Discourses of Epictetus

Epictetus’ discourse begins by discussing the things that are in our power in addition to the things that are not. He provides examples that demonstrates the possibility of confusing the two. He explains, “How far does the grammatic art possess the contemplating power? As far as forming a judgment about what is written and spoken. And how far music? As far as judging about melody. Does either of them then contemplate itself? By no means.” Epictetus is explaining that humans have power over the arts. We select what words we speak and write, in addition to the sentence structures we use to convey these thoughts. We choose these things in the same manner that we choose to make music and the musical elements that are used to create the piece. Despite this, “But when you must write something to your friend, grammar will tell you what words you should write; but whether you should write or not, grammar will not tell you”. This indicates that we are presented with rules, but we have the…

In this analysis, we will be looking at two main words, immanence and diaspora. Both words, which comes from Barber’s book refer to more than just its flat definition we often find in dictionaries, which is why we will be looking more into the theological and philosophical meaning behind them. Here we will be relating both the word to namelessness and signification, followed by connecting each of the words to the theological discourses that were described in barber’s book, which come from other…

meeting someone’s (society’s) standards; it is oppressive and dictatorial. Together, therapist and client can find ways it can be resisted and overthrown. Externalizing conversations have a special character. By giving the problem a name, it is given a life of its own, and is often cast as “recruiting” the client to its cause (White & Epston, 1990). Often, problems are situated in dominant discourses, which call for a special kind of deconstruction: the examination of the influences of cultural…

are no surprises (Baltzly, 1996). One part of Stoicism that I found interesting was out it views the Universe. When Stoics refer to God, they are referring to the whole universe, as opposed to Christians who refer to God as a narrower anthropomorphic entity. So in essence, Stoics believe that God is all around us and in everything. The universe is God. Everything in the Universe is either active or passive. Active matter can act on the passive matter. We as bearers of the torch of life act on…

more acceptable way. But if… they are rough and untrained and uncouth...then even if the blows of fated misfortune which strike them are trivial or nonexistent these men will plunge headlong into constant misdeeds and errors because of their own ineptitude and their voluntary impulse...” (Pereboom 15). Simplified, Gellius is saying that things that result from our character are up to us and that we are the source of our actions. As a result this belief, the Stoics also believe certain matters…

according to nature is one that should be abided by or not. "perfectly good and wise gas." To begin with, Stoics held a particular view on God and fate. Although Stoics are materialists, they nevertheless, still held a view of God, who is described as a type of fiery breath that blends perfectly with everything in the cosmos: “perfectly good and wise gas” (Religion Facts, 2015). Stoics believed God to possess the power of transforming matter into what we see around us. Moreover, with regards…

well as an overview of the context in which it plays apart in Roman society. Stoicism originated as a Greek eudaimonic philosophy which is expected to be influenced by many contemporary minds along with critical analysis including Socratic thought processes. Eudaimonia is a term that guarantees, “…a life worth living.” Or happiness/flourishing. From this there are four main ideas based on Value: virtue and reason is what guarantees happiness. Emotions: projections of our judgements. Nature:…

death that it is dreadful--that is what is dreadful” (Epictetus, 5). Because death is something that we cannot avoid in our life and it is always with us since the beginning of our life, the only thing we can do is to adopt a proper attitude of being apathetic. It is our attitudes and judgments towards things, not the things themselves that cause us to be upset and distressed. Being indifferent toward the externals allows us to stay away from suffering. However, skepticism argues that we cannot…

limits his or her ability to make choices in the future. Epictetus, a Greek philosopher, was a strong advocate of stoicism. I think that the main idea that Epictetus is trying to portray to us is that we should only worry about the things that we have control over. However, the line between the things we can control and the things we cannot control gets a little hazy, I think that Epictetus does a nice job of laying it out for us. Epictetus states, “Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses,…

Dominance and Resistance in The Burial at Thebes and Hedda Gabler James C. Scott’s ‘Domination and the Arts of Resistance’ explores the discourse of domination and resistance, including the tension between the publicly exhibited dominant discourse, termed a “public transcript,” and the four types of political discourse prevalent among subordinate groups. The four types of discourse are self-image based discourse, the hidden transcript, in-between discourse, and ruptured discourse. For the…