Stoicism is a type of philosophy that declares that the fundamentals of moral values derive from knowledge. Stoics couldn’t effectively teach philosophy to their students because philosophy as a whole is interwoven and blended together making it far too complex to comprehend all at once (De Lacy 1). Epictetus is a philosopher who studied Stoicism in Greece and agreed with the common belief of other Stoic philosophers that in order for students to grasp philosophy they needed to split it into three different ways of thinking: Logic, ethics, and physics. Epictetus says that when one has mastered logic, he can then approach ethics. When he has mastered ethics, he can then approach physics (De Lacy 1). From this we can conclude that logic is the
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Everything else is out of our control (De Lacy 3). The man cannot make that liquor store disappear, or abolish alcohol forever. He can only control how we treats the appearances that he’s taking in. Because everything outside of how we analyze appearances is out of our control, it’s irrelevant to our moral conduct. Therefore Epictetus concludes that the correct use of appearances is what makes up the whole of ethics (De Lacy 3). According to Epictetus, the rational use of appearances is of the highest good. Irrational use of appearances is the only evil (De Lacy 3). What is good and what is wrong can only be determined on the basis of what we have control over, as things outside of our control do not pertain to our ethical conduct. The struggle between determining what is rational and irrational is what makes up the biggest conflict in ethics because according to Epictetus, rationality differs from person to person (De Lacy 3). The solution to the problem of rational thoughts not being the same for everyone, is educating people. The goal of education, is to shape people to perceive appearances in a rational way and live harmoniously (De Lacy
Everything else is out of our control (De Lacy 3). The man cannot make that liquor store disappear, or abolish alcohol forever. He can only control how we treats the appearances that he’s taking in. Because everything outside of how we analyze appearances is out of our control, it’s irrelevant to our moral conduct. Therefore Epictetus concludes that the correct use of appearances is what makes up the whole of ethics (De Lacy 3). According to Epictetus, the rational use of appearances is of the highest good. Irrational use of appearances is the only evil (De Lacy 3). What is good and what is wrong can only be determined on the basis of what we have control over, as things outside of our control do not pertain to our ethical conduct. The struggle between determining what is rational and irrational is what makes up the biggest conflict in ethics because according to Epictetus, rationality differs from person to person (De Lacy 3). The solution to the problem of rational thoughts not being the same for everyone, is educating people. The goal of education, is to shape people to perceive appearances in a rational way and live harmoniously (De Lacy