PHIL101 Exam 3 Questions with Verified
Correct Answers
What is the core distinction of Epictetus' Stoicism?
What I can control vs What I can't control
For Epictetus, what is ours and what is not ours?
Our choices are ours, but everything else(including the body) is an external
Are we indifferent to indfferents?
Not in the normal context, we should train ourselves to treat indifferents as indifferent in
moral worth. Meaning they can be preferred, but they cannot determine our
happiness/judgement
What is it for something to be according to or contrary to nature?
Something is according to our nature when it supports our rational, virtuous function.
Something is contrary to our nature when it undermines judgement and leads us astray.
How do the descriptive and normative senses of 'natural' differ?
Descriptive nature is your natural being, normative is being a role, and performing that
function
In which (if either) sense is the runaway father (of 1.11) acting naturally'?
The father is acting naturally in the descriptive sense, in which it his natural inclination to
run. He acts unnatural in his normative nature, for he is not performing his role as a function
and therefore acted wrongly.
What is our nature?
, Rational, human being of the cosmos, with the spark of zeus
How is the fundamental Stoic distinction grounded in our nature?
Our rational ability is our nature, and our rational faculty is the only part of us we truly
control.
What are appearances?
How something seems, or appears. The initial impression things make on us before we judge
them.
How are appearances related to motivation and action?
Appearances trigger our initial impulses, but action only follows when we give rational assent
or dissent
What if any power do we have with respect to appearances?
We have the power to assent or dissent to appearances. For they present themselves as good
or bad and we can deliberate on whether to assent to the appearance.
Why do people act wrongly?
People act wrongly because they assent to false appearances, wrong actions come from
ignorance about what is really good.
How should you respond to someone's mistreating you?
You should be calm and understanding - The other person is acting from mistaken beliefs and
only your own judgment can truly harm you.
What is the relation between virtue and happiness, for Epictetus -- is it sufficient,
necessary, both, neither?
Correct Answers
What is the core distinction of Epictetus' Stoicism?
What I can control vs What I can't control
For Epictetus, what is ours and what is not ours?
Our choices are ours, but everything else(including the body) is an external
Are we indifferent to indfferents?
Not in the normal context, we should train ourselves to treat indifferents as indifferent in
moral worth. Meaning they can be preferred, but they cannot determine our
happiness/judgement
What is it for something to be according to or contrary to nature?
Something is according to our nature when it supports our rational, virtuous function.
Something is contrary to our nature when it undermines judgement and leads us astray.
How do the descriptive and normative senses of 'natural' differ?
Descriptive nature is your natural being, normative is being a role, and performing that
function
In which (if either) sense is the runaway father (of 1.11) acting naturally'?
The father is acting naturally in the descriptive sense, in which it his natural inclination to
run. He acts unnatural in his normative nature, for he is not performing his role as a function
and therefore acted wrongly.
What is our nature?
, Rational, human being of the cosmos, with the spark of zeus
How is the fundamental Stoic distinction grounded in our nature?
Our rational ability is our nature, and our rational faculty is the only part of us we truly
control.
What are appearances?
How something seems, or appears. The initial impression things make on us before we judge
them.
How are appearances related to motivation and action?
Appearances trigger our initial impulses, but action only follows when we give rational assent
or dissent
What if any power do we have with respect to appearances?
We have the power to assent or dissent to appearances. For they present themselves as good
or bad and we can deliberate on whether to assent to the appearance.
Why do people act wrongly?
People act wrongly because they assent to false appearances, wrong actions come from
ignorance about what is really good.
How should you respond to someone's mistreating you?
You should be calm and understanding - The other person is acting from mistaken beliefs and
only your own judgment can truly harm you.
What is the relation between virtue and happiness, for Epictetus -- is it sufficient,
necessary, both, neither?
