Free Online Resources on Epictetus' Stoic Philosophy

Since the beginning of my career, in my first Ethics class as a graduate student, I have been teaching Epictetus' Stoic philosophy.  At the beginning, I concentrated on his short handbook, the Enchiridion Once I discovered just how much of a richer Stoic perspective the four books of his Discourses (those we currently possess - there may have originally been eight) contribute, I shifted my focus towards introducing students to key passages from that work.

Last Fall, I designed, produced, and then taught an experimental open-access 4-week online course on Epictetus' Discourses for the Global Center for Advanced Studies (an institution I've since resigned and dissociated myself from), donating the course free of charge both for the learners and for that institution.  (As a side-note, I'll be teaching that course again, in an expanded 6-week version this coming Fall, this time hosting it through my company, ReasonIO.)

Building that class was a particularly fruitful exercise for a variety of reasons, the most salient of which here are that - because of the way I structure online courses - it involved me in creating a lot of resources on Epictetus for my students, some of which I've aggregated and linked to here for anyone who would like to check them out or use them.  (As another side-note, someone might ask: Why are you giving people those resources here?  Won't that discourage them from signing up for your class later on? There's a simple answer for that:  People sign up to take classes specifically with me because in the class site, I provide them with even more than what's here, and I hold weekly online class sessions as well.)

In any case, here's the resources - 14 handouts and 45 videos - developed for that class.  If you find them useful or enjoyable, feel free to comment below - and watch for the full class offered this Fall!

Handouts - Stoicism more generally:

• Key Figures in the Stoic School and Movement
• Stoics on Emotions 

Handouts - Epictetus' Discourses

• What Is In Our Power 
• The Three Fields of Study 
• The Ruling Faculty 
• Practical Reasoning 
• Proleipseis (General Principles) 
• Individual Prohairesis, The Social, and the Divine 
• God and Providence 
• Understanding Anger 
• Humans Reverting to Animals 
• Confidence, Caution, and Concern 
• Common Life Situations Discussed in the Discourses
• Evaluations of Three Other Philosophical Schools 

Core Concept Videos on Epictetus' Discourses

• What Is and What Isn't in our Control
• The Nature of Freedom
• Rationality, the Ruling Part 
• The Faculty of Choice (Prohairesis)
• Indifference in Things

• The Beginning of Philosophy
• The Three Fields (Topoi) of Study
• Preconceptions (Proleipseis)  
• The Use of Argument and Logic 
• Knowing the Prices of Things 
• Processes of Practical Reasoning

• Habits and Practice
• Training (Askesis)
• Attention or Mindfulness 
• Dealing with Appearances  
• Inconsistency and Moral Failings
• Stubbornness or Obstinancy
• False Peace and Leisure as Ends

• Duties, Roles, and Relationships
• Stoic Cosmopolitanism 
• Authority and Moral Example 
• Conditions for Genuine Friendship
• Social Intercourse 
• Contentiousness And Its Opposite  
• Subjecting Desires to Other People

• Confidence, Caution, and Concern 
• Epictetus on Anxiety (Agonia)
• Understanding and Addressing Anger
• Epictetus on Familial Affection
• Solitude or Forlornness
• Not Wanting Pity  

• Dealing with Illness 
• Irrational Fears 
• Personal Appearance and Beauty
• Cleanliness and Purification 
• Lust and Adultery

• Divine Providence
• Human Relations to the Divine
• Willing What God Wills 

• Epictetus' Criticisms of Academic Skepticism 
• Epictetus' Criticisms of Epicureanism
• Epictetus' Evaluation of Cynicism
• Socrates as a Stoic Sage
• The Profession of a Stoic Philosopher
• The Master Argument