A Sterling-Mode Hermeneutic Commentary on CE-1

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Below is a Sterling-Mode Hermeneutic Commentary on CE-1, using Heidegger’s hermeneutic circle to discover the meaning and The Stoic 500 to articulate it with precision.

Calm, formal, disciplined.

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I. THE WHOLE BEFORE THE PARTS

CE-1 discloses a single great truth:

The human good depends entirely on the internal faculty of judgment, because only internals belong to us; all externals lie outside our agency.

This whole guides every part of the text.

Sterling would call this the ontological foundation of Stoic internalism.

The passage concerns the metaphysical structure of reality: what is yours, what is not yours, and what follows necessarily from confusing the two.

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II. THE PARTS INTERPRETED THROUGH THE WHOLE

1. “Of things, some are in our power, and others are not.”

Hermeneutic insight: Epictetus begins with World-Self-Division (481) — the categorical separation of the internal and external domains.

Stoic 500 terms:

Internal-Agency (440): opinion, judgment, desire, aversion.

External-Occurrence (407): body, property, reputation, office.

This division is not psychological. It is ontological.

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2. “In our power are opinion, movement toward a thing, desire, aversion…”

Hermeneutic movement:

Epictetus lists only internal acts of the ruling faculty.

He identifies the true self.

Stoic 500 application:

Opinion = Assent-Recognition (101)

Movement toward a thing = Impulse-Recognition (301)

Desire = Internal-Desire (161)

Aversion = Internal-Aversion (162)

All of these belong to Internal-Self-Unity (439).

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3. “Not in our power are the body, property, reputation, offices…”

Hermeneutic insight:

Epictetus deconstructs every conventional concept of identity.

Stoic 500 terms:

Body = External-Objectivity (420)

Property = External-Occurrence (407)

Reputation = External-Valuation (Tier 2)

Office = External-Complexity (412)

These belong to External-Contingency (416) and External-Volatility (411).

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4. “The things in our power are by nature free… the things not in our power are weak, slavish, liable to hindrance.”

Hermeneutic clarification:

Epictetus shows the moral properties of internal vs. external things.

Stoic 500:

Internals = Internal-Freedom (487/485), Internal-Sufficiency (435)

Externals = External-Subjection (486), External-Constraint (414), External-Weakness (Tier 10)

This is the metaphysical ground for freedom.

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5. “If you think the slavish things are free… you will lament, blame, be disturbed.”

Hermeneutic exposure:

All emotional suffering is traced to a misinterpretation of reality.

Stoic 500 mapping:

Misinterpretation = Impression-Distortion (208)

False belief = Assent-Error (105)

Emotional distress = Pathos-Recognition (202)

Blaming others = External-Projection violating Internal-Causation (441)

The circle reveals:

Suffering arises from taking externals as internals.

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6. “But if you think only what is your own to be your own… no one will hinder you.”

Hermeneutic core:

Epictetus defines invulnerability not psychologically but metaphysically.

Stoic 500 articulation:

Correct belief = Reason-Alignment (470)

Freedom = Internal-Sovereignty (487)

Invulnerability = Internal-Security (444)

Non-reaction = Emotional-Neutrality (242)

You become unhindered because all hindrance lies in the external domain.

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7. “Straightway then, practice saying to every harsh appearance: ‘You are an appearance, and not what you appear to be.’”

Hermeneutic movement:

This is the method that follows from the ontology.

Stoic 500 mapping:

Impressions = Impression-Arrival (462)

Clarification = Impression-Transparency (464)

Suspension = Assent-Suspension (103)

Examination = Examination-Clarity (369)

This is the training of the ruling faculty.

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8. “Examine it by the rules which you possess… whether it concerns things in our power or not.”

Hermeneutic disclosure:

Epictetus gives the interpretive question that governs all practice.

Stoic 500 mapping:

Rule = Internal-Standard (Tier 10)

Division test = Internal–External Clarification (Tier 2)

Moral orientation = Choice-Correctness (Tier 4)

This is the Hermeneutic Criterion of Stoicism.

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III. RECONSTITUTED WHOLE (AFTER INTERPRETING THE PARTS)

CE-1 teaches that the entire moral life hinges on the metaphysical distinction between:

Internal reality (the ruling faculty)

External reality (events, objects, body, reputation, outcomes)

Misinterpreting this division creates passion, disturbance, blame, and unhappiness.

Correctly interpreting it yields freedom, serenity, and the unimpeded life.

Sterling’s framework confirms the logic:

Internals = domain of causation, virtue, freedom

Externals = domain of events, contingency, non-value

Heidegger’s hermeneutics clarifies the interpretive movement:

from appearances → to internal evaluation → back to the meaning of the whole domain.

The Stoic 500 gives the language necessary to articulate every movement precisely.

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If you'd like, I can now hermeneutically analyze CE-2 in the same structure.