In the Discourses, Epictetus is quite clear about what his role is as a philosopher. The philosopher, he says, is a doctor, and the philosopher’s school is a hospital – a hospital for souls. When Epictetus defined philosophy in this way he was following a well-established Greek philosophical tradition that extended back at least to Socrates. In Plato’s early dialogues, Socrates had argued that the task of the philosopher is to take care of one’s soul, just as a physician takes care of one’s body. By ‘soul’ we ought not to assume anything immaterial, immortal or supernatural. Instead in this
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