Epictetus Research Paper

Epictetus was a philosopher known for Stoicism. Stoicism is a Greek philosophy that teaches people to develop self-control and fortitude as to not have bad emotions. Many believe Epictetus was born in the 50s C.E., approximately in 55 C.E., in Hierapolis in Phrygia (modern day Turkey) and died approximately in 135 C.E. There have been no sources or records of his real name. Epictetus was born to a slave mother and therefore became a slave himself to his master Epaphroditus. There are no records of Epictetus marrying or having any children and most sources believe he lived to an old age. Epictetus was tortured by his master and became unable to walk normally after his leg was twisted. Because Epictetus had intellectual abilities, Epaphroditus let him study with Musonius Rufus, a Stoic teacher. Epictetus was taught Stoicism philosophy and enjoyed it very much. In the year 68 C.E. he was freed from

Epictetus did not have any rivals. He was well liked and was influenced by many philosophers. Stoicism’s closest rival was Epicureanism. Epicureanism was founded by Epicurus and taught people how to not fear death and the supernatural, as well as finding happiness at any given time. Its main belief is that pleasure is the end of life. Epicureanism philosophers taught others that pleasure is lack of pain and that no one should have pain in their body or soul. They also taught self-control, and how they should avoid pain. One of the ways to avoid pain was to have a calm and tranquil life. They did not want everyone to have great pleasure because consequences of it would be the pain. They also taught there were different types of pleasure such as high and low. The high pleasure meant pleasures of the mind while low pleasure meant pleasure of the body. High pleasure consisted of intellectuality and low pleasure consisted of food, drink, and