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Anonymous
ETHICS
2016-04-07 00:46:59 Post No. 946984
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ETHICS
Anonymous
2016-04-07 00:46:59
Post No. 946984
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The Discourses by Epictetus
Book One, Chapter 18
That we ought not to he angry with the errors of others
If what philosophers say is true, that all men have one principle,
as in the case of assent the persuasion that a thing is so, and in the
case of dissent the persuasion that a thing is not so, and in the case
of a suspense of judgment the persuasion that a thing is uncertain, so
also in the case of a movement toward anything the persuasion that a
thing is for a man's advantage, and it is impossible to think that one
thing is advantageous and to desire another, and to judge one thing to
be proper and to move toward another, why then are we angry with the
many? "They are thieves and robbers," you may say. What do you mean by
thieves and robbers? "They are mistaken about good and evil." Ought we
then to be angry with them, or to pity them? But show them their
error, and you will see how they desist from their errors. If they
do not see their errors, they have nothing superior to their present
opinion.
"Ought not then this robber and this adulterer to be destroyed?"
By no means say so, but speak rather in this way: "This man who has
been mistaken and deceived about the most important things, and
blinded, not in the faculty of vision which distinguishes white and
black, but in the faculty which distinguishes good and bad, should
we not destroy him?" If you speak thus, you will see how inhuman
this is which you say, and that it is just as if you would say, "Ought
we not to destroy this blind and deaf man?" But if the greatest harm
is the privation of the greatest things, and the greatest thing in
every man is the will or choice such as it ought to be, and a man is
deprived of this will, why are you also angry with him? Man, you ought
not to be affected contrary to nature by the bad things of another.
Pity him rather: drop this readiness to be offended and to hate,
When I read this it was an eye opener for me.
Post your favorite quotes regarding ethics.
