Tentative Answers: Epictetus (for Gabby)

3. What rationale can Epictetus have for saying that one should not be upset if members of your family die?

(21 and 16)

Epictetus makes an effort to differentiate between the occurrence of death and our judgement of it. Since we cannot control everything that happens, we should aim to control our reactions, at least. And since death is not something with an immediate remedy, we should all strive to become forgiving of it. He says you can OUTWARDLY moan over the death of a close family member so long as you prevent yourself from feeling any type of emotion inwardly. You should instead choose to face this fact head on every day instead of pretending as though it doesn’t exist. He writes: “Let death and exile and everything that is terrible appear before your eyes every day, especially death; and you will never have anything contemptible in your thoughts or crave anything excessively” (16). According to Epictetus,  in order to be happy we must all accept the ephemeral nature of life.