Abstract

Stoicism, the dominant Hellenistic philosophical school, has had a significant impact on the history of western philosophy. The problem I address is what might account for this impact. ;Evidence for early Stoicism survives only in fragments or in the reports of later non-Stoic writers. The late Stoics are better sources since their thought survives in extended, original texts. Very little research in English has been done on the late Stoic Epictetus. Born a slave, his seminars capture the spirit of Stoicism more earnestly than Seneca or Marcus Aurelius. My procedure is to explicate and analyze Epictetus' ethics in order to discern the strength of Stoicism. My method is the detailed exegesis of his original texts. ;Epictetus argues that it is rational to confine 'good' and 'evil' to the things which are essentially and always in our power: choice, refusal, desire, aversion and assent. These decisions are evaluative judgments of the prohairesis . Bodily health, wealth, social and political status, other people and all 'externals' are not in our power, so we should consider them morally 'indifferent'. We can only determine the judgments upon which we try to act but we cannot guarantee an action's outcome, so only these judgments carry moral weight. We should do the best we can to act according to nature and accept whatever happens as providentially ordained by the rational will of god. The Stoic is passionless but not unfeeling since she loves others without allowing any overwhelming passion to sacrifice her joy and calm. On Epictetus' teleology, the life according the nature for adult human beings is the life of reason. The Stoic's reason recognizes the rational order of the world and strives to maintain its intrinsic harmony by acting in accord with the healthy, normatively virtuous condition of her self. Thus it is 'natural' for her to fulfill her social, familial and civic roles in harmonious fellowship with everyone. She is a citizen of the universe--a rational microcosm which is an organic part of the greater rational macrocosm. The strength of the Stoic sage is her happiness in the form of mental freedom--freedom from disquietude, frustration, disappointment, grief, fear, anxiety, regret, worry and dependence upon luck