Epictetus intro.

I had never studied the Stoic philosophy but I rather enjoy and support their principals. Like when a person says that all religions can lead to heaven I also believe that must philosophers are connected and have each found ways of happiness and well being. Epictetus said that “ do not seek events to happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they happen” (pg 2), this is a great belief which in term can make any person happy because it means you are enjoying and appreciating your life.

Epictetus probably wasn’t the fist to explain this principle and most likely wont be the last. As they dictate is Stoic philosophy that by understanding the past we can tell the future in a way. If this was true wouldn’t it be correct to say that people in the future also want to be happy and enjoy their life’s, which takes us again to the connection between philosophers that is that most (cant generalize) will think and have though similar ideas in terms of humanity. Everybody should enforce this principle since this is the same reason we study history for, teachers say it is for us not to make the same mistakes that have been made in the past. I think a little differently, I think history is more than a study of the past because it also is a set of events that have already bean experienced and are their for us to use them and to learn from them. If we can understand the world and its humans then it is deductable that we could now their reactions and acts before they are done.

Stoic philosophy also dictates there can never be full determinism. Fate is not something that we should believe in, we need to know that we are constantly making our own decisions and that they were not chosen for us. If everything was prefabricated no one would take any effort in doing anything because there would be no point. I agree with Sartre in his definition of existentialism in which we are made by our actions, which are in term made by our experiences and knowledge. We could believe in predictions and deductions but we need to understand that they aren’t always right and that there will never be anyone with all the knowledge who could predict the future.