This seminar is scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 22. We will be focusing on passages from texts of or about Stoic philosophy from Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Cicero, Diogenes Laertes, and Arius Didymus.

In our discussion and Q & A, it is likely that we may stray into other related topics connected to or in Stoic philosophy, but we will try to keep the discussion focused primarily on the main topics for the seminar.

Here is the schedule for the seminar (all times are Central Standard Time)

9:00 AM CST - Part 1: The Dichotomy of Control

We will be discussing the following topics:

• Epictetus' distinction between what is up to us and what is not up to us, generally called the "dichotomy of control"
• Seneca and Cicero's earlier references to what is in our power and what is not
• The many things that are in our control or up to us, according to Epictetus
• What is in our control about what is not in our control, particularly "use"
• Proposals to introduce a "trichotomy of control"
• Consequences of getting this distinction right or wrong

11:00 AM CST - Part 2: The Indifferents

We will be discussing the following topics:

• The distinction between good, bad, and indifferent in Stoic philosophy
• What makes indifferents indifferents
• Preferred and dispreffered indifferents
• The virtues' bearing upon things that are indifferents
• Use of indifferents

1:00 PM CST - Part 3: Freedom and Determinism

We will be discussing the following topics:

• Stoic views on causal determinism in the universe
• Stoic conceptions of God, gods, and providence
• Stoic conceptions of freedom and its importance
• Types of "slavery" discussed by the Stoics
• How freedom and causal determinism can be compatible

Students enrolled in the seminar are free to attend and participate in as many or as few sessions as they would like to while it is running