Conduct of life -- Early works to 1800; Ethics, Ancient
In the Stoic distinctions of personality and world, of I and mine, of
subjective consciousness and the world of objects, of freedom and
dependence, we find implicit the basic elements of modern philosophies of
rationalism and of objective idealism or pantheism. For this reason there
is a continuous renascence of Stoicism from Descartes, Grotius, and
Bishop Butler, to Montesquieu, Adam Smith, and Kant. In this long
development in modern times, the tiny _Enchiridion_ of Epictetus played a
remarkable part.
The translations of Epictetus and of all other Stoics had the widest
effect on philosophers, theologians, and lay thinkers. They were studied
by the clergy of the various Christian denominations, by the scientists
who were striving for a natural religion, and by the independent
philosophers who were eager to separate philosophy from religion. There
were many outstanding bishops in the Catholic and Anglican Churches who
were eager to transform the traditions of Roman Stoicism into Christian
Stoicism. Among the Calvinistic denominations were many thinkers who were
in sympathy with Stoic moral principles because of their praise of the
austerity of life and of the control of passions. Likewise the adherents
of natural religion were propagating Stoicism as the ideal pattern of
universally valid and intelligible religion. Renascent Stoicism had three
functions in the rise of the modern world. First, it reconciled Christian
traditions to modern rationalistic philosophies; secondly, it established
an ideal pattern of natural religion; and, thirdly, it opened the way for
the autonomy of morals.
ALBERT SALOMON
The New School
for Social Research
_July, 1948_
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
_Epictetus: Life and Work_
Arnim, Hans V., “Epictetos” in Pauli-Wissowa (ed), _Real-Encyclopaedie
der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, VI, col. 126-131.
Arnold, E. V., “Epictetus” in Hastings, _Encyclopedia of Religion and
Ethics_, 1912. Vol. V, pp. 323, 324.
Bonhoeffer, A., _Epiktet und die Stoa_. Stuttgart, 1890.
——, _Ethik des Stoikers Epiktet_. Stuttgart, 1894.
——, _Epiktet und das Neue Testament_. Giessen, 1911.
Bruns, Ivo, _De schola Epicteti_. Kiel, 1897.
Bultmann, Rudolf, “Das religiöse Moment in der ethischen Unterweisung des
Epiktets und das Neue Testament,” _Zeitschrift für die
neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde des Urchristentums_,
Vol. XIII, 1912; pp. 97-110; 177-191.
Colardeau, Th., _Etude sur Epictète_. Paris, 1903.
Hartmann, K., “Arrian und Epiktet,” _Neue Jahrbücher für das klassische
Altertum_, Vol. XV, 1905.
Jagu, Amand, _Epictète et Platon_. Paris, 1944.
Lagrange, M. J., “La philosophie religieuse d’Epictète et le
Christianisme,” _Revue Biblique_, Vol. IX, 1912; pp. 5-21,
192-212.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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