Live data from Hacker News

The Enchiridion by Epictetus

gutenberg.org

31–40 of 45 posts

Re: The Enchiridion by Epictetus

#31
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever considered to add the Greek text?

It looks like the Greek text is there. You have to click "Compare Translations" on the top left -> Top Result.

Very nice. I missed that, because I expected that "Compare Translations" would highlight differences and thus did not check it out.

Re: The Enchiridion by Epictetus

#32
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like the Greek text is there. You have to click "Compare Translations" on the top left -> Top Result.

Very nice. I missed that, because I expected that "Compare Translations" would highlight differences and thus did not check it out.

For sure. I found it by mistake. I was just trying to get to the homepage by clicking the menu icon.

Re: The Enchiridion by Epictetus

#33

An "enchiridion" is a manual or primer. Interestingly, in both ancient and modern Greek, ἐγχειρίδιον / εγχειρίδιο also means "dagger." Because both a small manual and a dagger were things that could fit comfortably in (εγχ / εν) your hand (χείρ / χέρι). Not all that relevant to Epictetus, just wanted to add a little linguistic note.

Interesting. I thought it was a new menu item from Taco Bell.

Still thinking about those three black olive slices?

Re: The Enchiridion by Epictetus

#34
post #4

Was in one of those chain book stores recently and decided to stop by the philosophy section. It was tiny, only taking up part of a single shelf in a huge store. I was surprised to find about half of the titles were on Stoicism and closely-related topics. There were many pop-psych texts about applying Stoicism to modern life. I guess it's been having a moment? Interestingly, it was right next to the massive self-help…

Christian thought remains diametrically opposed to Eastern philosophies, at least when it comes to religion. Rejecting desire in an attempt at eternal life is quite different from wanting to escape existence as a whole and return to non-existence.

Re: The Enchiridion by Epictetus

#35
post #4

Was in one of those chain book stores recently and decided to stop by the philosophy section. It was tiny, only taking up part of a single shelf in a huge store. I was surprised to find about half of the titles were on Stoicism and closely-related topics. There were many pop-psych texts about applying Stoicism to modern life. I guess it's been having a moment? Interestingly, it was right next to the massive self-help…

Stoicism has had a bit of a revival since the early 2010s: https://www.google.com/search?udm=14&q=stoicism+before:2015

Re: The Enchiridion by Epictetus

#37
post #11
post #4

Was in one of those chain book stores recently and decided to stop by the philosophy section. It was tiny, only taking up part of a single shelf in a huge store. I was surprised to find about half of the titles were on Stoicism and closely-related topics. There were many pop-psych texts about applying Stoicism to modern life. I guess it's been having a moment? Interestingly, it was right next to the massive self-help…

In the west, we've had a long, deep split between what ordinary people rely on (religion and self-help) and respectable academic philosophy. Philosophy rooted in religion has a strict requirement to scale down to serve masses of people. Philosophy rooted in academia has a strict requirement to scale up to allow practitioners to flex their elite skills and show that they are worthy of scarce academic positions. Academ…

That's a pretty weak take. The difference between philosophy texts on ethics and the better self-help texts are just the difference between pulp fiction and classic novels. Time needs to pass before anybody is willing to go "actually, this is worth analyzing". That said, there's a lot of self-help that isn't philosophical (or, more exactly, don't attempt to defend the philosophy that they present the conclusions of).

Consider the difference between. "Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultry" and "you shouldn't kill or sleep with your neighbor's wife because both actions cause more harm than they provide benefit, which ought be our goal because the conclusions of such a cost/benefit analysis closely align to most people's natural sense of right and wrong". The former is a statement of morals. If you include the "...because God said so, and God is always right", then it becomes an ethical argument, like the second. The key is arguing the why down to axioms, and defending those axioms as superior to other axioms.

A self-help book like "How to win friends and influence people" provides rules to follow, to achieve a desired outcome, and attempts to explain why the rules work. It doesn't spend much, if any (it's been a while) energy arguing why you should want the desired outcome, or if the desired outcome is actually a good thing.

Re: The Enchiridion by Epictetus

#40
Epictetus' Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes: Guides to Stoic Living by Keith Seddon; has the first detailed modern commentary on The Enchiridion in over 1500 years. The book is positioned for both the general reader and academics with background notes, detailed commentary and explanations.

Every student of Stoic Philosophy should read this - https://www.routledge.com/Epictetus-Handbook--and-the-Tablet...

Post reply on HN