Discourses, What the Beginning of Philosophy is

Epictetus — The Slave

What are we looking at? Let's say pleasure. Put it to the test. Throw it on the scale. Should good things be the kind of things you can trust? Yes. Should you be able to rely on them? Yes. Should you trust anything that's unreliable? No. Is pleasure reliable? No. Then throw it out. Get it away from the good things. If you're not seeing clearly, or one test isn't enough, try another. Should good things make you feel proud? Yes. So should you feel proud about momentary pleasure? Think carefully before you answer. If you say yes, I won't even bother with the scale anymore. This is how you test things — when you have solid rules ready. Philosophy is about examining and confirming these rules. Using them once you know them — that's what wise and good people do.

Epictetus — The Slave Original

What is the matter presented to us about which we are inquiring? Pleasure (for example). Subject it to the rule, throw it into the balance. Ought the good to be such a thing that it is fit that we have confidence in it? Yes. And in which we ought to confide? It ought to be. Is it fit to trust to anything which is insecure? No. Is then pleasure anything secure? No. Take it then and throw it out of the scale, and drive it far away from the place of good things. But if you are not sharp-sighted, and one balance is not enough for you, bring another. Is it fit to be elated over what is good? Yes. Is it proper then to be elated over present pleasure? See that you do not say that it is proper; but if you do, I shall then not think you worthy even of the balance. Thus things are tested and weighed when the rules are ready. And to philosophize is this, to examine and confirm the rules; and then to use them when they are known is the act of a wise and good man.