Release | Park Moon-jae
Chronology of Marcus Aurelius

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8
Volume 9
Volume 10
Volume 11
Volume 12

Appendix: A Collection of Quotes from Epictetus

Features of this book
#Complete translation of the Greek original
#Includes detailed commentary on the work by professional translator Park Moon-jae
#Aurelius's 'Quotes' by Epictetus, who greatly influenced him, is now available for the first time in Korea.
#Must-read for Harvard, Oxford, Chicago, and Sogang University

The Meditations have long been considered one of the greatest books in history.
The idea, though Marcus Aurelius's own, was not original.

1.
What kind of book is the Meditation Record?
His primary purpose in writing the Meditations was to examine his innermost thoughts and advise himself on how best to live in his current circumstances.
How did this ancient book become a must-read at Harvard and Oxford? He sought to concisely capture in a concise volume the essential propositions that have underpinned his entire life, the core ethical principles and insights.
Next, and more broadly, the purpose of this work was to publish and widely disseminate a book containing ethics that people could practice in their lives during the first and second centuries AD.
The writings of Epictetus had a particularly great influence on him.
Two types of writings, widely used in the Stoic philosophy on which he was based, had a great influence on his Meditations.
One type offers general guidelines on how to lead an ethical life, a famous example being Cicero's deontology.
Another type of writing used philosophy as a means of identifying human psychological and ethical failings, labeling them as diseases, and then curing them.
Seneca's Treatise on Anger was such a work.
Marcus's Meditations reflect the writing purposes and themes of these two types of writing, presenting a unique combination of advice and healing.

2.
The Thought of Marcus Aurelius
In his Meditations, Marcus appears to have preached his beliefs not only based on Stoic philosophy, but also by mixing ideas from various philosophical schools.
But such an eclectic attitude was not common in the intellectual world of the time.
The general tendency of this era was to adhere to and follow one school of philosophy.
A more active reason to show that Stoicism influenced Marcus is that, although he does not use Stoic terminology in his Meditations and sometimes reconstructs their concepts in his own unique way, the Meditations, taken as a whole, have a strong Stoic flavor.
Therefore, we can conclude that Marcus basically followed the philosophy of Stoicism, and based on that, he broadly accepted the ideas of various philosophical schools.

3. Core concepts of Stoic philosophy
Five characteristics of Stoic philosophy at the time can be cited, and these correspond to the themes prominently emphasized in the Meditations.
First, it was believed that only a life lived according to virtue is a happy life.
In other words, the idea is that virtue is all that humans need to live a happy life.
The second is the idea that human emotions and desires are directly determined by beliefs about what things are considered valuable or desirable.
In other words, emotions and desires do not form separate, irrational dimensions in human mental life.
The third is the idea that humans have an inherent tendency to benefit others.
The fourth was that it belonged to natural science and served as a link between ethics and natural science.
One of the issues at the time was whether nature or the universe has an inherent purpose or meaning, or whether it is merely the result of the arbitrary operation of natural laws or processes.
The Stoics adopted the first view, believing that everything was predetermined and that every series of events embodied God's purpose or providence, while the Epicureans adopted the second view, basing their ideas on the atomic nature of matter.
In Stoic philosophy, fields of philosophy such as ethics and physics were seen as interconnected and supporting each other.
Thus, their belief in divine providence was part of natural science, but it also provided an important framework for ethics.
And, conversely, ethics underpinned and gave meaning to principles connected with God, including providence.
Fifth, the Stoic philosophers viewed philosophy as a highly unified and forming body of knowledge.

4.
Topics that frequently appear in the Meditations.
In his Meditations, Marcus uses some very standard Stoic themes, but in some cases he uses his own unique style of expression that we might not expect.
For example, he emphasizes that what defines our identity is essentially what “dominates” us.
When he says that which “rules” us, he is referring to “reason.”
He contrasts the different parts that make up a human being: “body” and “spirit.”
On the surface, it appears to follow a Platonic dualism that distinguishes between the disembodied mind and the embodied body.
However, such passages merely present ethical lessons, reflecting the first characteristic idea of ​​Stoic philosophy that we have examined above.
In other subjects the influence of Stoic philosophy on Marcus is more evident.
For example, like Epictetus, he repeatedly advises himself not to bring suffering upon himself by attaching useless judgments of good or evil to any event or circumstance.
On the one hand, Marcus frequently mentions the idea that divine or cosmic order forms an important framework for human ethical life, and in this respect, he is very reminiscent of Epictetus, but on the other hand, by asking, “Is it providence or are they atoms?”, he takes a position of not deciding which worldview is true between the Stoic idea that there is an inherent purpose in nature and the Epicurean idea that the universe is merely the result of the coming together and dispersing of atoms.
Overall, it cannot be said that Marcus fully understood Stoic philosophy in his Meditations and presented a brilliant idea that integrated ethics and physics. However, it can be said that he believed that the Stoic school's providential worldview was true and presented ethical practices for humans based on that worldview.