Episode 83 – Epictetus: From Slave to Teacher

This episode delves into the life and philosophy of Epictetus, a figure whose personal history as a slave profoundly shaped his teachings on absolute inner freedom. Born into slavery around 55 CE, his very name meant "acquired," constantly marking him as property in the Roman world. Despite being physically lame, possibly from torture, he was allowed to study under the Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus, an experience that formed the bedrock of his thought. After being exiled along with other philosophers by the emperor Domitian, he established a successful school in Nicopolis, Greece.

At the heart of Epictetus's philosophy is the "dichotomy of control," the sharp distinction between things that are "up to us" and things that are "not up to us". What is up to us is our inner world: our judgments, our intentions, and our faculty of choice, which he called the prohairesis. Everything else—our body, health, reputation, and possessions—is external and ultimately beyond our complete control. He taught that true freedom and tranquility are achieved only by focusing our desires and aversions exclusively on what is up to us, making us psychologically invulnerable to external events.

Epictetus saw life as a play where we do not choose our role (slave or emperor), but our moral duty is to play the part we are given as virtuously as possible. He argued that our prohairesis is an unimpeded, unconquerable "portion of Zeus within us," meaning that no external force can compel our assent or destroy our inner integrity unless we allow it to.