ABSTRACT
The discussion of self-awareness and the study of its theoretical groundwork have already shown how rational reflectivity distances human beings from their social and cultural relations and opens up the possibility of the comparison of themselves to others. Epicurus conceptualized such reflectiveness as not only necessary for the explanation of human psychology. This chapter begins with the examination of a fragment from book XXV, which is the primary evidence for how Epicurus distinguished between human and animal selves. Epicurus' differentiation includes a complex causal account of his assimilation of human wrongdoing to animal selves, and in his explanation Epicurus relates bad behaviour to a morally corrupted conception of the self. The chapter argues in light of this evidence that Epicurus refutes the advocate of determinism on similar grounds, the analysis of which will extend to the remaining surviving fragments of book XXV.
