El arte de vivir

by Epictetus, Ignacio Pajón Leyra (Traductor)

Pocas cosas se saben de Epicteto (h. 55-h. 135) fuera de su condición primera de esclavo, su interés por la filosofía y que, ya libre, fundó su propia escuela en Nicomedia (Epiro). Adscrito comúnmente a la corriente filosófica estoica, que conoció su auge en torno a los siglos III a.C.-II d.C., sus enseñanzas, que sólo nos han llegado a través de los apuntes de uno de sus discípulos y otras fuentes indirectas, desprenden una sabiduría directa y clara, y tratan por lo general cuestiones prácticas que tienen como espacio natural la vida y las inquietudes personales del ser humano. Precedida de una iluminadora introducción, esta antología titulada como El arte de vivir (en tiempos difíciles) -que integra su "Manual" y una selección de sus "Disertaciones"- proporciona una recopilación significativa de su pensamiento, cuyo influjo se echa de ver en las Meditaciones de Marco Aurelio y que pivota en torno a la capacidad de la persona para elegir cómo enjuiciar las penas y alegrías que la afectan.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Classics, Psychology, Audiobook, Personal Development, Self Help

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 108

About the author

Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was probably born a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present day Pamukkale, Turkey), and lived in Rome until his exile to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece, where he lived most of his life and died. His teachings were noted down and published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses. Philosophy, he taught, is a way of life and not just a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control, but we can accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. Individuals, however, are responsible for their own actions which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power. As part of the universal city that is the universe, human beings have a duty of care to all fellow humans. The person who followed these precepts would achieve happiness.

Other language versions:
Epictète
Epícteto
Epiktet

Reviews

[Steve]

Epictetus (c. 60 - c. 125 CE), whose name literally meant "bought", was a Greek born in what is now western Turkey and became, we know not how, a slave in Rome. His last master, himself a freedman, allowed him to attend the lectures of the Roman Stoic philosopher C. Musonius Rufus and eventually freed him. Epictetus taught philosophy in Rome until Emperor Domitian banned all philosophers from the city. He moved to Nicopolis in Epirus and started a school of his own, where he remained until his death, despite Marcus Aurelius' requests that he return to Rome.

Epictetus was a philosopher in the then already very old tradition called Stoicism, begun by Zeno in the 5th century BCE, and, according to those much more expert in the Stoic literature than I, was not himself a creative thinker. However, he knew the tradition well and adopted a tone and style of presentation which has appealed for nearly 2,000 years. Epictetus did not, in fact, write "his" books; they were written down by his student and ultimately well known historian, Arrian. It is of interest to note that those who can read the original Greek report that the language used in the books attributed by Arrian to Epictetus is quite different from that used by Arrian in his own books, a good indication that Arrian might be reporting faithfully what Epictetus actually said.

Not all of these writings have survived, but, unlike the founders of the Stoic tradition - Zeno, Cleanthus (Cleanthes), Chrysippus - of whose extensive writings almost nothing has survived, we do have a few hundred pages of these reports on the lectures and discussions of Epictetus.

The founders of Stoicism were very interested in physics, metaphysics and logic, but there is little to none of that in Epictetus. He seems to be almost exclusively concerned with ethics, with what is the correct way to live, what are the correct values in life. And because he was co-opted by the Roman Catholic Church and generations of the oligarchy in Europe and America, reading Epictetus can arouse some very distasteful associations in one's mind.(*) So, above all, be careful of the translation you read. Also, beware something called The Golden Sayings of Epictetus; that appears to be a cherry-picking of Epictetus made for the above-mentioned clientele.

In this book we have an English translation of the Discourses and the Enchiridion (also known as the Manual). The Manual is exactly what the title suggests - a short summary of Stoic dogmas with an admixture of advice and admonishments. I discuss a French translation of the Manual elsewhere

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and will concentrate on the significantly lengthier Discourses here. The Discourses, of which only about half has survived to our day, present in a very unorganized, non-uniform and sometimes repetitive manner Epictetus' thoughts on many matters. These are reports of lectures and conversations. They are not all of equal quality, but altogether I find them to be quite interesting.

At the center of Stoic philosophy is the faculty of reason, and the Discourses begins with it. Although Epictetus does not broach the subjects of physics and metaphysics, the Stoics view the universe as rational, though cold and cruel. It runs by its own rational laws without any concern for humans; the only advantage human beings have in this universe is that with the faculty of reason they may understand their limited place in it and come to accept these limitations. And central to this is understanding what is and what is not within our power. There is a distinction between that which depends solely on us (that which is solely within our power to affect) and the rest. And precious little is on this side of the line; even one's own body is not within our power in this sense, for it becomes injured and ill, ages and decays, none of which we would permit if it were actually within our power. Once this distinction is clearly understood, the next central Stoic axiom is posited: Don't be concerned with anything which lies on the other side of the line; only that which lies on this side of the distinction matters and should occupy us. The rest must be accepted and endured as it comes.

I find this to be a fascinating philosophical position. The Stoics isolate an inviolable core of control and will, make that the center of life, and dismiss the rest.

This is an austere and ascetic philosophy.

As for desire, for the moment, suppress it completely.

This follows because that which one desires lies on the other side of the line. But even those things on this side of the line, such as urges, likes and dislikes, follow them only lightly, nonsystematically, without excessive effort. All attachments to objects, people, ambitions, etc. should not be taken as essential or important. In fact, one must constantly remind oneself that they "do not depend upon us," they are outside of our control, and therefore should be taken or left as they come and go.(**)

Another central, but related dogma:

That which torments men is not reality but the opinions they make of it for themselves.

Our opinions do depend on us; we may change them as we will. Hence, if one feels torment, change your opinion so that you no longer do so. Epictetus grants, somewhat indirectly, that this may well be very difficult to carry out and repeatedly offers various concrete ways in the Manual to develop this ability to become unattached.

Do not expect that events will occur as you wish; decide to want whatever happens and you will be happy.

Again, not at all easy to do. Hidden within these maxims is the prospect of an enormous mental and spiritual effort.

Clearly, there is nothing passive about Stoicism's resignation to what is not within one's power. Stoicism is also not at all timorous. After pointing out that human beings have many gifts such as reason, fortitude and patience, Epictetus inveighs against those who fear that which is not in one's power.

...but you sit trembling, for fear this or that should happen, and lamenting and mourning and groaning at what does happen; and then you accuse the gods! In what does such baseness end but in impiety? And yet God has not only granted these faculties by which we may bear every event without being depressed or broken by it, but, like a good king and a true father, has placed their exercise above restraint, compulsion, or hindrance, and wholly within our own control; nor has he reserved a power, even to himself, of hindering or restraining them. With these things free, and your own, will you not use them, nor consider what you have received, nor from whom?

(This "God" is the great artificer who made everything, including the gods of the Greek pantheon. You can see how Christianity was able to absorb much of Epictetus' writings.)

It is difficulties that show what men are.

It is a pity that the word "character" (in the moral sense) has been so debased. Speaking only for myself, I can hardy write the word down. For I've seen so often that the word was shouted the loudest by those with the blackest characters and employed as a weapon to attain or maintain personal power and advantage. As soon as I hear the word, I start sniffing for the odor of shameless hypocrisy. And in my nostrils no stench is worse. However, it is a central notion in Greco-Roman philosophy, including Stoic philosophy. Character was developed, attained and proven, not endowed. And to develop, attain and prove character was for Epictetus nearly synonymous with understanding the universe, performing the arduous mental and spiritual work necessary to deal with the consequences of that understanding, and then to live that understanding in a completely consistent manner. This he makes clear in his many stories illustrating admirable behavior and despicable behavior.

One could well imagine that this philosophy could lead to a complete disengagement from society and one's fellow man, even to a disregard or disdain for them, but such is not the case at all. For how one chooses to behave in intercourse with other humans is one of the few things within our power, and those are precisely the matters the Stoics do take seriously. A natural consequence of the essential axioms above is that one does not take advantage of others, for there is nothing of value to be taken from them. One does not steal, cheat, lie, murder, etc., for nothing is to be gained. Though Epictetus writes that all creatures are selfish, he also writes that the universe is designed so that no individual can increase his (real) good without simultaneously increasing that of all. And, unlike the Cynics (with whom the Stoics have much in common), the Stoics did not spurn cooperating with societal norms as long as they did not directly conflict with the basic axioms and their consequences.

The Discourses is a very rich book, but this review is getting long, so I have to leave much aside.

I cannot close before re-emphasizing that Epictetus' informal, conversational style in the Discourses is a major factor in his 2,000 year long success, though, as you can see above, he sometimes has recourse to hectoring.(***) It is often a pleasure to read the Discourses, though, of course, I was careful just to note my pleasure, not to revel overmuch in it...

(*) When they translated Epictetus, the monks freely made substitutions (like the disciple Paul for Socrates) and chose wording which changed the content. In fact, I have an English translation from the beginning of the 20th century which makes Epictetus sound like he wrote Victorian Christian tracts... I'm looking forward to the upcoming Oxford Classics translation, which should have even less additional veneer than this one does.

(**) Clearly, Stoicism has many commonalities with Buddhism. In fact, at the beginning of the 17th century the Portuguese priest Matteo Ricci translated some of Epictetus into Chinese, because he felt they would recognize some of their own views. This was designed to gain their confidence, preliminary to pressing translations of the Bible onto them.

(***) An integral part of his style is to use stories about historical figures to exemplify his points, so be sure to get an edition in which his many references to these figures are thoroughly explained, as does this one.

Rating

http://leopard.booklikes.com/post/812...

[P]

Stoicism is based on one big assumption and 2 decisions based on this assumption.

The assumption: There are things outside your control and things within your control.
Decision #1: I accept that which is outside my control and refuse to let it bother me.
Decision #2: I will perfect what is in my control.

I wish I had read this in college, because it provides a workable system to attaining something closer to inner peace in a wide variety of situations. I don't control my law school acceptance, but I do control how much effort I will put into my personal statement. As a Stoic, I would hard on my statement, and realize that stressing over the decision is a waste of time. This is easier than it sounds.

Epictetus has great ideas, and this is worth reading for someone who is interested in truly freeing their minds, but I still prefer Seneca the Younger (who treats his reader as a friend) over Epictetus (who treats his reader as a student).

[Bianca]

I could NOT finish the book. It's really laborious and requires a lot of dedication and passion on this topic in order to sustain your attention for its duration. Just not for me. For this level of philosophy I require either a different medium, a different author, or smaller chunks.

[Odi Shonga]

I went into this book looking to understand a little more about Stoicism. And, boy, did I get it. Before you read on, let me tell you right away: from a recommendations point of view, the Discourses is a slog. It repeats the same thing over and over again from different angles. If you want a gloss and/or just the juice of it, read the Enchiridion and skip the Discourses. The Enchiridion is a series of pithy aphorisms and thoughts. It wouldn’t be amiss in a modern, self-help section of a bookshop. I don’t mean to denigrate it by saying that, either. I think it’s a feat of the work. It manages to distill the general point of Stoic thought into a pamphlet that remains digestible, even now, to an audience of people whose attention spans have been fried by Twitter.

As for the Discourses: like I said, it’s long and repetitive. But you come away feeling like you understand Stoicism. Here is my gloss: a good Stoic should divide everything into two camps: that which you can control and that which you can’t control. Call the former internals and the latter externals. You cannot be reasonably charged with moral agency over externals, so dismiss externals from your life. They are of no interest to you. In fact, if you make the mistake of desiring externals or placing too much value in externals, you will find yourself a slave to something: be it beauty, fame, intellect, power, sex, alcohol, or luxury. You cannot control whether you will always have these things or not. If you put stock in them, your actions and happiness will be independent of your own will; rather, they will be dependent on whichever externals you choose to chase and desire. You make yourself a slave to them. If you want to be free, if you want to be a rational agent, turn away from them.

Internals are where the hard work must be done. Epictetus believes to be a good person, you have to live in excellent conformity to your nature as a human being. Once you’ve dismissed externals, you can begin focusing on the important virtues that you do have control over. He never strictly gives you a list of virtues or tells you exhaustively what the nature of a human being is, but examples and adjectives do pop up every now and again. “Kindness”, “co-operation”, “humility”, the exercising of one’s rational faculty, being good at your job and contributing to society — that sort of thing.

Personally, I find the tool of separating things into internals and externals to be incredibly useful. I’m the sort of person who struggles with my relationship to things I can’t control, especially other human beings. I want people to think well of me and I get very lonely when I perceive I’m unloved. It’s useful to use Stoicism as a reminder that, when I get that way, I’m living in a prison of my own making. I’m choosing to be a slave to external opinion, rather than a free man. It’s important to constantly remind oneself of that which one can control and that which one cannot.

However, I do worry sometimes that the Stoic philosophy goes too far. In the pursuit of personal happiness — which, admittedly, can be achieved by restructuring the way you think about things and being careful where you place value — Epictetus sometimes seems to suggest allowing injustice to go unimpeded. I feel there is something to be said for indignation against injustice, even if the cause of that injustice is outside of the Stoic’s thin boundaries of ‘internals’. Yes, this decreases your happiness, but perhaps the existence of injustice is good reason to be unhappy. It bonds you in a small way to those going through injustice, and it provides motivation to act in case you ever are able to do something about it. The second thing I’m uncertain about is the notion that our rational faculties are as free as Epictetus seems to assume. This isn’t really the place to delve into a philosophical investigation of that claim, but I’ll just say: if our rational faculties aren’t that free, it stands to reason that we need more than just an individual Stoic attitude to improve ourselves and society as a whole. Finally: I’m unconvinced by the religious underpinning of the whole project. This final objection isn’t a huge one. I can imagine reworking it to remove the insistence that living Stoically is the right thing to do because it matches the will of your chosen Deity. But all the same, the invocation of God’s will seemed to be a crucial pillar, at least for Epictetus, and leaning on that so heavily did detract from its overall strength.

Still, with those concerns and objections, I found a lot incredibly useful and worthwhile in Stoicism. I recommend this to anyone, even if it’s only the Enchiridion that you go for.

[momochiiii ☆]

Quizás es porque soy una fanática del mundo grecorromano. Quizás es porque lo que este libro encierra es lo que necesitaba leer en este momento: para ser feliz no tienes que pretender ser más allá de lo que la naturaleza ha dispuesto para ti y, según ello, debes guiar tu juicio y vida. Sólo así serás feliz. Y será normal que por el camino haya opiniones en tu contra, gente que desprecie tu opinión, pero tu sabrás que estás en lo correcto y deberás hacer oídos sordos. Bien hay que decir que tampoco estuve de acuerdo en todo lo que exponía, pero ello me sirvió para pensar en el por qué de no estarlo. Hay personas que encuentran estos escritos oxidados y sin valor, yo, como esta y otras veces, encuentro compasión y reflexión.

[Stacey]

I love this man's philosophy. Down-to-earth and true to this day, despite the fact that he wrote his observations before the first century.

[David]

These discourses are something everyone should read to see where we came from.

[Deb Schell]

Wonderful read full of wisdom and thoughts...
Here's my favorite quote from the book...

“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason? You have been given the principles that you ought to endorse, and you have endorsed them. What kind of teacher, then, are you still waiting for in order to refer your self-improvement to him? You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man. If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not notice that you are making no progress, but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary.
From now on, then, resolve to live as a grown-up who is making progress, and make whatever you think best a law that you never set aside. And whenever you encounter anything that is difficult or pleasurable, or highly or lowly regarded, remember that the contest is now: you are at the Olympic Games, you cannot wait any longer, and that your progress is wrecked or preserved by a single day and a single event. That is how Socrates fulfilled himself by attending to nothing except reason in everything he encountered. And you, although you are not yet a Socrates, should live as someone who at least wants to be a Socrates.”
― Epictetus

[Miguel Garzón]

Interesante conjunto de reflexiones breves, algo así como variaciones sobre un mismo tema, el estoicismo y su escuela filosófica. Reconozco estar más inclinado al epicureísmo (aunque puede que no sepa muy bien que son ambos), pero estás píldoras son útiles y revitalizantes: ocúpate en lo que depende de ti. Trata de ser mejor. Presta atención. Vive la vida. Supongo que son asertos algo depreciados por la repetición retórica, pero su valor debiera incrementarse por su ausencia práctica. Una lectura grata. Recomendable.

[✨ mai ✨]

Primer estoico que leo y me ha gustado mucho por la naturaleza práctica del texto que nos guía acerca de aprender a discernir entre lo propio y lo ajeno, lo que podemos controlar (juicios) y lo que no (todo lo demás). Siento curiosidad ahora por ver como la cbt tomó este principio de una filosofía tan antigua, si fue una cuestión fortuita, política, del contexto de la época, etc.
Buena edición cuyas anotaciones ayudan a entender el contexto histórico y la traducción de algunas palabras.

[J.]

The rantings of the ancient philosopher Epictetus, who went around telling people how they could become less offensive (to *him*) by controlling their emotions. Because it was all about *him*. Because people who have problems are just a bunch of whiners.

Epictetus had a point of view which nowadays we call "uncultured" and "inhuman". His system of "philosophy" consists mainly of sneering at anyone who's Other. His collection of beliefs is one which any teenage hipster could come up with -- and even today, many still do.

Here, check out his medieval advice:

• “It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.” Great advice. I'm sure crazy basketball coaches *love* that one.

• A gladiator, headed to his death in the Colosseum, should have the attitude “I go either to excel, or to give another the occasion to excel.” This is why I dislike the Stoics: They found it so easy to trivialize other people’s situations. They felt that everyone exists for the entertainment of others.

A great book for those who believe in slavery and human sacrifice.

[Michael Kress]

I've been listening to this audiobook on and off for a while now. I used to just listen when I got stressed. I finally decided to go ahead and finish it so I could catch up on my book challenge. I also have a printed copy of Discourses, which I'd sometimes read. Discourses is translated by George Long, who also translated Marcus Aurelius. I'm not crazy about Long's translations, although it started growing on me toward the end. I have a more modern translation that I started reading as a companion. It's probably going to get two stars too, so both of them together will be four stars.

[Adam Kirosingh]

Epictetus is intensely focused on the best way for you to live your life. Everything you have, your body, your things, and your health are technically only rentals. Be fully aware that these things will leave you. Instead of wishing to keep them forever, only wish for them to happen as they will. Only focus on things that are under your control and be aware of your sphere of influence. Master your habits, your actions, and corresponding reactions. Only then can you attain the freedom that will never leave you.

[Darjeeling]

Get it here for free:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdbrj...

[Roman Zadorozhnii]

Прослухав аудіокнигу українською:

https://youtu.be/sxU9mN1YJ5Q?si=emk5a...

[Alonzo Caudillo]

Como libro individual, esta antología de textos (compuesta por el "Manual" y las "Disertaciones") se deja leer muy bien gracias a dos razones: la primera por la introducción tan clara y precisa que hace Ignacio Pajón Leyva para sumergirnos en la historia del estoicismo y de lo que sabemos de Epicteto; y la segunda por su propia manera de entender el estoicismo. Es decir, al ser una filosofía preocupada principalmente por la práctica, sus enseñanzas son aplicables a nuestra vida cotidiana por la sencillez con que son expuestas, asimismo, la traducción y notas nos muestran maneras de comprender mejor ciertos pasajes y de concebir al estoicismo como una corriente con sus propios conceptos con los que familiarizarnos en el lenguaje cotidiano. Definitivamente, uno no puede hacer de cuenta que no pasó por las enseñanzas de Epicteto.

[Giulio Siciliano]

Une lecture à garder à portée de main et à revisiter pour revenir à soi quand l’équilibre intérieur est menacé. Loin de la philosophie systématique, l’argument vient de la conviction en un axiome central très simple, à savoir qu’il faut distinguer ce qui tient de notre libre-arbitre et ce qui en est exclu. Alors on peut sourire en soi-même de certains raccourcis empruntés par le maître, mais on est alors confrontés à réfléchir aux faibles alternatives que notre propre pensée génère.

[Kellen Reichert]

This book took me a long time to finish. Very heavy, read it in bite sized sections. Enchiridion was fantastic. The discourses were difficult but would occasionally blow my mind in wisdom that I wish I could memorize in fullness.

[Valeria Acosta]

Es un libro que aún puede aplicarse a lo que el ser humano vive y le aqueja día a día. Te recuerda algunas nociones básicas que a veces por la rapidez en la que vivimos perdemos de vista, como enfocarse en lo que está en nuestra esfera de control.

[Dhulkarnain]

நமது கட்டுப்பாட்டில் இருப்பவை மட்டுமே நமது கவலைக்கும் கரிசனத்திற்கும் உரியவை; அவற்றின் மீது நாம் கவனம் குவிக்க வேண்டும். நமது கட்டுப்பாட்டிற்கு அப்பாற்பட்டவை மீது நாம் ஏன் கவலைப்பட வேண்டும். அதனால் ஒரு பயனும் இல்லை”.
- எபிக்டெடஸ்

[Bárbara Borba]

I've been wanting to start reading about stoicism for a while and this was a good start. It'll probably be even better after a reread.

[Gabriel Soares]

Um síntese da filosofia estoica. Somente é digno de preocupação aquilo que está sob nosso imediato controle, eis o caminho da paz e serenidade. Boa leitura aos ansiosos em geral.

[Felipe]

3,5/5

[Ele]

el estoicismo me parece muy interesante, diría que hasta útil en muchas ocasiones;; sin embargo, contiene mucha frivolidad e individualismo, expone todo lo contrario a una posible realidad comunitaria/autogestionada, creo que sirve para las cuestiones del "yo" pero no para "nosotros"

[Hugin Arktosen]

There may be missing , commas and perhaps spelling mistakes that needs an updating. Otherwise it’s a life shaping book

[Juan Duarte]

First you get the lashes, then ointment is applied, all in one book!

[Noor]

principis molt interessants, de vegades portats a l'extrem

[Andrés Valverde]

Bastante bien, es sencillo, fácil de leer y curioso. Además, quien no tiene curiosidad por ver algo de lo que decía uno de los máximos representantes del estoicismo?

[Jackson]

Rating only applies to Enchiridion

[maik]

Los dos principios que creo que más se repiten en este libro son el de controlar lo que está en tu poder y dejar ir lo que no, y el de que nuestro juicio depende de la impresión que tengamos de la realidad. Epicteto propone “vigilar” nuestros pensamientos ya que pueden producir emociones que a su vez afecten nuestro comportamiento, tres variables que, segun la psicología, se retroalimentan.

“Espera, déjame ver qué eres y de dónde vienes. Si tal impresión corresponde a algo que no depende de mi, entonces no me concierne. Si depende de mi, entonces debo examinar si es verdadera o falsa, si el juicio implícito es correcto o erróneo.”