ABSTRACT
Marcus engages himself in a debate in which the principal participants are the philosopher Epictetus and the earlier thinker Plato. The emphasis Marcus places on the mind as the proper "directing" center of the self suggests a tension with traditional Stoic thought on the question of the relationship between the soul and the body. Like Epicureanism, Stoicism was a materialist philosophy. In other words, it maintained that nothing exists over and above material reality and the forces that animate matter. Marcus appears instead to adopt an account of the mind and body more in keeping with the "dualist" position of Plato, who, as made clear in dialogues such as Phaedo and Meno, is often interpreted as introducing a clear distinction between the soul and the body as its disposable vehicle. One of the most striking features of Meditations is Marcus's relative lack of interest in placing its themes and ideas within an intellectual tradition.
