Page "Epictetus" Paragraph 16

Epictetus teaches that the preconceptions ( prolepsis ) of good and evil are common to all.

Good alone is profitable and to be desired, and evil is hurtful and to be avoided.

Different opinions arise only from the application of these preconceptions to particular cases, and it is then that the darkness of ignorance, which blindly maintains the correctness of its own opinion, must be dispelled.

People entertain different and conflicting opinions of good, and in their judgment of a particular good, people frequently contradict themselves.

Philosophy should provide a standard for good and evil.

This process is greatly facilitated because the mind and the works of the mind are alone in our power, whereas all external things that aid life are beyond our control.