Mind & Desire Podcast Episode 2 - Epictetus On Philosophy's Beginning

In this second Episode of the Mind & Desire podcast, I kick things off by looking at one of the places philosophy can begin its activity. Epictetus the Stoic philosopher in his Discourses book 2, chapter 11, tells us two things about the beginning of philosophy."The beginning of philosophy with those who take it up as they should, and enter in, as it were, by the gate, is a consciousness of a man's own weakness and impotence with reference to the things of real consequence in life.""Behold the beginning of philosophy!—a recognition of the conflict between the opinions of men, and a search for the origin of that conflict, and a condemnation of mere opinion, coupled with scepticism regarding it, and a kind of investigation to determine whether the opinion is rightly held, together with the invention of a kind of standard of judgement."(these are from the Oldfather translation, which you can find here https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Epictetus,_the_Discourses_as_reported_by_Arrian,_the_Manual,_and_Fragments/Book_2/Chapter_11) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gregorybsadler.substack.com/subscribe