The Philosophical Method and the Spiritual Practice of Discernment in Epictetus and Shankara.

The paper intends to provide a comparative analysis of Epictetus' "Handbook" (Enchiridion) and Shankara's "Crest Jewel of Discrimination". The human faculty of discrimination is the tertium comparationis of the Greek Stoic's philosophical method and the Advaita Vedanta's spiritual practice (Viveka). In contrast to the ethical pathos and the eudemonism of the "Handbook", Shankara's teaching of ascetic liberation is centered not on distinguishing mine/not-mine or up-to-us/not-up-to-us, but rather on a deeper metaphysic discrimination between Atman/non-Atman on the way towards the undistinguishable unity of Atman and Brahman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]