Musonius dans le livre III des Entretiens d’Épictète

Abstract

This paper tries to sketch the portrait of Musonius through the quotations that Epictetus makes in Book 3 of the Discourses, while wondering about the possible ruptures and continuities of the master’s teaching in the works of the disciple within this same book, which offers Epictetus’ reflections on two key notions in Musonius’ work: pothos, nostalgic desire for the absent object, and marriage. If Epictetus testifies of a deep respect for his master’s teaching, of which he distinguishes the ethical and therapeutic stakes, it appears that he did not follow him in his valorization of the conjugal life.

Keywords

• Musonius
• teaching
• pothos
• marriage