Charles Hogg

Reflections on Epictetus’ Notion of Personhood

Article
19/1 - Spring 2014, pages 97-106
Date of online publication: 21 février 2015
Date of publication: 21 février 2015

Abstract

Epictetus’ discussion of the death of spouse and child in Encheiridion 3 raises interesting problems on the meaning of “person” in his Stoic philosophy. The author uses Epictetus’ discussion as a window into his notion of person, and weighs the strengths and weaknesses of that notion. The Stoic view of person represents an advance over pre-Stoic views. It offers us a better way to look at significant others throughout life, and helps us better to deal with their loss. Yet it falls short of being a fully satisfactory notion of person, because it does not address the fact that I am constituted as person only in relationship to others who are themselves persons.

Keywords

Cite this article

Hogg, Charles. "Reflections on Epictetus’ Notion of Personhood." Forum Philosophicum 19, no. 1 (2014): 97–106. doi:10.35765/forphil.2014.1901.05.

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