Unhappy Consciousness - Stoicism, Epicureanism and Hedonism

Stoicism, Epicureanism and Hedonism

For Hegel the resolution of the master slave dialectic in stoicism, hedonism and epicureanism is not lasting. The period in history Hegel associates with this is from the time of Alexander the Great on through the times of the Roman Empire.

This Roman Stoicism is for Hegel something of a false resolution of the master-slave dialectic, it emphasises only the freedom of thought. In the Stoic's distancing of himself from the world of desires, of pain and pleasure he achieves a freedom of conscience, but that he ignores the concrete reality is apparent in the unsatisfactory resolution of the master slave dialectic. He is ignoring the reality of the dissatisfaction apparent for both master and slave.