JOURNAL ARTICLE

Epictetus, the Early Stoics, and Frede's Argument for the First Notion of a Will.

  • Published In: Rhizomata, 2025, v. 13, n. 1. P. 83 1 of 3

  • Database: Humanities Source Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Blackson, Thomas A. 3 of 3

Abstract

Michael Frede has argued that there is a minimum belief for a Stoic to have a notion of a will and that Epictetus and the late Stoics were the first to have this belief. Against Frede's interpretation, I argue for a new understanding of what the Stoics believed. Epictetus did not believe, as Frede argues, that adult human beings choose to assent to impulsive impressions. This gets the object of choice wrong in the minimum belief. He believed that the choice adult human beings make is to exercise their ability to use their impressions, and I argue that the early Stoics probably believed this too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Rhizomata. 2025/08, Vol. 13, Issue 1, p83
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Biography
  • Publication Date:2025
  • ISSN:21965110
  • DOI:10.1515/rhiz-2025-0004
  • Accession Number:187169750
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Rhizomata is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Looking to go deeper into this topic? Look for more articles on EBSCOhost.