No More Learning

Epictetus himsel at any rate-perhaps because ofhis teaching meth­ ods, which obliged him to explicate the works ofthe unding thers­ went back to the origins. As Brehier used to say, Epictetus cannot be too highly recommended to anyone wishing to understand the Old Stoa. 16 Already in 1894, in two remarkable studies devoted to Epictetus, A. Bonho er had reached similar conclusions. 17 It can be said that Epictetus subscribes to the most orthodox Stoic tradition: that which, beginning with Chrysippus, apparently continues through Archedemus and Antipater;18 he makes no allusions to Panetius or to Posidonius. Through Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius was able to go back to the purest Stoic sources, and the llowing exposition of the Stoicism of Epictetus
may consequently be regarded as a preliminary sketch of the Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius.
It is true that, in the sayings of Epictetus as recorded by Arrian, we
The Stoicism ofEpictetus
nowhere nd a systematic exposition ofthe totality ofStoic doctrine; the reasons r this have been explained above. The subjects ofthe Discourses were inspired by occasional circumstances, such as the questions raised by his students, or the visit of a speci c personage. Epictetus' sayings are essentially anecdotal; but it is all the more precious to be able to observe within them the presence ofa highly structured theme, which equently recurs and can be said to summarize the essential points ofStoicism.
There is one highly structured theme that integrates right at the outset something which, it would seem, Epictetus is the only one within the Stoic tradition, besides Marcus Aurelius, to distinguish: the three activi­ ties or operations of the soul. These are the desire to accumulate that which is good, the impulse to act, andjudgment on the value ofthings.
Basing his view on the traditional and ndamental Stoic distinction between those things which do not depend upon our will and those which do, Epictetus enumerates these three psychological operations as llows :
What depends on us are value-judgments ypolepseis), impulses toward action orme), and desire (orexis) or aversion; in a word, everything which is our own business. What does not depend on us are the body, wealth, honors, and high positions in o ce; in a word, eve thing which is not our own business. 19
Here, we can glimpse one ofthe Stoics' most ndamental attitudes: the delimitation of our own sphere of liberty as an impregnable islet of autonomy, in the midst of the vast river of events and of Destiny. What depends on us are thus the acts ofour soul, because we can eely choose them. We can judge or not judge, or judge in whatever manner we please; we can desire or not desire; will or not will. By contrast, that which does not depend on us-Epictetus lists our body, honors, riches, and high positions of authority-is eve thing that depends upon the general course of nature. Our body, rst: it is true that we can move it, but we are not completely in control of it. Birth, death, sickness, invol­ untary movements, sensations of pleasure or of pain: all these are com­ pletely independent ofour will. As r wealth and honors: we can, to be sure, attempt to acquire them, yet de nitive success does not depend upon us, but upon a series ofhuman ctors and events which are exte­ rior to us; they are imponderable and do not depend upon our will. Thus, the Stoic delimits a center ofautonomy-the soul, as opposed to the body; and a guiding principle (hegemonikon) as opposed to the rest of
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the soul. I t is within this guiding principle that eedom and our true self are located. It is also there, and only there, that moral good and evil can be und, r the only moral good and evil are voluntary good and evil.
The soul or guiding principle thus has three ndamental activities. In the rst place, as it receives the images which come om bodily sensa­ tions, it develops an inner discourse, and this is what constitutesjudgment. The soul tells itselfwhat a given object or event is; in particular, it tells itselfwhat the object isfor the soul, that is, what it is in the soul's view. Here we have the central node of the whole of Stoicism: that of inner discourse, or judgments expressed on the subject of representations. As Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius never tire ofsaying, everything is a matter ofjudgment. It is not things themselves that trouble us, but our repre­ sentations of these things, the ideas we rm of them, and the inner discourse which we rmulate about them. Desire and impulses to action are the necessary results ofthis inner discourse: ifwe desire something, it is because we have told ourselves that the thing in question is good; likewise, ifwe want to do something, it is because we have told ourselves that it was a good thing.
As is well known, the Stoics held that only those representations should be accepted into the mind which they called kataleptikai, a term which is usually translated as "comprehensive. " This translation gives the impression that the Stoics believed a representation to be true when it "comprehends," or seizes the contents ofreality. In Epictetus, however, we can glimpse a wholly di erent meaning of the term: r him, a representation is kataleptike when it does not go beyond what is given, but is able to stop at what is perceived, without adding anything extrane­ ous to that which is perceived. Rather than "comprehensive repre­ sentations," then, it would be better to speak of "adequate repre­ sentations. "
Here is a translation-slightly paraphrased, in order to make it more comprehensible-of a vital passage om the Discourses of Epictetus. It shows in action the inner discourse, or the soul's dialogue with itsel on the subject ofrepresentations (III, 8, 1-2):
In the same way as we train ourselves in order to be able to ce up to sophistical interrogations, we ought also to train ourselves to ce up to representations hantasiai), r they too ask us questions.
For example, let's say we rmulate within ourselves the contents of the representation: "So-and-so's son is dead. "
The Stoicism ofEpictetus
This representation is asking you a question, and you should reply: "That does not depend on the will, and is not something bad. "
"So-and-so's ther has disinherited him. What do you think of that? " Reply: "That doesn't depend on the will, and is not some­ thing bad. "
"He was very hurt by it. " Reply: "That does depend on the will, and is something bad. "
"He put up with it bravely. " "That depends on the will, and is something good. "
Epictetus continues:
Ifwe acquire this habit, we will make progress; r we will give our assent only to that ofwhich there is an adequate ataleptike) repre­ sentation.
It is quite remarkable that Epictetus here is representing moral li as a dialectical exercise, in which we engage in a dialogue with events, as they ask us questions.
Epictetus then goes on to give the llowing examples, in which representations ask us questions. "Her son is dead" is an inner repre­ sentation which we rmulate, and it asks us the question: "What hap­ pened? " This could lead us to enunciate a value-judgment, of the type " a great mis rtune," but we must reply: "Her son is dead. " The repre­ sentation, however, is not satis ed; it asks "Nothing more? " to which the soul responds: "nothing more. " Epictetus then continues along the same lines:
" His ship sank. " "What happened? " " His ship sank. "
"He was sent to prison. " But ifyou add the proposition "a terrible thing happened to him, " then that is coming om you.
What Epictetus means is that the idea according to which a certain event is a mis rtune-as well as the consequences that such a repre­ sentation may have on the desires and tendencies of the soul-is a repre­ sentation which has no basis in reality; rather, it goes beyond an adequate vision of reality, by adding to it a lse value-judgment. Such a repre­ sentation can arise only in a soul which has not yet assimilated the
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ndamental dogma of Stoicism: happiness is only to b e und in moral good, or virtue; and mis rtune is only to be und in moral evil, in ults and in vice.
If the only good is moral good, and the only evil is moral evil, how can the Stoic live his daily life, in which there are many things which are morally neither good nor evil, but are "indi erent," to use a term om the Stoic vocabulary? A person must, after all, eat, sleep, work, raise a mily, and l ll his or her role within the community. The Stoic, too, must act; and he or she has an impulse-both instinctive and rational-to act. Thus, the second of the soul's proper nctions, coming after the activity of representations, judgments, and assent, must be just this im­ pulse to act, as well as action itself The domain ofthe latter includes what Epictetus and the Stoics call the kathekonta; that is, those actions which, in all probability and r good reason, may be considered as "appropri­ ate" to human nature. These are the actions which con rm to the deep-rooted instinct which urges rational human nature to act in order to preserve itself Thus, both the active impulse and action itselfwill be exercised above all in the domain of society, of the state, of the mily, and ofrelations between human beings in general.
Human action cannot, however, hope to be completely e ective; it does not always attain its goal. Mankind is, there re, reduced to hoping and to desiring that what suits him actually happens, and that that which he fears does not. Desire is thus the third activity proper to the human soul, and its domain is not that which one does onesel but rather that which happens-in other words, the events which happen to us by virtue of Destiny, and the course of universal Nature. He who desires does not act, but is in a certain disposition of waiting. As was the case
with the impulse to action, desire depends on us, and the soul is ee either to desire a given object, or not to desire it.
The philosopher, then, must train himself in these three domains of activity: judgment, impulse toward action, and desire (III, 2, 1-2) :
There are three domains in which he who would become perfect must train himself
-the domain concerning desires and aversions, so that he may not nd himself frustrated in his desires, and may not encounter that which he was seeking to avoid;
-the domain concerning active impulses and repulsions, and in general, the domain which concerns what is appropriate (kathekon) r our nature, so that he may act in an orderly way, in accordance
The Stoicism ofEpictetus
with rational probability, and without negligence;
-the domain in which what matters is to preserve oneself om error and insu cient reasons; and, in general, that which concerns the assent [which we give to j udgments] .
If we gather together all the indications concerning this theme con­ tained in Epictetus' sayings, we can present this_ theory of the three rms or domains20 ofphilosophical exercise as llows:
The rst domain is that of desires and aversions. Humans are unhappy because they desire things which they consider good, but which they may either il to obtain or else lose; and because they try to avoid things which they consider as evils, but which are o en inevitable. The reason is that these apparent goods and evils-wealth and health, r example, or on the contrary poverty and sickness-do not depend on us. Thus, the exercise of the discipline of desire will consist in gradually renouncing these desires and aversions, so that we may nally desire only that which does depend on us-in other words, moral good-and may avoid only that which depends on us-in other words, moral evil. That which does not depend on us is to be considered as indi erent, which means that we are not to introduce any preferential order among such things, but accept them as willed by the will of universal Nature, which Epictetus some­ times designates by the term "gods" in general. To " llow the gods" means to accept their will, which is identical with the will of universal Nature (I, 12, 8; I, 20, I5). The discipline ofdesire thus has as its object the passions athe), or the emotions which we feel when events present themselves to us.
The second domain ofexercises is that ofimpulses to action. As we have seen, it is the eld ofthose actions which are "appropriate" (kathekonta) to our rational nature. These are actions-and there re something which depends on us-that have an e ect on things which do not de­ pend on us, such as other human beings, politics, health, mily life, and so rth. ofthese areas are, in themselves, "indi erent" in the Stoic sense of the term; but they may, in accordance with a rational justi ca­ tion or reasonable probability, be considered as corresponding to reason­ able nature's instinct r self-preservation. Since such actions are directed exclusively toward other people, and have their undation in that com­ munity of reasonable nature which unites humankind, they must be guided by our intention to place ourselves in the service of the human community, and bring about the reign ofjustice.
The third domain of exercises is that of assent (sunkatathesis). Each
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representation hantasia) which presents itselfto us must be subjected to criticism, so that our inner dialogue and the judgment we enunciate with regard to it may not add anything "subjective" to that which, within the representation, is " adequate " to reality; only thus will we be able to give our assent to a true judgment. We have already seen the importance of this theme in Stoicism, r which good and evil are not to be und anywhere else than in our culty ofjudgment.
It is tempting to compare the three acts ofthe soul as distinguished by Epictetus-rational activity ofjudgment and assent, impulse to action, and desire-with the three parts ofthe soul recognized by the Platonists. Following Plato, they distinguished between the rational part ofthe soul, its "choleric" part, which is the seat of action, and the "desiring" part, which is the principle of pleasure and of passion. This comparison is all the more attractive in that Plato, like Epictetus, based his system of virtues, and there re, in a sense, his "ascetic" system, on his distinction of the parts of the soul. For Epictetus, as we have seen, there is a discipline of the soul's intellectual activity, a discipline of impulses and tendencies to action, and a discipline ofdesire. In Plato's Republic, justice is the inner harmony of the individual as well as of the state, and it consists in the union ofthree elements: the rst is wisdom, which, in the soul, reigns over the rational part, and in the state is the characteristic of the philosopher-kings. Within the soul, courage reigns over the "chol­ eric" and impulsive part; whereas within the state it pertains to the class ofwarriors. Finally, that temperance which is to be und within the soul reigns over the "desiring" part; whereas within the state it must be the characteristic ofthe lowest class: that ofthe artisans. 21
In spite of these analogies, however, the schemes of Plato and of Epictetus are radically and completely di erent. For Plato, there is a hierarchy among the parts of the soul analogous to that which is estab­ lished between the classes ofsociety in the Republic: rulers, warriors, and artisans. The philosopher-kings impose their rule upon the warriors and artisans, who are their in riors. In the same way, good reason imposes its law upon the inferior parts of the soul.
For Epictetus, by contrast, both active impulse and desire are acts of the rational soul, or the "guiding principle" within each human being. There is thus no opposition or di erence oflevel between rational activ­ ity, impulses to action, and desire. Impulses and desire are located within the rational soul itsel and this is all the more true in that impulse and desire, even if they do have a ective repercussions upon the soul, are, according to Stoic teaching, essentially judgments made by the rational soul. Reason is not essentially good; rather, like impulses and desire, it
The Stoicism ofEpictetus
can be either good or bad, according to whether it emits true or lse judgments, which then determine conduct. A passage om Plutarch22
provides a good summary of Stoic doctrine as we nd it in Epictetus:
For the Stoics, virtue is a disposition ofthe ruling part ofthe soul . . . or rather it is reason when the latter is coherent with itsel rm, and constant. They do not believe that the passionate and irrational parts ofthe soul di er om the rational culty by means ofa natural di erence; but that it is the same part of the soul, which they call dianoia and hegemonikon (the culty of re ection and the directing principle) which changes and is completely trans rmed in the pas­ sions and the trans rmations which it undergoes, either in its state or in its dispositions, and that it becomes vice or virtue. In itself, however, there is nothing irrational about this culty, but it is called irrational when, owing to excessive impulses, it becomes very strong and triumphant, and is consequently led to something inap­ propriate and contrary to the choice of reason. Passion, thus, is reason, but reason which is vitiated and depraved, and which, owing to the e ect of bad and pe erted judgment, has acquired strength and vigor.
For Plato, we can say that the essence of human beings resides in reason; and reason is necessarily right, but the life of the concrete indi­ vidual does not necessarily coincide with it. For Epictetus, by contrast, as r the Stoics in general, the essence ofmankind does consist in reason, the principle of eedom, and the power to choose. Precisely because it is the power to choose, however, it can be either good or bad and is not necessarily right.
Impulse and desire are thus located within the "directing principle," or center of the human soul's eedom. For this reason, they are on the same level as the rational culty ofjudgment and of assent. Obviously, however, judgment, impulse, and desire are not interchangeable. Each impulse and each desire has its undation and its origin in ajudgment. It is as a nction ofits inner discourse that the soul feels a certain impulse to action, or a certain inner disposition ofdesire.
The three exercise-themes and the three parts ofphilosophy
For the Stoics, as we have seen, there is not only a discourse about logic, but a lived logic. Likewise, there is not only a discourse about ethics, but also a lived ethics; there is not only a discourse about physics, but also a
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lived physics. In other words, philosophy, inso r as it is the conduct of li , is indissolubly logic, ethics, and physics. We can recognize this lived logic, ethics, and physics in the three exercises of Epictetus which we havejust examined.
It is worth noting that, in order to designate these exercises, Epictetus23 uses the word topos, a term traditionally used by the Stoics-at least since the time ofApollodoros ofSeleucia, who ourished at the end ofthe second century B. C. -to designate the parts ofphilosophy. 24 When the Stoics spoke of the parts of philosophical discourse, they were prob­ ably using the word topos in a rhetorical and dialectical sense, in which it signi ed a thesis, or a "general question which is put up r discussion. "25 In the same way as a rhetorical or dialectical topos was a theme r exercises in the area of discourse, so Epictetus' three topoi are three themes of intellectual exercise, which correspond to the three parts of philosophical discourse. At the same time, however, they are also three themes oflived exercise, which put the principles rmulated in philo­ sophical discourse into action, in the area oflife.
It is obvious that, r Epictetus, the discipline ofjudgment and of assent corresponds to the logical part ofphilosophy, while the discipline of impulses corresponds to the ethical part of philosophy. This equiva­ lence comes out clearly in a passage in which Epictetus opposes logic, on the one hand, as a part of theoretical discourse, and on the other the discipline of assent, as a lived logic. He then goes on to contrast ethics, as a part of theoretical discourse, and the discipline of impulses, as a lived ethics. The context is a section ofthe Discourses (IV, 4, rr-18) in which Epictetus is criticizing the lse philosopher, who is content merely to read theoretical discourses about philosophy. Epictetus reminds his audi­ ence that "Life is made up of other things besides books," and then proceeds as llows:
It is as if, in the domain (topos) of the exercise of assent, when we are in the presence ofrepresentations ofwhich some are "adequate" (kataleptikai) and the others are not, we were to re se to distinguish the ones om the others, but pre rred to read treatises entitled On Comprehension. What, then, is the reason r this? It is because we have never read, and we have never written, so as to be capable, in a context of action, to use the representations which actually do present themselves to us in a manner in con rmity with nature. Rather, we have con ned ourselves to learning what is said, and being able to explain it to someone else; we've learned how to resolve a syllogism and how to examine a hypothetical argument.
The Stoicism ofEpictetus 9 1
As we can see, Epictetus is here opposing two kinds oflogic; theoreti­ cal logic, as it is contained in treatises with titles like On Comprehension, gives us only a theoretical knowledge and technical skill in argumenta­ tion, which bears no relationship to reality. Opposed to this stands lived logic, which consists in criticizing, and entering into dialogue with, the representations which actually do present themselves to us in the course of everyday life. Simila y, Epictetus goes on, we should not be con­ cerned with reading treatises entitled On Impulses, in order to nd out what people have to say about impulses, but rather we should get busy and act. Here, the theoretical ethics contained in treatises on impulse and-Epictetus adds-on duty is placed in relation to the exercise ofthe discipline ofimpulse.
The correspondence between lo c and the discipline ofassent, then, can be easily admitted; as can that between ethics and the discipline of impulses. What, however, shall we say about the discipline ofdesire? The structure of the Stoic scheme of the three parts of philosophy seems to require that it correspond to physics. Is this possible? Seemingly not; in the rst place, Epictetus makes no allusion to any particular relationship between physics and the discipline ofdesire in the passage quoted above, although he does relate the discipline ofjudgment to logic, and the discipline of impulses to ethics. Instead, he merely speaks of theoretical treatises entitled On Desire and Aversion, which seem to be ethical trea­ tises. If it is true, however, that the abstract theory of "desire" itsel inso r as it is an act of the soul, is situated within the domain of ethics, nevertheless the lived practice of the discipline of desire implies, in the last analysis, a speci c attitude toward the cosmos and nature. I have already hinted at this point in my account of the content of the three disciplines, but must now be more speci c. The discipline ofdesire has as its goal to bring it about that we never desire things of which we might be ustrated, and that we never ee that which we might undergo against our will. This discipline there re consists in desiring only the good which depends upon us-the only thing that is truly good, r the Stoics-and just as much in eeing only moral evil. As r that which does not depend on us: we are to accept it, as willed by universal Nature (II, 14, 7):
Here is approximately what we think the philosopher's task is. He must adapt his own will to events, in such a way that, among all events which occur, there may be none which occur when he did not want them to occur, and that, ofall events which do not occur, there may be none which does not occur when he wanted it to
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happen. The result, r those who have undertaken this task, is that they are not frustrated in their desires, and that they are not rced to undergo that r which they have an aversion.
The continuation ofthis passage still describes the task ofthe philoso­ pher, but now with regard to his relations with others. We have here, then, a very clear linkage between the discipline of desire and the con­ sent willed by destiny. Such consent presupposes that mankind recognize himself as a part of the , and that he understand that events are necessarily linked to one another by the will of universal Reason. What­ ever happens, Epictetus recommends, one should not become irritated
against the events that have been disposed by Zeus himself [that is to say, by universal Reason]; he has de ned them and placed them in order in cooperation with the Moirae [i. e. , the Fates], who were present at your birth and have woven your destiny. Don't you know how tiny a part you are, compared to the ? (I, 12, 25).
Elsewhere, Epictetus writes in the same vein (II, 17, 25):
Let your desires and your aversions become attached to Zeus, and to the other gods; give them to them, let them govern them, and let this desire and this aversion be ranged in accordance with them.
Consent to destiny and obedience to the gods-the essential compo­ nents of the discipline of desire-presuppose that man become aware of his place within the , and consequently that he practice physics. "The consent to Destiny," writes A. -J. Voelke,26 "requires rst ofall that the universe be understood, thanks to an e ort ofthought in which intellec­ tual power bases itself upon sense-representations. . . . The result of this methodical elucidation is that, little by little, we arrive at the rational certainty that we are living in a cosmos which is good, and set in harmo­ nious order by a supreme Providence. " We shall see later that, in the
writings of Marcus Aurelius, this theme of the link between the disci­ pline ofdesire and physics lived as a spiritual exercise is orchestrated even more richly than in the sayings of Epictetus which have come down to us. 27
Sometimes Epictetus places the three disciplines on the same level, but he also sometimes seems to establish a hierarchy among them. Conse­ quently, he sometimes enumerates the three disciplines without estab-
The Stoicism ofEpictetus 93
lishing any determinate order among them, as r example when he begins with the discipline of assent (I, 17, 22; IV, 4, 14 IV, 6, 26). Elsewhere, by contrast, he speaks of rst, second, and third themes of exercise (topoi): the rst being that ofdesires, the second that ofimpulses, and the third that of assent. In Epictetus' view, this order corresponds to di erent phases of spiritual progress. From this perspective, it is the discipline ofdesire, and then that ofimpulses, which must come rst and which are the most necessary (I, 4, 12). The discipline of assent now comes only in third place, and is reserved r those who are making progress (III, 2, 5; III, 26, 14; IV, IO, 13), since it ensures them rmness in their assenting. Nevertheless, we can sense that r Epictetus, the disci­ plines of desire and of impulse are sed together into the discipline which criticizes representations, and there re in the discipline ofjudg­ ment and assent. After all, r Epictetus, who is here being entirely ith l to Stoic orthodoxy, the cause of our passions-that is to say, of our desires-as well as of our actions-that is, of our impulses-is noth­ ing other than representations hantasiai in other words, the ideas we rm of things. the tragedies and dramas in the world are the simple result of the false ideas of events that the heroes of these tragedies and dramas have rmed r themselves (I, 28, rn-33). Ifthis is true, how­ ever, the exercise-theme which has as its object the criticism ofrepre­ sentations and judgment ought to come rst.
In ct, this apparent con sion is, once again, the result ofdi erences in perspective: di erences introduced, on the one hand, by the concrete, lived practice ofphilosophy, and on the other by the orderly progression demanded by the teaching of philosophy. In practice, it is indeed the criticism of our representations, and the correction of the false ideas which we rm about things, which is the most urgent task, because it conditions the control of our desires and our impulses. We cannot wait to practice the discipline ofjudgment and of assent until, at the end of our program of studies, we have begun the study of texts on theoretical logic, or the examination of hypothetical syllogisms and sophisms. The urgency of life does not permit such niceties, and, in the words of Epictetus, "life is made up of other things besides books. " In everyday li , the discipline of desire, the discipline of impulses, and the discipline ofjudgment are inseparable, and are but three aspects of one activity, which Epictetus calls " the right way of using (chresis)" representations (II , 19, 32; 22, 29); that is to say, the right way ofexamining the value and correctness ofthe ideas which we rm ofthings, which are the causes of our desires and impulses.
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And yet these three disciplines are taught, which means they are the object of a theoretical discourse which, if it is well assimilated by the disciple, contributes to his spiritual progress. Here again the matter is urgent-but om another point ofview. The exercise-themes which are to be given top priority are those which will allow the disciple to live philosophically: the discipline ofdesire, which delivers us om "worries, agitations, and grief" (III, 2, 3), and the discipline of impulse, which teaches us to live within our mily and our city. "These," says Epictetus (I, 4, 12), "are the exercise-themes which must come rst, and which are the most necessary. " In theoretical teaching, then, the discipline of de­ sire, which is the rst exercise-theme, will correspond to physics; the second-the discipline ofactive impulses-will correspond to ethics, and in particular to the theory ofappropriate duties and actions (kathekonta).
Once again, then, we return to the relationship between theoretical physics and that lived physics which we have identi ed as the discipline ofdesire. In order r the philosopher to be able to discipline his desires, he must understand the Stoic theory of nature. As Chrysippus28 himself had already said:
There is no more appropriate way to arrive at the theory of goods and ofevils, virtues and wisdom, than by starting out om universal Nature and the organization of the world . . . r the theory of goods and evils must be connected to these subjects . . . and physics is taught only so that we may be able to teach the distinction which must be established between goods and evils.
It is precisely upon this distinction between goods and evils that the discipline of desire is based, and this is why we encounter this intimate link between physics and the theme ofthe exercice ofdesire in Epictetus. Epictetus, moreover, also makes an explicit reference to Chrysippus (I, IO, ro):
Please examine what, according to Chrysippus, is the administration ofthe world, and what place rational animals occupy therein. Then, om this point of view, consider who you are, and what good and evil are r you.
In the Discourses of Epictetus as reported by Arrian, we do not nd lengthy considerations ofthis series ofquestions, which must have corre­ sponded to an entire program ofstudies. O en, however, we can recog-
The Stoicism ofEpictetus 95 nize in passing Epictetus' allusions to this essential part ofthe discourse
on the teaching ofphysics, such as the llowing passage (IV, 7, 6):
God has made everything that is in the universe and the universe in its entirety, ee of constraint and independent; but he made the parts ofthe Whole r the sake ofthe Whole. Other beings lack the capability of understanding the divine administration; but rational beings possess the inner resources which allow them to re ect upon this universe. They can re ect that they are a part ofit, and on what kind ofa part they are; and that it is good r the parts to yield to the Whole.
Becoming aware, by means ofthe study ofphysics, ofour situation as parts ofthe Whole does notjust serve the nction ofproviding a theo­ retical and rational undation r the discipline of desire, which, as we have seen, requires that, precisely because we are parts ofthe Whole, we must desire everything that happens as a result of the natural course of Nature. On the contrary, it also means enjoying the spectacle of the entire universe, and looking at the world with the vision of God himself In another passage, Epictetus describes the solitary meditation of God at the moment when, at the end of one of the periodic cycles of the Universe, he remains alone, since r a moment all things have been reabsorbed into him-that is to say, into the original re which is at the same time the logos which produces the world-and he urges us to imitate him (III, 13, 7):
As Zeus is with himself, rests in himself, thinks about the way in which he administers the world, and is plunged in thoughts worthy ofhimsel so too should we converse with ourselves: with no need of others, and without being worried about how to keep our lives busy. We, too, should re ect on the way in which God administers the world, and on our relation to the rest of the world; we should consider what our attitude has been, up until now, toward things that happen; and on what it is now; we should consider what are the things that cause us pain, and how we could best remedy them. . . .
Here we switch, with complete naturalness, om a v1s1on of the universe to an examination of conscience. The latter is related to the discipline of desire, and to our attitude with regard to the events that
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happen to us by virtue of the general movement of the universe. As Epictetus says later on (IV, r , roo-ror):
This body made of mud: how could God have created it ee of impediments? He there re submitted it to the revolution of the Universe, as he did with my possessions, my rniture, my house, my children, and my wife. Why, then, should I ght against God? Why should I wish r things that ought not to be wished r?
It is thus no good complaining, and blaming him who has given us all r taking away om us that which he has given (IV, I, 103-4):
Who are you, and why have you come here? Isn't it God who has introduced you down here? Isn't it he who has made the light shine r you . . . and who has given you reason and the senses? In what condition, moreover, has he introduced you down here? . . . Was it not so as to live on earth with a miserable piece of esh and, r a little while, to contemplate his government, llow his procession, and celebrate a festival with him?
Good people, there re, will say when they are dying (III, 5, ro):
I leave ll ofgrate lness to you, r you havejudged me worthy of celebrating the festival with you, of contemplating your works, and of llowing together with you the way in which you govern the world.
Finally, the discipline of desire, inso r as it is a lived physics, consists not only in accepting what happens, but in contemplating the works of God with admiration (I, 6, 19-25):
God introduced humankind down here in order to contemplate both him and his works . . . For us, nature's nal accomplishment is contemplation, becoming aware, and a way of living in harmony with nature. Make sure, then, that you do not die without having contemplated all these realities . . . will you never realize, then, who you are, why you were born, and what this spectacle is to which you have been admitted?
The rst theoretical instruction in the education ofa philosopher must there re be in physics, which rms the basis ofthe distinction between
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good and evil, and hence the discipline ofdesire. The second subject of theoretical teaching is in ethics, which is the basis of the discipline of impulses. Theoretical instruction in logic, which corresponds to what Epictetus calls the " exercise-theme of assent, " comes third.
We have here a good example of the way in which Epictetus viewed two kinds of exercises as somehow ndamentally identical: intellectual exercises, as practiced in the exposition of a given part of philosophical discourse-in this case, logic-and lived exercises, as practiced in everyday life-here, as the exercise-theme (topos) of judgment and assent. Epictetus does, a er all, use the same term, " the exercise-theme of as­ sent, " to designate both lived logic (the criticism of our representations and of the ideas which we rm of things) and, on the other hand, theoretical logic (that is to say, the theory of syllogisms) .
On the one hand, Epictetus a rms (III, 12, 14-15):
The third exercise-theme concerns assent, and in particular seduc­ tive and attractive representations. Just as Socrates used to say that an unexamined life is not worth living, so we must never accept an unexamined representation.
Thus, in this description of lived logic, or logic put into practice, we recognize the proper use ofrepresentations which is, in ct, the basis and undation of all the other exercise-themes. Let me repeat: om this lived and concrete point ofview, the three themes are necessarily simul­ taneous; and ifEpictetus speaks ofthe "third theme," it is only r the sake of clarity of exposition.
On the other hand, there are other passages in which the exercise­ theme of assent really is the third theme: it comes last a er all the others, and is reserved r those who are making progress (III, 2, 5). In this case, what is under discussion is theoretical/scholarly discourse about logic, conceived as reasoning-processes which change in value-those which end in one of the premises, hypothetical syllogisms, and deceptive rea­ soning (III, 2, 6) . 29 Epictetus insists upon the absolute necessity of this teaching; r instance, he responds as llows to an auditor who asks to be persuaded ofthe use lness oflogic (II, 25, 1): "Without logic, how will you know whether or not I am deceiving you with a sophism? " For Epictetus, it is indispensable to be able to provide, by means ofthe art of uncovering sophisms and errors in reasoning, the dogmas one has re­ ceived via instruction in physics and ethics with an unshakably rm undation. Such logic may be sterile (I, 17, rn); it is a purely critical
discipline, which teaches no dogma, but examines and criticizes every­ thing else.
In the nal analysis, one gets the impression that, r Epictetus, the place of logic in a philosophical education is situated at two moments: the beginning and the end. It has its place at the beginning, because, as we have seen, in order to be able to practice the three themes ofphilo­ sophical exercise, it is indispensable to learn, as soon as possible, how to criticize one's representations, and how to give one's assent only to those which are adequate. "This," says Epictetus, "is the reason why we place logic at the beginning" (I, 17, 6). Logic also, however, has its place at the end of the curriculum, in its more technical rm of the theory of syllogisms; this is what gives unshakable certainty to the dogmas, which are the principles of action (III, 26, 14). The danger of this technical study, however, is that it may remain purely technical, and become an end in itselfor a means ofshowing o (III, 2, 6; I, 26, 9; II, 19, 5). In such a case, the third exercise-theme may become deleterious to a philosophi­ cal education.
As we can see, reconciling the demands of concrete philosophical li with those ofpedagogical and theoretical education was very di cult r Epictetus, as it was r the other Stoics as well. He probably restricted himself to the combined teaching of all three disciplines. Nevertheless, the doctrine of the three topoi, or lived exercise-themes, appears in Epictetus' teachings as the nal development of the Stoic theory of the three parts ofphilosophy. Epictetus enunciates a philosophical discourse on the subject of these three parts, but at the same time he also nds them within the everyday life of philosophers. Here, they assume the rm of three exercise-themes, linked to the three activities of the soul; r the discipline ofdesire is possible only by means ofthat awareness by virtue ofwhich the philosopher considers himselfas a part ofthe cosmic . Likewise, the discipline of impulses is possible only by means of that awareness by virtue ofwhich the philosopher discovers his place within the human community; while the discipline of assent is possible only thanks to the awareness by means of which the philosopher simultane­ ously discovers, on the one hand, his liberty with regard to repre­ sentations, and, on the other, the rigorous laws ofReason.
The coherence ofthe All
Most historians of philosophy mention Epictetus' doctrine of the three exercise-themes. For instance, they have recognized that Arrian used this
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The Stoicism ofEpictetus 99
scheme of the three exercise-themes in order to group together those sayings of Epictetus which he collected in the summary of the Master's teachings which he entitled the Manual. 30 Scholars have also sought to discover traces ofanalogous schemes in Seneca or Cicero,31 but it appears that we shall never arrive at decisive results concerning this point. De­ spite all these e orts, however, scholars have perhaps not su ciently emphasized the human signi cance of this doctrine.
The discipline ofdesire essentially consists in re-placing oneselfwithin the context of the cosmic , and in becoming aware of human exist­ ence as being a part, one that must con rm to the will of the Whole, which in this case is equivalent to universal Reason. The discipline of impulses and of actions consists essentially in re-placing oneself within the context ofhuman society; this entails acting in con rmity with that Reason which all human beings have in common, and which is itself an integral part of universal Reason. Finally, the discipline of judgment consists in allowing oneselfto be guided by the logical necessity which is imposed upon us by that Reason which is within ourselves; this Reason, too, is a part ofuniversal Reason, since logical necessity is based upon the necessary linkage of events.
Thus, the scheme ofEpictetus' exercise-themes has exactly the same goal as did the three aspects of lived philosophy-physics, ethics, and logic- r the Stoics: to live "in accordance with Reason. " There is nothing surprising about this, since, as we have seen, Epictetus holds that the three exercise-themes are the three aspects of lived philosophy. The philosopher must abandon his partial, egoistic vision of reality, in order, by way of physics, to rise to the point of seeing things as universal Reason sees them. Above all, the philosopher must intensely wish the common good of the universe and of society, by discovering that a part can possess no other proper good than the common good ofthe . The philosopherisacitizenoftheworld(I,9,l;II,IO, 3);butheorsheisalso a citizen ofthe human City (II, 5, 26), which is nothing other than a smaller image of the cosmic City. If one's individual consciousness can be expanded as r as the utmost limits of the cosmic event, and wills this wholly and completely, this still does not prevent one om assuming the responsibilities of social duties, nor om having a pro und love r the human community. If my Reason has come rth om universal Rea­ son, then so has that of all other human beings. people are brothers and sisters since they share in the same Reason; and even a slave is thus his master's brother (I, 13, 3).
Epictetus' three disciplines, there re, guide and direct the relations
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between human beings and the universe, other human beings, and hu­ mankind's own reason. Thus, the totality ofhuman existence is situated in relation to the whole of reality. For the Stoics, moreover, totality is precisely what characterizes living beings; in their view, to be a whole is to be coherent with oneself By means of the three disciplines, people eely cooperate with a totality and a coherence which will necessarily be actualized, whether they like it or not, r it is only the totality of the cosmos which is assured ofa perfect, unbreakable coherence. Although humankind's eedom confers upon it the privilege of being able to con rm, eely and voluntarily, to this rational coherence ofthe cosmos, it also exposes humanity to the risk of allowing incoherence to in ltrate its thought, its a ectivity, and the human City as a whole. Humankind's adherence to the coherence of cosmic Reason is always agile and in doubt, but the divine plan will be realized ofnecessity.
The doctrine of the three exercise-themes, disciplines, or rules of life thus contains within itself the whole essence of Stoicism, recapitulated in a grandiose way. It invites humankind to a complete reversal ofits vision ofthe world and its usual way ofliving. The philosopher-emperor Mar­ cus Aurelius, as the distant disciple ofthe philosopher-slave, would mag­ ni cently develop and orchestrate these richly-harmonied themes in his Meditations.
6
THE INNER CITADEL, OR THE DISCIPLINE OF ASSENT
The discipline ofassent
As we have seen, the Meditations are Stoic spiritual exercises. We can, however, be more speci c: by means of these exercises, Marcus Aurelius wished to establish within himself the inner discourse and the pro und dispositions which would allow him to practice concretely-in the midst ofhis imperial life-the three exercise-themes or rules oflife set rth by Epictetus. The Meditations return constantly to the rmulation of these exercise-themes, and of the dogmas which serve as their undation. The structure underlying the Meditations is the very same ternary structure that we havejust seen in the case ofEpictetus, and we must now turn to examining the rm which this structure takes on in the Meditations.
The objective or adequate representation hantasia kataleptike)
The discipline of assent consists essentially in re sing to accept within oneselfall representations which are other than objective or adequate. In order to understand what Marcus Aurelius means by this, it is necessary to speci the meaning of the technical Stoic vocabulary which the Emperor uses in this context.
In the rst place, sensation (aisthesis) is a corporeal process which we have in common with animals, and in which the impression of an exte­ rior object is transmitted to the soul. By means ofthis process, an image hantasia) ofthe object is produced in the soul, or more precisely in the guiding part egemonikon) of the soul.
The phantasia has a double aspect. On the one hand, it replaces the object, and in a sense becomes identi ed with it, since it is an image of the object. On the other hand, it is a modi cation athos) of the soul, brought about by the action of an exterior obj ect. Marcus Aurelius, r
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instance, asks himselfthe llowing question (III, r r , 3; XII, r 8): "What is the nature ofthe object which is producing this phantasia within me? "
I n the summary o f Stoic logic which the historian Diogenes Laertius has preserved r us, we read the llowing: "The phantasia comes rst, and then re ection (dianoia) which enunciates what it feels as a result of the phantasia, and expresses it in discourse. "1 The presence ofthis image in the soul is thus accompanied by an inner discourse; that is to say, a phrase, proposition, or series ofphrases and propositions which enunci­ ate the nature, quality, and value ofthe object which has given rise to the phantasia in question. It is to these enunciations that we may either give or withhold our assent. Like exterior objects, the phantasia is corporeal, but the inner discourse to which we give our assent is inco oreal, inso r as it possesses a meaning. By contrast with the passive nature of the phantasia-the image or representation produced by exterior ob­
jects-this inner discourse represents an activity ofthe guiding part ofthe soul. The soul, moreover, can also produce representations hantasiai) when it combines the images it has received. 2
This double aspect of the cognitive process-passive and active, con­ strained and ee-can be observed in a passage by Epictetus quoted by Aulus Gellius. 3 It deserves to be cited in its entirety, since it gives a good description ofthe mechanism ofassent:
These representations of the soul, which the philosophers call phan­ tasiai, by which a person's spirit is momentarily moved, at the rst glimpse of the thing which presents itself to the soul: they do not depend upon the will, and are not ee. Rather, by means of some kind of rce which is peculiar to them, they throw themselves upon people, in order to be known.
Assents, by contrast, which are called sunkatatheseis, by means of which these representations are recognized and judged, are volun­ tary and take place through human eedom.
This is why, when a terri ing sound is heard-whether it comes om the heavens or om the collapse ofsome building, or whether it announces some kind ofdanger, or anything else ofthat nature­ it is necessary that the soul of the sage, too, be also slightly moved and constricted and terri ed; not because he judges that some rm of evil is present, but because of the rapid and involuntary move­ ments, which usurp the proper task ofthe mind and ofreason.
The sage, however, does not give his assent immediately to such representations which terri his soul; he does not approve them,
The Discipline ofAssent 103
but brushes them aside and rejects them, and it seems to him that there is nothing to ar om such things. This is the di erence between the sage and the olish person: the olish person thinks that things are as they appear to the rst emotion ofhis soul-that is to say, atrocious and ight l, and the olish person approves by his assent these rst impressions, which appear to justi his fear.
But the sage, although the color ofhis ce was brie y and rapidly altered, does not give his assent, but maintains the rce and solidity of the dogma which he has always had about such representations: that they are not at all to be ared, but they terri people by means ofa lse appearance and an empty terror.
This text provides a irly clear distinction between the image hanta­ sia-in this case, the thunderclap which resounds within the soul); the judgment (which Marcus calls a hypolepsis) , which is an inner discourse of the rm: "This is awful and terrible! "; and nally the assent (sunkatathe­
sis), which either approves or ils to approve the judgment.
Marcus has a equent tendency to con se judgment and repre­ sentation; in other words, he identi es representations with the inner discourse which enunciates their content and their value. We may omit the passage in Book V, 16, 2, where Marcus speaks ofa chain ofrepre­ sentations, even though what is being discussed is a syllogism, and hence a chain ofjudgments: r in this particular case one can admit that he is speaking of those phantasiai logikai, or abstract representations, which I have alluded to above as the result ofintellectual operations. Elsewhere, however, we nd Marcus saying either (VIII, 29): "Erase your repre­ sentations hantasiai)," or else (VIII, 40): "Suppress your judgment," without there being any apparent di erence in meaning. And yet Marcus is sometimes quite capable of distinguishing the inner discourse-and hence the judgment-which the soul develops about a given repre­
sentation, om the representation itself (VIII, 49) :
Don't tell yourself anything more than what your primary repre­ sentations tell you. Ifyou've been told, "So-and-so has been talking behind your back," then this is what you've been told. You have not, however, been told that " Somebody has done a wrong to you. "
Here, we can recognize the stages ofthe process. In the rst place, we have the exterior event: someone announces to Marcus that so-and-so has been saying negative things about him. Next, we have the repre-
sentation produced within him, which is called "primary" because as yet, nothing has been added to it. In the third place, there is the discourse which enunciates the contents ofthis primary representation: "So-and-so has been saying negative things about you"; this is what is announced by the primary representation. Finally, there is yet another enunciation, which is no longer content merely to describe the situation, but emits a value-judgment: " I have been wronged. "
Here we encounter once again the notion ofan "adequate" or "objec­ tive " representation hantasia kataleptike), as we have seen it de ned by Epictetus. An objective or adequate representation is one which corre­ sponds exactly to reality, which is to say that it engenders within us an inner discourse which is nothing other than the pure and simple descrip­ tion ofan event, without the addition ofany subjective value-judgment (Arrian, Discourses, III, 8, 5):
He was sent tojail.
What happened? He was sent to jail. But "He is unhappy" is added by oneself[i. e. , subjectively].
Thus, both Marcus and Epictetus draw a clear distinction between "ob­ jective" inner discourse, which is merely a pure description of reality, and "subjective" inner discourse, which includes conventional or pas­
sionate considerations, which have nothing to do with reality.
The "physical" de nition
One must always make a de nition or description of the object which is presented in a representation, so as to see it in itself, as it is in its essence, in its nakedness, in its totality, and in all its details. One must say to oneselfthe name which is peculiar to it, as well as the names of the parts which compose it, and into which it will be resolved (III, r r).
Marcus Aurelius gives us several examples ofwhat he means by this kind ofde nition (VI, 13):
How important it is to represent to oneself, when it comes to ncy dishes and other such ods: "This is the corpse ofa sh, this other thing the corpse of a bird or a pig. " Similarly, " This Falernian wine isjust some grapejuice," and "This pu le vestment is some sheep's
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The Discipline ofAssent 105
hair moistened in the blood of some shell sh. " When it comes to sexual union, we must say, " This is the rubbing together of abdo­ mens, accompanied by the spasmodic ejaculation ofa sticky liquid. " How important are these representations hantasiai) which reach the thing itself and penetrate right through it, so that one can see what it is in reality.
Here again, Marcus uses the term phantasia to designate that inner discourse which describes the object ofrepresentations. Yet these repre­ sentations, which appear to be discourses which "strike reality and pene­ trate it through and through," correspond to "objective" or "adequate" representations, as these are conceived by Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. They do not add anything to reality; rather, they de ne it in its nudity, by separating it om the value-judgments which people el obliged to add to it, whether by habit, under the in uence ofsocial prejudices, or out of passion.
We can call this kind ofde nition "physical," since it ees our repre­ sentations om every kind of subjective and anthropomorphic consid­ eration, as well as om every relation to the human point of view, in order to de ne them, as it were, scienti cally and physically. Once again we note that, according to Stoic philosophy, all is in all. Although the criticism ofrepresentations and the search r objective representations are a part oflogic, they can nevertheless only be achieved ifwe adopt a physical point of view, by situating events and objects within the per­ spective of universal Nature. It is r this reason that it will be necessary to speak of this kind of de nition once again, when we are dealing with the discipline ofdesire.
The Inner Citadel
Things Cannot Touch the Soul
Things cannot touch the soul.
They have no access to the soul. They cannot produce ourjudgments. They are outside ofus.
They themselves know nothing, and by themselves they a rm nothing.
(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, IV, 3, ro; V, r9; VI, 52; IX, r5)
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Marcus insists strongly and repeatedly o n the total exteriority of things with respect to us, and he does so in striking terms which do not appear in the sayings of Epictetus which Arrian has preserved. When Marcus says that "things cannot touch the soul," he does not mean that they are not the cause of the representations hantasiai) which are produced within the soul. One could argue that, since the relationship between things and their representations is that of cause and e ect, it is a part of the necessary linkage of Destiny. But the blow which sets the inner discourse of the guiding principle in motion is only the opportunity r this guiding principle to develop its inner discourse. The discourse itself, however, remains entirely ee:
Just as when you push a cylinder, says Chrysippus,4 you have caused it to begin its movement, but you have not given it the property of rolling, so likewise a representation will no doubt mark and imprint its rm upon the soul; and yet our assent will still remain within our power. Just like the cylinder, our assent may be pushed om without, but then it will move by its own rce and nature.
The skeptic Sextus Empiricus5 con rms this two ld aspect ofpercep­ tion, in the context ofhis criticism ofthe Stoics:
Perception (katalepsis) consists, according to them, in giving one's assent to an objective (kataleptike) representation, and this seems to be a two ld matter: there is something involuntary it, as we as something voluntary, which depends upon our judgment. The act ofreceiving a representation, r instance, is involuntary; it does not depend upon the person receiving the representation, but upon the cause of the representation. . . . Giving one's assent to such a psy­ chological movement, however, is within the power of the person receiving the representation.
In order to understand what Marcus Aurelius means when he says that things cannot touch the soul and are outside of us, we must bear in mind that the word "soul" could have two meanings r the Stoics. In the rst place, it was a reality made ofair neuma) which animates our body and receives the impressions, or phantasiai, om exterior obj ects. This is o en what Marcus means by "soul. " Here, however, when he speaks about "us" and about the soul, he is thinking ofthat superior or guiding part of the soul which the Stoics called the hegemonikon. It alone is ee, because
The Discipline ofAssent
it alone can give or re se its assent to that inner discourse which enunci­ ates what the object is which is represented by a given phantasia. This borde ine which objects cannot cross, this inviolable stronghold of ee­ dom, is the limit ofwhat I shall re r to as the "inner citadel. " Things cannot penetrate into this citadel: that is, they cannot produce the dis­ course which we develop about things, or the interpretation which we give ofthe world and its events. As Marcus says, the things outside ofus "stay still"; they "do not come to us"; rather, in a way, "it is we who go towardthem" (XI, II).
These assertions must obviously b e understood in a psycholo cal and moral sense. Marcus does not mean that things stay immobile in a physi­ cal sense, but that they are "in themselves," in the sense in which "in itself" could be opposed to " r itsel£ " Things do not care about us: they do not t to in uence us, penetrate within us, or trouble us. Besides, "they know nothing about themselves and nothing about them­ selves. " It is rather we who are concerned about things, who try to get to know them, and who are worried about them. It is human beings who, thanks to their eedom, introduce trouble and worry into the world. Taken by themselves, things are neither good nor evil, and should not trouble us. The course of things un lds in a necessary way, without choice, without hesitation, and without passion.
If you are grieving about some exterior thing, then it is not that thing which is troubling you, but your judgment about that thing (VIII, 47).
Here we encounter an echo ofa mous saying by Epictetus:
What troubles people is not things, but their judgments about
things (Manual, §s).
Things cannot trouble us, because they do not touch our ego; in other words, they do not touch the guiding principle within us. They remain on the threshold, outside of our liberty. When Marcus and Epictetus add that "what troubles us is our judgment about things, " they are clearly alluding to the discourse which it is within our power to pronounce within ourselves, in order to de ne r ourselves the meaning ofa given event. It is this latter judgment which may trouble us, but this is where the ndamental dogma ofStoicism comes in: there is no good but moral good, and there is no evil but moral evil. That which is not moral-that
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is to say, that which does not depend on our choice, our liberty, or our judgment-is indi erent, and ought not to bother us. If our judgment about things is troubling us, the reason is that we have rgotten this ndamental dogma. The discipline of assent is thus intimately linked to
the doctrine of good, bad, and indi erent things (XI , 1 6) :
To live one's life in the best way: the power to do this resides within our soul, if we are capable of being indi erent to indi erent things. And we can be indi erent to indi erent things ifwe consider each of these things, in each of its parts and in its totality, remem­ bering that none of them can produce within us a value-judgment about them, nor can they reach us. Rather, things remain immo­ bile, whereas it is we who engender judgments about them, and, as it were, write them down within ourselves. But it is possible r us not to write them down; it is also possible, ifwe have not succeeded in this, to erase them instantaneously.
The soul is ee to judge as it pleases
Things, there re, should not have any in uence upon the guiding prin­ ciple. Both Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius agree that the guiding princi­ ple alone is responsible, whether it is troubled by things, or whether, on the contrary, it is at peace. It is the guiding principle itselfwhich modi es itsel as it chooses this or that judgment about things, and consequently this or that representation of the world. In the words of Marcus Aurelius (who here uses the word "soul" to designate the superior, guiding part of the soul; V, 19): "the soul modi es itsel " This concept was a part of Stoicism well be re the time ofEpictetus and Marcus, as is shown by the llowing passage in Plutarch:6
It is the same part of the soul, which they call dianoia ( culty of re ection) and hegemonikon (guiding principle), which changes and is totally trans rmed in the passions and trans rmations which it undergoes . . . they a rm that passion itselfis reason, but depraved and vicious reason, which, as a result ofbad and mistakenjudgment, grows strong and vigorous.
Here we encounter another Stoic dogma: there is no opposition, as the Platonists had held, between one part of the soul which is rational
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and good in and of itsel and another part which is irrational and bad. Rather, it is reason-and the ego itself-which becomes either good or bad, as a nction ofthejudgments which it rms about things. "It is the soul which changes itself, according to whether it knows things, or ils to know them. "7 This means that it is by its own judgment and decision that the soul is in the right, or in error.
It must be understood that, r Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, of the preceding must be situated in the order of the value which is attrib­ uted to things, and not in the order ofbeing.