The Discipline of Action

Massimo Pigliucci tells us how to practice forebearance.

- Massimo Pigliucci

Epictetus of Hierapolis (50-135 CE) began life as a slave and ended it as the most renowned teacher of philosophy in the Roman world. Talk about going from rags to riches! Yet the little we know of his lifestyle indicates that despite his fame, Epictetus lived a simple life until the end. When he was old he adopted a friend’s child who would have otherwise likely died; and his main concern was not to make money but to teach young Roman aristocrats how to become better human beings and future leaders. One of the reasons we still study Epictetus two millennia later is because of his threefold curriculum in practical Stoic philosophy, the so-called disciplines of Desire, Action, and Assent. Last time we looked at the theory and practice of Desire. Let’s now turn to Action.

‘Action’ here specifically means behavior toward our fellow human beings – arguably the major concern for social creatures like us. With very few exceptions, we simply must interact with other people, be they our partner, children, friends, colleagues, or strangers. Such interactions are crucial for our own wellbeing, as plenty of scientific research shows. It follows that to learn to behave appropriately with others will be a major cause of our own happiness as well as of society’s thriving. But what does it mean to behave ‘appropriately’? In Greek the word is kathe ̄