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Making Proper use of Impressions with Epictetus (Episode 173)
190 Plays1 hour ago
Epictetus tells us the chief task of philosophy is just one thing: Make proper use of impressions.
In this episode, Michael Tremblay does a deep dive into what this means, how we can do it, and why, for Epictetus, it is the most important thing there is.
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Transcript
Introduction to Epictetus's Concept of Impressions
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi everyone, welcome to Stowa Conversations. My name is Michael Trombley, and today I'll be doing a solo episode on making proper use of impressions. What does that mean?
00:00:12
Speaker
Why is it important? And how do we do it? I wanted to talk about this because it's something that Epictetus really hammers in. um He talks about, as we'll see shortly, that the purpose of having reason, the the the reason that we're intelligent is to make proper use of impressions, that the essence of the good consists in making proper use of impressions, that it's the task of the educated person to do this.
Importance of Correct Use of Impressions in Stoicism
00:00:39
Speaker
And i I wanted to explain why Epictetus puts the central role on it, what it entails, and really how we can do it. and And it's... um I wouldn't say it's the whole picture. I don't think Epictetus is right if he's ah if you say something like all of Stoicism is about making proper use of impressions.
00:00:59
Speaker
But Epictetus is probably right that if you could take one crucial lesson from Stoicism and one maybe one crucial component of it would be just making proper use of impressions. If you could just do that, you'd probably have 80% of the benefits of Stoicism right there.
00:01:19
Speaker
And I think Epictetus is right about that. So we're going to cover what is making proper use of impressions, why does Epictetus think that's our chief task, um how do we achieve it, and where people often go wrong.
00:01:35
Speaker
So let's jump into it. When you read Epictetus' Discourses, you'll notice something that he talks about that other Stoics don't. He talks about this goal of making proper use of impressions.
00:01:49
Speaker
I have some passages here when he talks about this. He says in Discourses 1, Chapter 20, Part 5, For what purpose, then, have we received reason from nature?
Role of Reason in Understanding Impressions
00:02:02
Speaker
To make proper use of impressions. that's a pretty big claim. That's why the entire reason we're self-reflective and intelligent is to make proper use of impressions. Later on in the same chapter, he says, quote, the essence of good consists in the proper use of impressions.
00:02:21
Speaker
So again, we have this claim, we've got reason to make proper use of impressions, and it's the essence of good. It's the the way that humans can achieve their end and live well is to make proper use of impressions.
00:02:33
Speaker
In book one, chapter 27, he says something related. He says, thus it is the task of the educated man to form the right judgment in all these cases, meaning all these cases of impressions. Okay.
00:02:46
Speaker
So that's the chief task is to, and for him, that's that's the the essence of the good, the purpose by which we have reason. reason And the task of the educated person is to make the right use of impressions.
00:03:00
Speaker
So what does he mean by this? And why would you call this our our chief task? How could the essence of the good consist in this?
Impact of Beliefs on Human Actions
00:03:10
Speaker
Well, according to Stoicism, humans are psychologically hardwired to act and feel in response to how they judge the world. So how humans act will follow what they think.
00:03:24
Speaker
This is why Marcus says the quality of our life is determined by the quality of our thoughts. And this is why Stoics say that virtue and happiness depend on knowledge. Your emotional life and your character depend on how you perceive the world.
00:03:40
Speaker
The kind, courageous, just, happy person is a person who understands the world properly. Again, in other words, everyone acts based on how things seem to them.
00:03:52
Speaker
Another way to say that everyone acts based on how things seem to them is just that our behavior, our emotions, our motivations are determined by our beliefs. So the Stoics are placing this incredible emphasis importance on belief.
00:04:07
Speaker
Instead of thinking about human psychology, like, well, you believe certain things, but then um there's maybe you know animalistic desires or irrational parts of ourselves. The Stoics say, no, every way you act comes down to a belief. It comes down to how you cognitively reflect on the world.
00:04:26
Speaker
So this huge emphasis on belief. Then the Stoics make this, I think, really acute insight ah that our belief...
00:04:37
Speaker
are not reflective of the world. They can sometimes be false. Actually, it's probably likely that they're false. And the reason our beliefs are not representative of the world is because we're not actually forming beliefs based on an accurate representation of the world.
00:04:58
Speaker
Things are mediated by how they seem to us. So if I see a tree, I don't perceive immediately and accurately a tree in an unbiased, unrelative way.
00:05:11
Speaker
I'm receiving that that physical thing, that physical tree is leaving an impression on my mind. It is stamping itself in my mind in some way and it's that impression that I'm reflecting upon.
00:05:23
Speaker
And so those impressions can sometimes be accurate and I can believe them. And I think, well, it's an impression of a tree. I think it's a tree and there could be an actual tree. And sometimes those impressions can be false.
00:05:34
Speaker
And that's where we run into trouble is we... If we believe impressions that are false, we form false beliefs and we go about acting on those false beliefs. The Stoics think this is this especially dangerous when those have to do with value.
00:05:49
Speaker
So I believe what other people care what other people think about me matters. And then I live a life where I care what other people think and I try to impress them. and i try to um I change my behavior and i'm I'm not genuine to myself because I'm trying to...
00:06:06
Speaker
ah Be popular be well-liked. And so that's an example of how you make mistakes because you have a false belief, because you received a kind of impression.
Historical Context and Personal Agency in Impressions
00:06:14
Speaker
um And Epictetus is very strict on this, that all of our psychology, all of the great even stories of the world, all are nothing more than results of people really wrestling with impressions and getting their assents, as the Stoics would put it, right or wrong.
00:06:36
Speaker
He has this wonderful quote. This is from Discourses, Book 1, Chapter 28, where he says, "...so do such great and dreadful deeds have this as their origin then, sense impressions?" This and no other, Epictetus responds.
00:06:53
Speaker
The Iliad consists of nothing but impressions and the use of those impressions. An impression prompted Paris to carry off the wife of Menelaus. An impression prompted Helen to follow him.
00:07:06
Speaker
If then an impression had it caused Menelaus to feel that it was an advantage to be robbed of such a wife, what would have happened? Not only the Iliad would have been lost, but the Odyssey too.
00:07:19
Speaker
And Epictetus' point there is, look, you take something as complex, as grand as the Iliad. you know he's He's making a reference to this ancient poem, even in their own time. It was 900 years before um before Epictetus' time that Homer um you would have composed this version of the Iliad.
00:07:43
Speaker
He's making reference to this great epic story. And he's like, one way to look at that story, you can you can view it through a historical lens. You can view it through through a political lens. But one way to look at it is through this psychological lens, which is people had impressions Oh, I need to, um I need Helen of Troy as my wife. You know, that's an impression that Paris had. She's so beautiful. I'll be happy if she's my wife.
00:08:09
Speaker
And he assented to that impression, became a belief and it motivated Paris's behavior. And then Helen's husband ah sought revenge. And that was an impression. i should i should get revenge. It's a wrong thing, a bad thing that happened to me.
00:08:23
Speaker
And that prompted you know this this major war, this major ah battle at Troy. And Epictetus' point was that, well, if he felt, ah, it's not such a big deal that I've lost my wife.
00:08:37
Speaker
It's probably not a big deal to lose a wife that was willing to go, that was willing to, you know, if Helen, if Helen wants to be with Paris, um, who am I to stop her? If he had that impression instead, or really that, that, uh, reflection on him, on his impression, then there would have been no war.
00:08:55
Speaker
So there's this real psychological way to view things that, um, all of human history, all of human behavior and actions has been a series of impressions received from And then impressions handled either correctly or incorrectly. and And that's really what Epictetus is getting at when he talks about it as our chief task. And when he says it's the essence of the good is that there's a way of viewing your life as a series of responses and reactions to impressions.
00:09:24
Speaker
In fact, the Stoics would probably encourage this way of viewing your life because that's a way of putting the emphasis on what's up to you. It's a way of thinking about your life that you have the most control and determination over.
00:09:36
Speaker
Where if you see your life instead of as as, you know, you're kind of this passive agent that things happen to, well, I didn't have control over whether I got revenge on Paris. I just, I kind of had to um because he seduced my wife or something like that. If you view it as this passive way of thinking about things, well, things happen to you and you just had to respond, kind of taking away your agency or your sense of responsibility in those moments.
00:10:04
Speaker
So that's why it's our chief task. One thing I wanted to respond to as well there is that it's it's not relativism that Epictetus is talking about here.
Universal Preconceptions and Their Conflicts
00:10:15
Speaker
When he says, well, um Paris had an impression, Helen had an impression, and then the Iliad occurred.
00:10:22
Speaker
He's not just saying that people need to act how things seem to them. um you need To understand this, I need to introduce the Stoic concept of preconceptions.
00:10:34
Speaker
So the Stoics don't just think that you know something seems good to one person, it seems bad to another person. Well, what can you do?
00:10:45
Speaker
those are really Those are their impressions. That's one way to read what epi Epictetus is saying. It's not what he's saying. um The Stoics believe in these things called preconceptions. And preconceptions are conceptual categories shared across all humans.
00:11:00
Speaker
So for example, we all share this preconception of good as something that is desirable and pursued in all situations. We all share a preconception that bad is the thing to be avoided in all situations.
00:11:15
Speaker
When we disagree with people, we don't actually disagree about these conceptual categories. We don't disagree about our preconceptions because they're innate to all humans. We disagree about the application of the preconceptions.
00:11:28
Speaker
And Epictetus says here in Book 1, Chapter 22, "...preconceptions are common to all men, and one preconception does not contradict another." For who of us does not assume that the good is advantageous and what we should choose and in all circumstances seek and pursue?
00:11:48
Speaker
And which of us does not assume that justice is fair and becoming? When then arises the conflict? In applying these preconceptions to particular cases, as when one person cries, he acted well, he is a courageous man, and another, no, he is out of his senses.
00:12:06
Speaker
um So Epictetus' point here is that preconceptions are innate to humans. Their application can be relative in a sense. So some cultures will call things good or pious or respectful, that and another culture will call it something else good or pious respectful. One family might think that something is courageous, and another person might think, oh, it's foolhardy and rash.
00:12:29
Speaker
um But we all agree that being courageous is a good thing. And the Stoics also think that the correct application of these preconceptions is objective.
00:12:41
Speaker
There's an objective truth of the matter. There is
00:12:46
Speaker
a clear case when someone is being courageous or when they're being foolish. Um, courage, for example, the Stokes would say is knowledge of what's worth being afraid of. And the Stokes would say you're being courageous when you're, you know, actively withstanding things that normal people are afraid of because they don't understand Stoicism.
00:13:11
Speaker
Like if you, don't know, you got on stage and performed a song. when think People would say, oh, it's really scary. You're really courageous. And it's go and you the stoic musician would respond and say, well, I just know the opinion of the crowd isn't really a bad thing. I need to go out there. It's not something to be afraid of. i need to go out there and play my instrument to the best of my ability, focus on how how I perform.
00:13:33
Speaker
But the judgment of the crowd, you know, that's that's not up to me, just how I play the instrument. So... It wasn't something I was really thinking about. That would be an example of Stoic courage that that person correctly understands with what's worth fear and what's not.
00:13:49
Speaker
So the Stoics think that courage has a very objective definition. Again.
00:13:57
Speaker
Impressions and preconceptions can be relative in a sense that Paris can have a different conception of whats ah you know whether or not it was correct um to pursue Helen than Helen's husband.
00:14:12
Speaker
right They've got a different... its and they've got it They're categorizing that event. Paris thinks it's a good thing. Helen's husband thinks it's a bad thing. they're They're applying different preconceptions to the same event. So there's there's a kind of...
00:14:24
Speaker
um there's a relativism there, but whether or not they're accurate in applying those conceptions, that that's an objective question for the Stoics. Another example is you can't call money good, no matter what culture you live in. every Every Stoic would say that's an indifferent and they would think that's an incorrect judgment.
00:14:42
Speaker
It doesn't matter your cultural um relationship with money. Our task then to be a happy, good person is to apply our preconceptions correctly.
00:14:55
Speaker
As the Stoics would say, we need to apply them in accordance with nature. And we apply them to specific impressions. When I receive an impression, i apply a preconception to it. Something happens to me, I say that's a good thing, it's a bad thing, it's an indifferent thing.
00:15:11
Speaker
That was a just situation, was an unjust situation. i was harmed, I was not harmed. I take these preconceptions, these conceptual categories latent with value, and I apply them to the experiences i have.
00:15:25
Speaker
And that's what Epictetus means when he says um making proper use of impressions. it's basically going about and doing that application of preconceptions properly, labeling what is good as good and labeling what is bad as bad.
00:15:41
Speaker
But this is not as easy as it sounds. People often go wrong here. And this is what Epictetus is warning about. This is why he's emphasizing, look, you've really got to make proper use of impressions.
Consistency in Judging Impressions
00:15:52
Speaker
And why do we go wrong? Well, Epictetus thinks we go wrong because we are careless. We don't really notice the significance of this task and we aren't consistent either. We can sometimes break rules in how we apply our preconceptions for our own benefit.
00:16:15
Speaker
So here's a quote from Epictetus here on um from Book 1, Chapter 28 of the Discourses. He says, when we want to judge weights we don't judge at random we want to judge whether things are straight or crooked we don't do so at random and it general in general when it makes any difference to know the truth on any matter not one of us will do anything at random And Epictetus pointing correctly that
00:16:42
Speaker
of happiness or adversity or success or failure there only do we act rashly and at random nowhere anything like a standard but some impression strikes me and i instantly act on it and so epicteus is pointing out correctly we think we we We think there's this objective truth in the world all the time. And we we say, well, I think that one thing is heavier than another. i know there's an objective truth of that matter. So I'm going to literally go out and put it put it on a scale. I'm going to develop this method of testing weight and I'm going to apply that consistently. And if someone tried to tell me that this feather was heavier than this rock...
00:17:22
Speaker
I might laugh at them, but then I'd say, oh, put it on a scale. Prove it to me. And likewise, we do that for shapes. We say, well, if I want to know, you know, if I'm hanging up something on the wall painting and I want to know if it's level, if it's straight, I'll measure that. I'll test that. I think there's a think there's an objectivity there and I'm going to go out and do it.
00:17:43
Speaker
But because, think either because people are they don't They don't value this kind of philosophical work or because they think there's this kind of relativism.
00:17:53
Speaker
People don't do the same thing when it comes to value judgments. They don't think, well, there's an objective truth of the matter. I'm going to go half out there and measure it and test it. And that's what Epictetus is saying is the big mistake. We don't apply ah consistent standard of judgment. We don't apply a consistent scale to the impressions that strike us.
00:18:11
Speaker
And so we don't make proper use of them. So, so a quick recap. Epictetus thinks our chief task is making proper use of impressions. This is our chief task because if you take a psychological view of the world, our entire life and all of life, all of the great stories, the Iliad, the Odyssey, politics, countries, cultures, it is reducible to just how people make use of impressions because how we act is based on our beliefs and our beliefs come from how we make use of impressions.
00:18:45
Speaker
This is not relativistic because there's a truth or a falsity to the matter. And that truth or falsity comes from did our beliefs to the preconceptions in our beliefs, are they properly applied to the beliefs we have? So if I'm calling something good, is it actually good? If I'm calling something bad, is it actually bad?
00:19:06
Speaker
If it's just or courageous, is it actually those things? So making proper use of impressions is ah problem properly applying those preconceptions, properly applying those categories to the things we encounter.
00:19:18
Speaker
We go wrong and fail to do this because we don't have a good standard of judgment. We either don't apply it because we're careless or we don't have one. So that gets us to the practical aspect about it.
00:19:30
Speaker
How do you do this? How do you make proper use of impressions? Well, Epictetus is going to recommend two steps. The first is that you have to actually suspend judgment and evaluate impressions. You actually actually have to weigh the thing in front of you. You have to apply a standard of judgment um instead of just immediately something strikes you and you form a belief.
00:19:53
Speaker
Epictetus says in book two, chapter 28,
00:19:57
Speaker
It gives an example of this. says, in the first place, do not allow yourself to be carried away by its intensity when you experience an impression. But say, impression, wait for me a little bit. Let me see what you are and what you represent.
00:20:10
Speaker
Let me test you. And so this is Epictetus' example. Don't be carried away. We need to test each impression we receive. Then we need to adopt a correct standard of the judgment and apply it consistently.
00:20:24
Speaker
Right. If i I'm trying to think of these silly metaphors, but if I'm trying to measure the weight of something and I use it on a broken scale, it's not, that's not much help. Is it?
00:20:35
Speaker
I need it to be a working scale, an accurate scale. And so that for Epictetus is just Stoic philosophy, right? If you're trying to say, well, this thing is good, okay apply us a test of Stoic philosophy. Well, I know good things are things that are up to me, things that I'm responsible for.
00:20:57
Speaker
Is money up to me? Is my wealth up to me? Am I responsible for my wealth in that full kind of stoic sense of responsibility? Well, no. Okay. Well, then it can't be a good thing. Money can't be a good thing.
00:21:07
Speaker
It's about applying the scale in this case is stoic theory. It's about applying that. i'll give you some I'll give you some examples of this. Epictetus does this in book two, chapter 11 of the discourses.
00:21:22
Speaker
He gives an example of applying the scale. when He says, quote, what is the subject that falls under our inquiry? Pleasure. Submit it to the standard. Throw it into the scales. Must the good be something that we can fittingly have confidence in and put our trust in?
00:21:38
Speaker
Yes. Is it fitting to have trust in something that is unstable? No. Is pleasure then a stable thing? No. Take it then and throw it out of the scales and drive it far away from the region of good things.
00:21:55
Speaker
So Epictetus comes in with his trademark intensity there. But the example, if we if we if we lay out the logic of that example, it's Well, good things are going to be stable because good things are the things we can have confidence in. We can trust. We can rely on good things.
00:22:15
Speaker
So good things need to be stable. Pleasure is not stable. Therefore, it's not a good thing. And it's this kind of this this consistent rule that you don't allow to morph or break or change depending on the situation.
00:22:32
Speaker
I thought of this other example. Imagine someone flatters you. it it feels good. You're like, wow, well, they're saying nice things about me. That's great. But then you apply the standard.
00:22:44
Speaker
Maybe this case you think, well, Good things are up to me. What other people think is not up to me. It's often false, often has more to do with them than reality.
00:22:56
Speaker
And so this flattery can't be good, even though it feels good, even though I might like it initially, can't be a good thing because it doesn't pass the standard. And that's the same standard. like I like that example because it's the same standard you use to justify why insults are different, right? Insults don't matter because they're not up to you.
00:23:16
Speaker
They're often false. You have to have more to do with the what the other person thinks than reality. And so when you apply that to say that ah insults are not a bad thing, they're an indifferent thing, you apply the same logic to flattery. Flattery is not a good thing. It's an indifferent thing.
00:23:33
Speaker
This is a consistent use of a standard to apply the preconception of good or bad. That's making proper use of impressions. It's having that standard, being consistent with it, and applying it, noticing when to apply it because you're being mindful, you're being conscious, and you're being aware.
00:23:52
Speaker
And really that's what Epictetus means when he says the proper use of impressions. And that is our, really our chief task as Epictetus puts it.
Summary and Encouragement to Practice Stoicism
00:24:01
Speaker
It's the essence of the good. So it's really a very important thing.
00:24:07
Speaker
To wrap that all up, maybe some of that was new to you. Maybe some of that was stoic theory you hadn't heard before. maybe that idea of preconceptions was new. We often talk about impressions.
00:24:19
Speaker
um But that idea of of, you know, it's not just is this impression true or false. but it's really interrogating these categories of good or bad, of just or unjust, courageous or cowardly. e These value judgments that we build in to our impressions, it's really evaluating those if they're accurately applied or not in the specific case.
00:24:43
Speaker
That's a nuance to how we are supposed to navigate the world as Stoics. And then I really like Epictetus' two-part recommendation here. One is you've got to,
00:24:54
Speaker
You've got to actually weigh the thing. You've got to actually measure the impression, put it up against the standard of judgment. Then that standard of judgment has to be a correct one. It has to be something coming from stoic theory.
00:25:08
Speaker
And if you're not a stoic, you can apply a different conception. yeah But at least have a rule that you have, have a way that you consistently make sense of these kinds of situations, and then be consistent with it.
00:25:22
Speaker
So we don't use, we don't say, oh, it's not up to me. It's nothing to me when somebody insults you, but then take in flattery. That's not a consistent use of your standard of judgment. That's not a consistent use of your scale.
00:25:37
Speaker
You've got to use it both ways. so And that's proper that's making proper use of impressions. Properly applying preconceptions by mindfully recognizing impressions, recognizing the preconceptions in those impressions, and testing them and judging them with a consistent standard of judgment.
00:25:55
Speaker
So best of luck putting that into practice.
00:26:00
Speaker
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00:26:08
Speaker
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00:26:21
Speaker
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00:26:33
Speaker
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