Slave and Sage: Remarks on the Stoic Handbook of Epictetus
Slave and Sage: Remarks on the Stoic Handbook of Epictetus

Author: William Ferraiolo

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2021-05-28

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1789046726

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'Epictetus Handbook is the best extant account of ancient Stoicism, and it still ranks as one of the most useful self-help manuals in today’s world. Through relatable contemporary applications and accessible explanations, Dr. Ferraiolo guides the reader reliably through all of the sayings in the Handbook to bring out their core meaning, which can be obscured by references to ancient social customs, events and philosophers.' Lou Matz, Professor of Philosophy, University of the Pacific In Slave and Sage William Ferraiolo distills and reanimates the original spirit of Epictetus’ Enchiridion for a 21st century audience, and shows how the lessons Epictetus offered are more relevant than ever to modern life. Much like the original stoics, Ferraiolo's work prides itself on a combination of erudition and accessibility, to teach and counsel every reader. "This little gem of philosophical insight will help you dig down into the best wisdom of the ancient Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, and see how it can apply powerfully in our lives today. Highly recommended." Tom Morris, author of The Stoic Art of Living

The Role Ethics of Epictetus
The Role Ethics of Epictetus

Author: Brian E. Johnson

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2013-12-04

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0739179683

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The Role Ethics of Epictetus: Stoicism in Ordinary Life offers an original interpretation of Epictetus’s ethics and how he bases his ethics on an appeal to our roles in life. Epictetus believes that every individual is the bearer of many roles from sibling to citizen and that individuals are morally good if they fulfill the obligations associated with these roles. To understand Epictetus’s account of roles, scholars have often mistakenly looked backwards to Cicero’s earlier and more schematic account of roles. However, for Cicero, roles are merely a tool in the service of the virtue of decorum where decorum is one of the four canonical virtues—prudence, justice, greatness of spirit, and decorum. In contrast, Epictetus sets those virtues aside and offers roles as a complete ethical theory that does the work of those canonical virtues. This book elucidates the unique features of Epictetus’s role based ethics. First, individuals have many roles and these roles are substantial enough that they may conflict. Second, although Epictetus is often taken to have only a sparse theory of appropriate action (or “duty” in older translations), Brian E. Johnson examines the criteria by which appropriate action is measured in order to demonstrate that Epictetus does have an account of appropriate action and that it is grounded in his account of roles. Finally, Epictetus downplays the Stoic ideal of the sage and replaces that figure with role-bound individuals who are supposed to inspire each of us to meet the challenges of our own roles. Instead of looking to sages, who have a perfect knowledge and action that we must imitate, Epictetus’s new ethical heroes are those we do not imitate in terms of knowledge or action, but simply in the way they approach the challenges of their roles. The analysis found in The Role Ethics of Epictetus will be of great value both to students and scholars of ancient philosophy, ethics and moral philosophy, history, classics, and theology, and to the educated reader who admires Epictetus.

The Joy of Duty
The Joy of Duty

Author: James Dillon

Publisher: Ethics International Press

Published: 2023-11-25

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1871891523

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A corporate executive is miserable and seeks the help of a psychotherapist. A college student is unhappy in her current major and goes to her academic advisor. A married couple struggles with discord and seeks the help of a licensed counsellor. In each case, the diagnosis and prescription will likely be the same: you are miserable because you are not doing what you want. Your path to happiness thus lies in figuring out what you enjoy doing, coming up with a strategy to satisfy these desires, and then executing your plan. This is the standard approach to happiness used in much of today’s counselling and psychotherapeutic practice. The Socratic, Stoic, and Confucian philosophical traditions tell a different story: you are miserable because you are not doing what you must. Through historical and contemporary case studies, analyses of key novels, reviews of modern psychological research, interviews with struggling people, and close readings of philosophical texts, The Joy of Duty illuminates the intimate connection between human joy and the performance of ethical obligation.

On the Blissful Islands with Nietzsche & Jung
On the Blissful Islands with Nietzsche & Jung

Author: Paul Bishop

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-11-03

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 1317649052

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What are the blissful islands? And where are they? This book takes as its starting-point the chapter called ‘On the Blissful Islands’ in Part Two of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and its enigmatic conclusion: ‘The beauty of the Superman came to me as a shadow’. From this remarkable and powerful passage, it disengages the Nietzschean idea of the Superman and the Jungian notion of the shadow, moving these concepts into a new, interdisciplinary direction. In particular, On the Blissful Islands seeks to develop the kind of interpretative approach that Jung himself employed. Its chief topics are classical (the motif of the blissful islands), psychological (the shadow), and philosophical (the Übermensch or superman), blended together to produce a rich, intellectual-historical discussion. By bringing context and depth to a nexus of highly problematic concepts, it offers something new to the specialist and the general reader alike. So this book considers the significance of the statue in the culture of antiquity (and in alchemy), and investigates the associated notion of self-sculpting as a form of existential exercise. This Neoplatonic theme is pursued in relation to a poem by Schiller, at the centre of which lies the notion of self-sculpting, thus highlighting Nietzsche’s (and Jung’s) relationship to Idealism. Its conclusion directly addresses the vexed (and controversial) question of Nietzsche’s relation to Plato. This book’s main ambition is to provide a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary reading of key themes and motifs, using Jungian ideas in general (and Jung’s vast seminar on Zarathustra in particular) to uncover a dimension of deep meaning in key passages in Nietzsche. Engaging the reader directly on major existential questions, it aims to be an original, thought-provoking contribution to the history of ideas, and to show that Zarathustra was right: There still are blissful islands! This book will be stimulating reading for analytical psychologists, including those in training, and academics and scholars of Jungian studies, Nietzsche, and the history of ideas.

Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind
Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind

Author: Max J. Lee

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2020-04-15

Total Pages: 694

ISBN-13: 3161496604

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"Max J. Lee examines the philosophies of Platonism and Stoicism during the Greco-Roman era and their rivals including Diaspora Judaism and Pauline Christianity on how to transform a person's character from vice to virtue. He describes each philosophical school's respective teachings on diverse moral topoi such as emotional control, ethical action and habit, character formation, training, mentorship, and deity." --provided by publisher

The Discourses of Epictetus
The Discourses of Epictetus

Author: Epictetus

Publisher: Phoemixx Classics Ebooks

Published: 2021-10-19

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 3986479376

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The Discourses of Epictetus Epictetus - The books did not have a formal title in ancient times. Although Simplicius called them Diatribai other writers gave them titles such as Dialexis , and Homiliai . The modern name comes from the titles given in the earliest medieval manuscript: "Arrian's Diatribai of Epictetus" . The Greek word Diatribai literally means "informal talks".As to the date, it is generally agreed that the Discourses were composed sometime in the years around 108 AD. Epictetus himself refers to the coins of Trajan, which shows he was teaching during that reign. Arrian was suffect consul in around 130, and since forty-two was the standard age for that position, he would have been at the right age of around twenty in 108. Furthermore the "commissioner" of the "free cities" to whom Discourse iii. 7 is addressed is thought to be the same man Pliny the Younger addresses his Letter viii. 24a letter which has been dated to around 108.

Stoicism
Stoicism

Author: John Sellars

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-12-05

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1317493915

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This is the first introduction to Stoic philosophy for 30 years. Aimed at readers new to Stoicism and to ancient philosophy, it outlines the central philosophical ideas of Stoicism and introduces the reader to the different ancient authors and sources that they will encounter when exploring Stoicism. The range of sources that are drawn upon in the reconstruction of Stoic philosophy can be bewildering for the beginner. Sellars guides the reader through the surviving works of the late Stoic authors, Seneca and Epictetus, and the fragments relating to the early Stoics found in authors such as Plutarch and Stobaeus. The opening chapter offers an introduction to the ancient Stoics, their works, and other ancient authors who report material about ancient Stoic philosophy. The second chapter considers how the Stoics themselves conceived philosophy and how they structured their own philosophical system. Chapters 3-5 offer accounts of Stoic philosophical doctrines arranged according to the Stoic division of philosophical discourse into three parts: logic, physics, and ethics. The final chapter considers the later impact of Stoicism on Western philosophy. At the end of the volume there is a detailed guide to further reading.

Epictetus' Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes
Epictetus' Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes

Author: Keith Seddon

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-05-02

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1134346042

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This new translation presents two works, one by Epictetus and the other by Cebes, two ancient Greek philosophers of the Imperial period, in new translations of clear, straightforward English. In this book, readers will learn how to sustain emotional harmony and a ‘good flow of life’ whatever fortune may hold in store for them. This modern English translation of the complete Handbook is supported by and includes: * the first thorough commentary since that of Simplicius, 1500 years ago * a detailed introduction * extensive glossary * index of key terms * chapter-by-chapter discussion of themes * helpful tables that clarify Stoic ethical doctrines as a glance. Accompanying the Handbook is the Tablet of Cebes, a curious and engaging text. In complete contrast, yet complementing the Handbook’s more conventional philosophical presentation, the Tablet shows progress to philosophical wisdom as a journey through a landscape inhabited by personifications of happiness, fortune, the virtues and vices.