The good student who thoroughly grasped these concepts and employed them in everyday life was prepared to live the philosophic life, whose objective was ataraxia (an undisturbed and serene state of mind). This meant fully understanding that we should not be affected by the external objects of our lives, because they are exclusively not up to us. This reasoning is in accordance with the knowledge of the true "nature of things," that is, the predetermined and complexly fixed order of the universe and the cosmos. Ataraxia was Epictetus', and the Stoics', ideal model of eudamonia, or "happiness and fulfillment."
The essence of Epictetus's psychology is revealed by two of his most frequently quoted statements:
We are disturbed not by events, but by the views which we take of them.
I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment?
The final entry of the Enchiridion, or Handbook, which is Arrian's anthology of quotes by Epictetus, begins "Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims ready at hand":
Conduct me, Zeus, and thou, O Destiny,Wherever thy decree has fixed my lot.I follow willingly; and, did I not,Wicked and wretched would I follow still.(Diogenes Laertius quoting Cleanthes; quoted also by Seneca, Epistle 107.)"
Whoe'er yields properly to Fate is deemedWise among men, and knows the laws of Heaven.(From Euripides' Fragments, 965)
O Crito, if it thus pleases the gods, thus let it be.(From Plato's Crito)
Anytus and Meletus may indeed kill me, but they cannot harm me.(From Plato's Apology)
..
The golden says of Epictetus : http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/871
..

No comments: