Lesson 3
What Is In Our Power?
One of Epictetus’ main themes is that of what is ‘in our power’, and our having an understanding of this concept will advance us well along the path towards the philosophic life as the Stoics conceived it.
There are things which are within our power, and there are which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.
(Epictetus, Enchiridion 1, trans. Higginson 1890, 215)
Minding our Business
What does Epictetus mean by ‘whatever affairs are our own’ and ‘whatever are not properly our own affairs’? And how can this help us make progress as Stoics? Should we not regard everything that happens to us, everything we concern ourselves with, as ‘our own affairs’? This opening and rather perplexing paragraph of the Handbook is thankfully expanded upon at some length in the Discourses:
Read
Epictetus, Discourses 4.1.62–82.
Write
From the first paragraph of the reading above, identify the specific items that Epictetus says are not in our power. Do you agree with him? What sorts of response might someone make to Epictetus?
What’s Mine is Mine? Not really.
Epictetus offers a range of things that are not in our power. Our bodies, he says, are not in our power: specifically, whether we have ‘perfect’ bodies, whether they are healthy or handsome, nor whether they go on living or not. ‘Body then is not our own.’ He goes on to identify a range of external goods that are not in our power: having an estate, or having just such a one as we please, slaves (not applicable to us in our modern setting), clothes, a house, and horses (perhaps we could substitute ‘car’ for ‘horses’). Epictetus concludes the paragraph by mentioning other people’s bodies: no matter how earnestly we desire it, it is not in our power as to whether our children live, nor our spouses, brothers and sisters, nor our friends.
At first sight, this could appear as an awfully gloomy picture. Everything around us, including even our own bodies, Epictetus says, are entirely beyond our power to control. Yet is this wholly correct? The thought that my health is entirely beyond my control seems mistaken. It is up to me to eat a healthy diet, and it is up to me to avoid dangers of various sorts. If I feel unwell, I may call in the doctor. As with any of my possessions, I may take a wide variety of measures to look after my body properly.
Epictetus would not disagree with this. He would say that everyone has a responsibility to care for their own bodies, and those who are striving for wisdom especially so. But he would reply that the ‘power’ we have to care for our bodies is partial and limited, no matter how much care we take. If we feel ill, the responsible course of action is to go to the doctor; but whether we become ill or not in the first place – even allowing for our taking every precaution to steer clear of infectious people, contaminated food and toxic sites – is not in our power. And having arrived at the doctor’s – even allowing that we took every precaution to find a good doctor – it is not in our power as to whether we get even a correct diagnosis, let alone an effective treatment. And most certainly, it is not in our power as to whether we were born handsome, or disabled – and like it or not, we have absolutely no power as to whether we number among the very few who have the misfortune to suffer a sudden and fatal brain hemorrhage, nor whether we will perish in a moment should an asteroid from outer space smash into the earth.
Whatever steps we take to attain what we desire, or to avoid what we do not want, we can provide ourselves with no guarantee that we will meet with success. Certainly it is sensible and rational to try our best. But whether we get what we know to be sensible, is not in our power. Epictetus then, and the Stoics generally, place the emphasis not on getting what we want, but on trying to get what is sensible. If we invest all our hopes in getting what we desire, we are likely to be disappointed a great deal of the time. But if we invest our hope instead in trying our best – so long as we have trained ourselves to be experts in this skill – we will never be disappointed.
Write
Write down the items that Epictetus says are in our power. [You may wish to review the second paragraph of the passage above.]
Assenting and Aiming
There are two types of items here. One is our ‘assenting’ to things. This is our capacity to hold that something is true or false. This is always and wholly in our power. How we judge things is our own affair. Even when we are the victims of deceit, how we eventually judge some matter is entirely within our own control (though the guarantee here does not extend to our judgments always being right).
We may judge that ‘2 + 2 = 4’, for example. Our capacity to hold that this is the case can never be taken from us. Even if a cruel torturer should attempt to force us to believe that ‘2 + 2 = 5’, he must fail. Even if under the influence of extreme pain we should cry out, ‘Yes! Two plus two equals five!’ we would be lying, and we would know ourselves to be lying. Our uttering the sentence does not mean that someone else has gained power over our own capacity to make judgments. Epictetus points out that our capacity to judge death as nothing to fear (to ‘despise’ death) is within our own power. He calls this an ‘action’, and we can allow that forming judgments is a special sort of acting. It is certainly a sort of ‘doing something’.
The other item that Epictetus identifies as being in our power is our capacity to ‘exert our aim’ towards something, and this is more readily understood as the capacity to intend to act in some particular way.
Epictetus’ example is that of walking. That I may walk is not entirely in my power: I may be locked in a cupboard, my legs might be restrained, I may have been injected with some paralyzing agent on the part of a mad scientist. Any of these restraints will prevent my walking. Even so, my intending to walk, conceived of as my capacity to wish to walk, and my capacity to try to walk, is entirely in my power. As Epictetus says, my ‘exerting’ myself ‘towards’ walking cannot be restrained.
Thus, our body and the things in the world external to our bodies are not (entirely) in our power. But things that are internal, our thoughts, judgments (about what to pursue and what to avoid, and how matters stand), and intentions about how we would like to act, and what we would like to attempt, are (entirely) in our power.
Write
In your Journal write up accounts of your daily affairs and identify the things that are in your power and the things that are not in your power. For example, you might write: ‘Went shopping. In my power: the decision to do this. Not in my power: getting there (the car might have broken down – it didn’t, but it might have); finding the store open (there might have been a fire – there wasn’t, but there might have been); finding the goods I wanted … ’
Maintain a record for as long as you like, but do this for a minimum of one week. Do not worry that you will be including everyday, trivial events.
Be sure to include any occasion when things did go wrong. Write down your reactions to setbacks and disappointments. You might write something like: ‘Went shopping. In my power: the decision to do this. Not in my power: finding the shop was shut! In my power: getting annoyed at this, so decided not to!’
Even though external circumstances may urge a particular reaction – such as becoming annoyed that the store was closed – it is nevertheless entirely within your power as to whether you actually get annoyed.
Read
Discuss
Seneca suggests that associating with large numbers of people is harmful, that he has gone home more cruel and less humane through having had contact with human beings. Our moral characters are easily undermined, he suggests, our internal peace is easily unsettled, the virtues we are working to secure are in fact frail and fragile, easily disturbed by displays of vice in those around us.
How happy are you to accept Seneca’s picture?
With your discussion partner, find out if they have perceived any changes in you over the last four weeks or so. Go over the following questions together.
How do they feel about Seneca’s statement that one should choose their friends and acquaintances carefully? Is the philosopher so different from other people? What this means for you personally? Is Seneca right when he says ‘you must inevitably either hate or imitate the world at large’? Why does Seneca say that ‘thatch makes a person just as good a roof as gold does’?