Scan barcode
daankrommevrucht's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Everything from Epictetus. Good translation, good comments. If you want to understand Stoicism during Roman times this is a goldmine. Sharp Stoicism with often a funny twist. Sometimes a bit religious, sexist or outdated science. But hey, this is ancient.
tomd21's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
divinedk's review against another edition
4.0
epictetus slayed tbh. some good teachings and some delivery were brutal and humorous. glad to have this as my first introduction to philosophy. though i may not agree with everything, his teachings are worth a read.
bigliver's review against another edition
5.0
Recently I delved into the world of Stoicism through the book Discourses and selected writings by Epictetus. I saw the book recommended many times as a great introduction the the philosophical way of thinking and damn it it didn’t disappoint.
The book, which was written by Epictetus’ student Arrian, is well written, structured and gets Epictetus’ points across really easily. From my interpretation Stoicism is about living in line with nature. This means finding out what you can control and what you cant and then separating what you can control into bad and good. Then through the use of your different faculties such as the faculty of will, faculty of virtue and the faculty of fortitude, make judgements on impressions that come your way. Epictetus defines things we can control as as things directly influenced by our will meaning that when we don’t like when something is done there is nothing we can do about it but we can only change the way we react to it.
Epictetus also teaches logical reasoning and deduction which lets you come to rational judgements about things. Epictetus argues all his points superbly and justifies them all with logical reasons. Although some of his ideas and beliefs are outdates (such as the belief in only 4 elements as was common in Stoic physics) they still stand to this date.
This book is by far one of the best books I’ve read in my life and I recommend it to anyone who wants to be a better person, wants to improve their mental strength or just wants to be happier in life.
The book, which was written by Epictetus’ student Arrian, is well written, structured and gets Epictetus’ points across really easily. From my interpretation Stoicism is about living in line with nature. This means finding out what you can control and what you cant and then separating what you can control into bad and good. Then through the use of your different faculties such as the faculty of will, faculty of virtue and the faculty of fortitude, make judgements on impressions that come your way. Epictetus defines things we can control as as things directly influenced by our will meaning that when we don’t like when something is done there is nothing we can do about it but we can only change the way we react to it.
Epictetus also teaches logical reasoning and deduction which lets you come to rational judgements about things. Epictetus argues all his points superbly and justifies them all with logical reasons. Although some of his ideas and beliefs are outdates (such as the belief in only 4 elements as was common in Stoic physics) they still stand to this date.
This book is by far one of the best books I’ve read in my life and I recommend it to anyone who wants to be a better person, wants to improve their mental strength or just wants to be happier in life.
chadwthomas's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
Discourses by Epictetus is the best book I have read to date in a life-changing sense.
idarull's review against another edition
3.0
Some of the greatest advice I have been given, mixed with some of the most toxic and numbing advice I have been given. His overwhelming insecurity in his own positions leads to an obsession to both prove God (Zevs) and that God has a plan, and ultimately that the plan is good. His arguments have long since fallen apart, but some of his conclusions are still incredibly sound. Though, this is in spite of his obsession with leaning on the authority of a supposed God, rather than because of it.
This book took an incredible amount of effort to finish, but I'm glad I did, as it helped me grow a lot.
This book took an incredible amount of effort to finish, but I'm glad I did, as it helped me grow a lot.
bradach's review against another edition
5.0
The Discourses (and fragments) is in one of the three must-reads on Stoicism, along with Seneca's Letters from a Stoic and Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. I'm not a huge fan of the the Enchiridion, however. The Enchiridion has a lot about what a Stoic should act like, but nothing on how or why one should act and think the way it describes and thus should not be read first by anyone interesting in Stoicism.