I. Philosophy

ἀπάθεια/apatheia, “freedom from affects,” is a central concept in Stoic ethics. As did the competing Epicureans (Epicureanism) and Pyrrhoneans (Skepticism), the Stoics saw happiness, regarded as the telos (goal), in inner peace, in the calm and balance of the soul. In their view, the affect, an “overdeveloped urge,” escaped from the control of reason, threatened these qualities (SVF 3,378). It results when reason falsely evaluates something unavailable …