Those things which we are ultimately responsible for, and that no one outside of us can control.
They include our beliefs, impulses, desires and aversions.
Epictetus' famous 'dichotomy of control' is the division between the things up to us and not up to us.
In Stoicism, we are to focus our attention and effort on perfecting the things up to us, and practice detachment from the things not up to us.
The reason for this is that the things up to us, our character, choices and desires, are both pragmatically what we have the ability to shape, and ethically the most important part of a happy life.
We can be happy if the things external to us are not going the way we want, but no person with a poor character can be happy.
Greek: Ta Eph' Hemin
τα εφ' ἡμῖν.
Book: Essential Stoic Concepts
Subtitle: A Stoic glossary
Author: Stoa
Chapter: The things up to us (Chapter 30 of 32)
Sections in this chapter:
Section 2:
Those things which we are ultimately responsible for, and that no one outside of us can control.
They include our beliefs, impulses, desires and aversions.
Epictetus' famous 'dichotomy of control' is the division between the things up to us and not up to us.
In Stoicism, we are to focus our attention and effort on perfecting the things up to us, and practice detachment from the things not up to us.
The reason for this is that the things up to us, our character, choices and desires, are both pragmatically what we have the ability to shape, and ethically the most important part of a happy life.
We can be happy if the things external to us are not going the way we want, but no person with a poor character can be happy.
Greek: Ta Eph' Hemin
τα εφ' ἡμῖν.