Plain
Epictetus — The Slave

What "seems" right to each person isn't enough to determine what actually "is" right. We don't just rely on appearances when we weigh things or measure them. We use scales and rulers instead. So why wouldn't there be a higher standard than what merely "seems" right? How could the most important matters in human life have no clear signs and be impossible to figure out? There must be some standard. So why don't we look for this standard, find it, and then stick to it completely? We shouldn't even lift a finger without using it. I think this standard, once we discover it, will cure the madness of people who rely only on what "seems" right and misuse that approach. Then we can start with clear, known principles and apply our sharpened understanding to specific situations.

Discourses, What the Beginning of Philosophy is 141 of 388
Knowing Yourself Doing The Right Thing
Epictetus — The Slave Original

What then "seems" to every man is not sufficient for determining what "is"; for neither in the case of weights nor measures are we satisfied with the bare appearance, but in each case we have discovered a certain rule. In this matter then is there no rule superior to what "seems"? And how is it possible that the most necessary things among men should have no sign (mark), and be incapable of being discovered? There is then some rule. And why then do we not seek the rule and discover it, and afterwards use it without varying from it, not even stretching out the finger without it? For this, I think, is that which when it is discovered cures of their madness those who use mere "seeming" as a measure, and misuse it; so that for the future proceeding from certain things (principles) known and made clear we may use in the case of particular things the preconceptions which are distinctly fixed.

Discourses, What the Beginning of Philosophy is 141 of 388
Epictetus — The Slave

Look — this is how philosophy begins. You notice that people disagree with each other. You ask why they disagree. You become suspicious of things that just "seem" right. You investigate whether something that "seems" right actually is right. You try to discover some standard to judge by — like we use scales to weigh things, or a carpenter's square to check if something is straight. This is how philosophy starts. Should we say that everything is right just because it seems right to everyone? But how can contradictory things both be right? Well then, not everything that seems right to everyone — just what seems right to us. But why should what seems right to you matter more than what seems right to Syrians? Why more than what seems right to Egyptians? Why more than what seems right to me or anyone else? It doesn't matter more at all.

Discourses, What the Beginning of Philosophy is 140 of 388
Knowing Yourself Human Nature
Epictetus — The Slave Original

Observe, this is the beginning of philosophy, a perception of the disagreement of men with one another, and an inquiry into the cause of the disagreement, and a condemnation and distrust of that which only "seems," and a certain investigation of that which "seems" whether it "seems" rightly, and a discovery of some rule ([Greek: chanonos]), as we have discovered a balance in the determination of weights, and a carpenter's rule (or square) in the case of straight and crooked things.—This is the beginning of philosophy. Must we say that all things are right which seem so to all? And how is it possible that contradictions can be right?—Not all then, but all which seem to us to be right.—How more to you than those which seem right to the Syrians? why more than what seem right to the Egyptians? why more than what seems right to me or to any other man? Not at all more.

Discourses, What the Beginning of Philosophy is 140 of 388
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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