References · No borrowed certainty
Show your
working.
Old ideas. Modern examples.
A clear line between the two.
These are the sources behind our Stoic introduction and first episode, plus starting points for the planned collection. We name translations because wording varies. A joke about a text message should not quietly become a quotation from antiquity.
Episode 1: the primary text
Epictetus · Enchiridion, §5
Translated by Elizabeth Carter; hosted by the Internet Classics Archive at MIT. This is the basis for our discussion of events and judgements. Our episode applies it selectively to ambiguous messages and feedback. It is not a summary of the whole philosophy.
Open the complete original text ↗Read the episode companion →
Historical context
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · Stoicism
Our overview source for the school’s origins, its wider philosophical system, ethics and account of emotions. A scholarly secondary source, rather than an ancient text.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · Epictetus
Background on Epictetus’s life, his teaching and its preservation by Arrian.
For the rest of the collection
These are reading leads for episodes in development, not references to finished films. The original source is one continuous page, so each entry below names the exact numbered section to find there.
- Enchiridion §1: what is up to us and what is not. Starting point for Episode 2.
- Enchiridion §20: allowing time before responding to provocation. Starting point for Episode 3.
- Enchiridion §49: the difference between explaining philosophy and practising it. Starting point for Episode 4.
Open the complete Enchiridion ↗
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations, Book II
Translated by George Long; Internet Classics Archive. Further reading, not the source of Episode 1. The opening reflects on difficult encounters and human cooperation.
What belongs to this project?
The comedy, modern situations and practical exercises are our adaptations. We identify paraphrases and do not present invented examples as historical anecdotes. Our cautions about boundaries and mistreatment are part of our approach.
We hope to make the ideas worth trying, while leaving room to disagree with them. Being old is not a guarantee of being right. Neither is being delivered confidently from a cabin.
This reading list covers the Stoic material above. The original introductory film and four general lessons are separate editorial pieces; this page does not claim that they came from these ancient passages.