1001Philosophers

Epictetus vs Marcus Aurelius on Mind

Epictetus treats the mind primarily as the faculty whose proper use is the assent or refusal of impressions, and whose freedom is preserved in the dichotomy of control. Marcus treats the mind as the inner citadel where the emperor disciplines his responses to the events of office. Both philosophers locate Stoic freedom in the rational mind's relation to its own assents rather than in any external condition.

About this topic

Philosophy of mind asks what mental states are, how they relate to bodies and brains, and how thought, perception, and feeling are possible at all. Classical sources from Plato through Descartes treated the mind as a distinct substance, while later philosophers proposed varieties of materialism, functionalism, and emergentism in its place. Phenomenologists in the twentieth century turned attention to consciousness as it is lived from the inside. Contemporary philosophy of mind works in close dialogue with cognitive science.

For a side-by-side overview of the two philosophers more broadly, see the full Epictetus vs Marcus Aurelius comparison. To browse philosophy more widely on this theme, see the the Mind quotes hub.

Representative quotes on mind

Epictetus on mind

  • “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”

    Τί πρῶτόν ἐστιν ἔργον τοῦ φιλοσοφοῦντος; ἀποβαλεῖν οἴησιν· ἀμήχανον γάρ, ἅ τις εἰδέναι οἴεται, ταῦτα ἄρξασθαι μανθανειν.

  • Attributed to Epictetus:

    “It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”

  • Attributed to Epictetus:

    “Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.”

  • Attributed to Epictetus:

    “Some things are within our power, while others are not.”

Marcus Aurelius on mind

  • “The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.”

    The universe is flux, life is opinion.

  • “Confine yourself to the present.”

    VII, 29

  • “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”

    ἐν ὀλιγίστοις κεῖται τὸ εὐδαιμόνως βιῶσαι | VII, 67

  • “Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”

    Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul.

  • “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

    VII, 11.

All 8 Marcus Aurelius quotes on mind →

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