Discourses · Chapter
In How Many Ways Appearances Exist, and What Aids We Should Provide Against Them explained
Epictetus outlines four ways appearances present themselves to us and emphasizes that the educated person must form correct judgments in each case.
What happens
Epictetus outlines four ways appearances present themselves to us and emphasizes that the educated person must form correct judgments in each case. He prescribes remedies for different sources of trouble: contrary habit against habit, reason against sophistry, and clear preconceptions against deceptive appearances. Using the example of death, he argues that while we cannot escape death, we can escape the fear of death through proper reasoning. He dismisses skeptical objections from Pyrrhonists and Academics, asserting that practical certainty in everyday actions is sufficient, and that those who are troubled should focus on more pressing remedies rather than abstract debates.
Themes in this chapter
Rationality and Self-Examination
Epictetus emphasizes the need for reason and disciplined judgment to correctly assess appearances and avoid perturbation.
Desire and Aversion
The origin of perturbation is identified as wishing for something that should not happen; the remedy lies in aligning desires with what is within our power.
Providence and Acceptance
The inevitability of death is presented as a necessary thing, and the proper response is to accept it rather than lament.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“Appearances are to us in four ways: for either things appear as they are; or they are not, and do not even appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be.”
We experience appearances in four categories: things that are real and seem real; things that are unreal and seem unreal; things that are real but seem unreal; and things that are unreal but seem real.
Epictetus classifies the possible relationships between reality and appearance, setting the stage for the need for correct judgment.
“When death appears an evil, we ought to have this rule in readiness, that it is fit to avoid evil things, and that death is a necessary thing.”
When we see death as bad, we should remind ourselves that we should avoid evil, but death is unavoidable and therefore not an evil we can escape.
Epictetus provides a practical precept to counter the deceptive appearance of death as an evil.
“For the origin of perturbation is this: to wish for something, and that this should not happen.”
Disturbance arises from wanting something and then not getting it.
Epictetus identifies the root of emotional turmoil as the mismatch between desire and reality.