Discourses · Chapter
Of Inconsistency explained
Epictetus examines why people readily confess to some faults (timidity, compassion) but not others (foolishness, injustice, intemperance), attributing this to confusion about good and evil.
What happens
Epictetus examines why people readily confess to some faults (timidity, compassion) but not others (foolishness, injustice, intemperance), attributing this to confusion about good and evil. He criticizes students who come to his school not to improve themselves but to display theoretical knowledge, and urges them to first heal their inner turmoil before seeking to learn.
Themes in this chapter
Rationality and Self-Examination
Epictetus urges constant self-scrutiny to recognize one's own confusion about good and evil, and to approach learning with a purified mind.
Philosophy as Practical Discipline
The chapter contrasts those who seek philosophy for display or theoretical debate with those who come to be genuinely improved and prepared for life's challenges.
Characters to notice
- Epictetus
The speaker who analyzes human inconsistency and admonishes students for their misguided approach to learning.
Key passages
“The chief thing (the ruling thing) is inconsistency and confusion in the things which relate to good and evil.”
The root of human inconsistency lies in a fundamental confusion about what is truly good and what is truly bad.
Epictetus identifies the core problem behind selective confession of faults.
“Do you go to my teacher as men go to oracles, prepared to obey? or do I like a snivelling boy go to my school to learn history and understand the books which I did not understand before, and, if it should happen so, to explain them also to others?”
Do you approach your teacher with the readiness to obey, like someone consulting an oracle, or do you come like a whining child just to learn facts and impress others with your explanations?
Epictetus contrasts the proper attitude of a student with a superficial, ego-driven approach.
“Why do you wonder then if you carry back from the school the very things which you bring into it? For you come not to lay aside (your principles) or to correct them or to receive other principles in place of them.”
It's no surprise you leave with the same faults you arrived with, because you never came to abandon or change your beliefs.
Epictetus points out that without genuine intent to change, no progress is possible.