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Epictetus presents difficulties for the historiall of ideas. He published nothing, while his so-called writings are mostly notes of so me of his discussions taken down haphazardly by a friend. Moreover, about half of the notes are lost, and little is known of his life. All this may go toward explaining the paucity of Epictetus studies; for indeed this is the first book-length commentary published in English devoted only to hirn. All known aspects of his work are here considered and recon structed and freshly approached. Eut the emphasis is on his re marks in ethics, for the simple reason that ethics was his dominant interest and that his diagnoses of problems in living and tech niques for coping with those problems have been insufficiently appreciated. His ethics is primarily pain-oriented: it consists of existential reminders, such as that things are ephemer al and people vulnerable, plus ways of avoiding and easing distress, induding training and thought-analysis, because he believed that people's troubles stern largely from silly habits and precon ceptions.
List of contents
I. Biography.- 1. Life and Stoicism.- 2. Teaching.- 3. Writings.- 4. Influence.- II. Life a Game.- 5. Living for Happiness.- 6. Suicide, Euthanasia, Death.- 7. Knowledge for Living.- 8. Rational Self.- III. Logical Topics.- 9. Nature of Logical Studies.- 10. Irrefutability and Epistemological Issues.- 11. Logical Puzzles.- 12. Operators and Kin Matters.- IV. Nature and God.- 13. World Structure.- 14. Providence.- 15. Anthropocentrism.- 16. Proofs of Design.- 17. Cacodicy.- 18. Hymns to God.- 19. Zeus Inoperative?.- V. Value Theory.- 20. Theic Notions.- 21. Good a Protoconcept.- 22. Value Relativity.- 23. Value Criteria and Pleasure.- VI. Pain and Training.- 24. Divisions of Ethics.- 25. Learning Theory.- 26. Rationalization and Erring.- 27. Negative Ethics: A Look.- VII. Preventive Ethics.- 28. Forestall, Resist, Ease.- 29. Control Test.- 30. Anxiety and Fear.- 31. Other Safeguards.- 32. Resistance Methods.- VIII. Remedial Devices.- 33. Examples.- 34. "It's fate" and Other Tonics.- 35. Loneliness.- 36. Objections.- IX. Social Remarks.- 37. Independence and Outgoingness.- 38. Man as Social.- 39. Troubleshooting and Cosmopolitanism.- 40. Legal Questions.- X. Afterthoughts.
