Discourses and Selected Writings

Also known as the Skeptics, the Academics are philosophers whose focus is on abstract ideas and on the art of rhetoric. Epictetus opposes them for not addressing how to improve one’s character.

Founded by Diogenes in the fourth century BCE, Cynicism was one of the major philosophical schools of ancient Greece and Rome. They believed in detachment from material possessions, permanent social ties, and social conventions and lived as wandering beggars. While similar in some respects to Epictetus’s Stoic philosophy, Epictetus discourages his students from becoming Cynics, especially because he claimed that the Cynics of his day no longer lived up to the ideals of Diogenes.

In logic, an enthymeme is a syllogism (logical argument) that has a premise that is not immediately evident. Like syllogisms in general, Epictetus suggests that students of philosophy become adept at using them in order to support the fundamental beliefs of their philosophy, even to themselves.