O ESTOICISMO E O MANUAL DE EPICTETO NAS LIÇÕES SOBRE A HISTÓRIA DA FILOSOFIA DE HEGEL

Abstract

This article analyzes G. W. F. Hegel’s interpretation of Stoicism in the Lectures on
the History of Philosophy, with particular attention to the role of Epictetus’ Manual (Enchiridion).
Starting from Hegel’s conception of Stoicism as a form of dogmatism of the understanding, the
paper examines the centrality of self-consciousness and inner freedom in Stoic philosophy, as
well as the process through which, in the context of the Roman world, philosophy loses its
speculative interest and adopts a predominantly parenetic orientation. In Hegel’s reading,
Epictetus’ Manual represents the culmination of this shift from conceptual investigation to moral
exhortation and character formation. The article further shows how this same characterization
extends to authors such as Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, in whom philosophy becomes
consolidated as an interior exercise and a discipline of the will, progressively distancing itself
from the scientific function that characterized Greek Stoicism.