This is our online intermediate course. To find out more details about our online courses please see our dedicated page here. To register please use our google form here (includes full list of dates).
Simplicius (sixth century CE), one of the very last of the line of ancient philosophers who followed the Platonic tradition wrote a commentary on the Handbook of Epictetus as an introduction to the life of a philosophy. Our autumn module will be based around this work which is a fascinating mixture of Stoicism and Platonism. What Simplicius does is take the basic doctrine of the Stoic Epictetus and reset it in the wider spiritual framework of Platonism.
Across the three weekends we will be able to consider the core message of Epictetus – that we should act well with regard to “what is up to us” but be undisturbed by “that which is not up to us” while exploring the nature of soul; its place within the divine scheme; the role of a philosopher in community and in the cosmos; the derivative nature of evil; and the primacy of providence, and much else besides.
The Handbook is a practical guide written in different age (first century CE) and in a society in many ways very different from ours – which means we will need to work back to the principles which lie behind the advice it offers – principles that apply to the essential nature of the human soul when embodied. But this examination too should encourage a deeper appreciation of the ways of philosophical thought, as we study the text and talk through the issues involved.
This is a 7 week course, taking place on Sundays at 6pm (UK time), starting in September 2025. We use zoom and share thoughts in between sessions on Slack. Full dates are: 21st Sept, 5th & 19th Oct, 2nd, 16th & 30th Nov, 14th December 2025.
We encourage those in the UK to join in with our residential modules instead, bursaries are available.
If you would like to see other upcoming online courses please click the online tag under Event type above.