Ask Stoics source guide · Stoic Advisors
Epictetus as a Stoic Advisor
Epictetus, a former slave who became a prominent Stoic philosopher, focused his teachings on what is within our power and what is not. His philosophy emphasizes the importance of our internal responses to external events. This page provides an overview of key themes from his work, drawing directly from his Enchiridion and Discourses. The Ask Stoics AI guide is filtered to these cited passages, offering insights grounded in his original teachings, not an impersonation of the historical Epictetus.
On this page you will get a clear explanation, a way to examine the idea, exact evidence from public-domain Stoic texts, and links for continuing the study.
The Dichotomy of Control: What is in Our Power?
Epictetus teaches that some things are within our power, while others are not. Our opinions, movements towards a thing, desire, and aversion are within our control. These are by nature free, not subject to restraint or hindrance, and constitute our own acts.
Conversely, things like our body, property, reputation, and offices are not in our power. These external things are weak, slavish, and subject to the control of others. Recognizing this distinction is fundamental to avoiding disturbance and achieving freedom.
Sources: Epictetus, Enchiridion 1
The Role of Impressions and Rational Faculty
The rational faculty is unique because it can contemplate itself and all other things. It examines its own power and value, and judges other faculties like grammar or music, determining their proper use and occasion.
This rational faculty, which involves the right use of appearances, is the only thing the gods have placed entirely in our power. All other things, such as our body or property, are not fully within our control due to our earthly existence and connections.
Sources: Epictetus, Discourses 1.1; Epictetus, Enchiridion 1
Managing Desire and Aversion
Desire implies the hope of obtaining what is desired, and aversion implies the hope of avoiding what is shunned. Failing in desire leads to misfortune, and falling into what one wishes to avoid leads to unhappiness.
To avoid unhappiness, one should only attempt to avoid things contrary to nature that are within one's power. Avoiding external things like disease, death, or poverty will inevitably lead to unhappiness. Therefore, transfer aversion to things contrary to nature that are within our power.
Sources: Epictetus, Enchiridion 2
Anxiety and External Things
Anxiety arises when we desire something not in our power. A musician, for instance, is anxious in a theater not because of his skill, but because he seeks applause, which is an external factor beyond his control.
If things independent of the will are neither good nor bad, and all things dependent on the will are within our power, then there is no room for anxiety. We become anxious about our body, property, or the will of others, rather than our internal judgments.
Sources: Epictetus, Discourses 2.13
The Importance of Choice and Opinion
Our choices and opinions are the true causes of our actions, emotions, and states of being. Neither death, exile, pain, nor any external event is the cause of our doing or not doing something, but rather our own will.
If we act wrongly, the fault lies not with external circumstances but with the opinion or will from which we acted. This internal cause is what we should strive to remove and extirpate, more than any physical ailment.
Sources: Epictetus, Discourses 1.11; Epictetus, Discourses 1.22
Freedom and Invincibility
To be invincible, one must only engage in contests where victory is within one's power. If the nature of good resides in what is within our power, then envy and jealousy will have no place in us.
Freedom is achieved by despising, or not caring for, things that are not in our power. This means not wishing to be a general or senator, but rather focusing on being a free person through internal control.
Sources: Epictetus, Enchiridion 19; Epictetus, Discourses 2.19; Epictetus, Fragments 169
What the primary texts say
These excerpts keep their work and exact locator so you can check the claim in context rather than accepting a detached quotation.
“Of things some are in our power, and others are not. In our power are opinion (ὑπόληψις), movement towards a thing (ὁρμή), desire, aversion (ἔκκλισις, turning from a thing); and in a word, whatever are our own acts:”
“Remember that desire contains in it the profession (hope) of obtaining that which you desire; and the profession (hope) in aversion (turning from a thing) is that you will not fall into that which you attempt to avoid:”
“As then it was fit to be so, that which is best of all and supreme over all is the only thing which the gods have placed in our power, the right use of appearances;”
Frequently asked questions
What is the most important thing Epictetus says is in our power?
Epictetus states that the most important thing in our power is the right use of appearances. This faculty allows us to examine and judge things, leading to freedom, happiness, and tranquility if rightly employed.
Sources: Epictetus, Fragments 169; Epictetus, Discourses 1.1
How does Epictetus suggest we deal with things not in our power?
For things not in our power, Epictetus advises us to entrust them to the Universe and willingly give them up if required. We should not place our good or evil in them, but rather in our own choices and opinions.
Sources: Epictetus, Fragments 169; Epictetus, Enchiridion 31
According to Epictetus, what causes anxiety?
Anxiety arises when we desire or seek things that are not in our power, such as applause or external circumstances. If we only focus on what is within our will, there is no room for anxiety.
Sources: Epictetus, Discourses 2.13
What is the Stoic view on piety, according to Epictetus?
Piety involves having right opinions about the gods, believing they administer all justly, and obeying them by yielding to what happens. This is achieved by withdrawing from things not in our power and placing good and evil only in what is.
Sources: Epictetus, Enchiridion 31
Continue with Ask Stoics
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- How can I apply the dichotomy of control to my daily challenges?
- What is the role of my rational faculty in making choices?
- How can I manage my desires and aversions to achieve tranquility?
- What does Epictetus say about dealing with external events like illness or loss?