Epictetus Philosopher-Therapist

154 Pages·1969·3.665 MB·English

by  Jason Xenakis (auth.)

EPICTETUS
Philosopher-T herapist
by
JASON XENAKIS
MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE
MARTINUS NIJHOFF - PUBLISHER - THE HAGUE
This book considers aIl known aspects of Epictetus' work (educa
tional, cosmological, logical, epistemological, psychological, etc.), but
ethics seems to have been his dominant interest. Yet, the thera
peutic aspect of his work, such as his diagnoses of and techniques
for coping with problems in living, has either been overlooked or
else insufficiently appreciated.
Epictetus was apt to Iocate the source of difficulties in the indi
vidual rather than outside: in impulses and conceptualizations.
Hence his emphasis on training and thought-analysis, and on un
fazedness as an ethical ideal. Hence, too, his apparent neglect of
rebellion theory. Rightly or wrongly, the remains do not explicitly
say, for example, that force, or the threat offorce, is justified when
there is no other way of changing socio-political structures that
invite or contribute to self-defeating aspirations or oppression. They
do not even seem to condone punishment or at least retribution.
Was it because Epictetus also believed that violence might in the
process "corrupt" its user?
But anyway his is not a pure ethics of adjustment, any more
than it is a pure ethics of inwardness or withdrawal. Thus, he con
demns slavery and tyranny, just as he recommends outgoingness
("for one can't be happy otherwise"). Stoicism, perhaps, need not
imply conformism. (As a matter of fact, some Stoics and Cynics
initiated uprisings.) Stoicism, or Epictetus' brand, is a complex
- or an ambivalent - affair, and in more ways than one, at that.
About the author: Went to the Athens School ofEconomics, OberliD College (M.A.,),
and Harvard (Ph.D.,), and has publishcd in European and American journals.
1969. XII and 140 pages. Guilders 18.-
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EDWARD G. BALLARD
Socratic Ignorance
An essay on Platonic self-knowledge
1965. IX and 189 pages. Guilders 24.30
*
HERIBERT BOEDER
Grund und Gegenwart als Frageziel der
früh-griechischen Philosophie
1962. IX and 235 pages. Cloth. Guilders 21.50
*
FELIX H. CLEVE
oe
The giants pre-sophistic greek philosophy:
an atteDlpt to reconstruct their thoughts
2 volumes. 1969. Vol. 1. XXXVIII and 328 pages; Vol. II. VII
and pages 329-580. Together. Cloth. Guilders 54.-
*
ROBERT WILLIAM HALL
Plato and the individual
1963. VII and 224 pages. Guilders 23.40
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PHILIP MERLAN
From. P1atonism. to Neoplatonism.
Third revised edition
1968. XIX and 250 pages. Guilders 18.-
•
WILLIAM H. O'NEILL
Proclus: Alcibiades I
A translation and commentary
1965. IX and 247 pages. Cloth. Guilders 23.50
•
EDITH WATSON SCHIPPER
Form.s in Plato's later dialogues
1965. VIII and 78 pages. Guilders 11.35
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EPICTETUS
PHILOSOPHER-THERAPIST
EPICTETUS
PHILOSOPHER-THERAPIST
by
JASON XENAKIS
•
MARTINUS NIJHOFF I THE HAGUE I I969
ISBN 978-94-on-8374-1 ISBN 978-94-011-9060-2. (eBook)
DOI 10.10071978-94-011-9060-2.
© I969 by Martinus Nijhotl, The Hague, Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form
ToZ.Z.
We neither know who we are nor have we studied
what pertains to man as horsemen study what
pertains to horses.
What disturbs human beings is not the things
themselves, but their conceptions 0/ things.
What is terrible is not death, but the fear 01
death.
Doing philosoPhy is preparing to face things.
Before you say samething, find out what it
means.
Love someone but as though he were amigrant.
Man can't live with man lorever.
Nothing in life is dilficult, lor one can always
quit. Life is a dance.
EPICTETUS
PREFACE
Epictetus presents difficulties for the historiall of ideas. He
published nothing, while his so-called writings are mostly notes
of so me of his discussions taken down haphazardly by a friend.
Moreover, about half of the notes are lost, and little is known of his
life. All this may go toward explaining the paucity of Epictetus
studies; for indeed this is the first book-length commentary
published in English devoted only to hirn.
All known aspects of his work are here considered and recon
structed and freshly approached. Eut the emphasis is on his re
marks in ethics, for the simple reason that ethics was his dominant
interest and that his diagnoses of problems in living and tech
niques for coping with those problems have been insufficiently
appreciated. His ethics is primarily pain-oriented: it consists of
existential reminders, such as that things are ephemera l and
people vulnerable, plus ways of avoiding and easing distress,
induding training and thought-analysis, because he believed that
people's troubles stern largely from silly habits and precon
ceptions.
Outside a biographical and a semi-introductory chapter, the
sequel is roughly patterned after an Epictetian or ancient par
tition of Philosophy into Logic, Cosmology, and Ethics, even
though the remains reflect no such structure. Rather, the structure
is a convenience of exposition. Since Epictetus combines interest
in such questions as "What is the world about?" with
logico-linguistic concerns and procedures, he might serve to show
that the rift in current philosophy between (say) the ex
istentialists and the analysts is largely unwarranted. This is
argued in the last chapter. Like everyone else he is indebted
to others and whenever possible I indicate this, though to