On Some Rhetorical-pedagogical Strategies in Epictetus' Discourses Concerning Proairesis

The paper aims to clarify some features of Epictetus' specific usage of the concept of proairesis. This will be done by suggesting that a number of problematic expressions concerning proairesis and its freedom should be understood as rhetorical-pedagogical expressions of Epictetus’ intellectualism. I will mainly focus on a series of problematic passages that have been discussed by several commentators concerning the concept of proairesis, and I will suggest that those passages are best interpreted as rhetorical or, better, pedagogical expressions of Epictetus' strictly intellectualist approach to the psychology of action.