The three parts of philosophy — for every case. A maximally compressed rule: "constantly (διηνεκῶς) and, if possible, upon every TERMimpression" to apply three operations — φυσιολογεῖν, παθολογεῖν, διαλεκτικεύεσθαι. These are the three parts of Stoic philosophy in verbal form: physics (what this is in the nature of things, the bare definition of the object), ethics (παθολογεῖν — "to analyse it on the side of the passions": what movement of soul it stirs, whether good, evil, or indifferent), and logic/dialectic (διαλεκτικεύεσθαι — to test the judgment for truth, to give no assent to the false or unclear, cf. 8.7).

A method, not a contemplation. The impression is not "experienced" but processed by three questions at once; here EXERCISEattention (προσοχή) gains its content — it is not empty vigilance but the application of the whole of philosophy to the present φαντασία. The triad physics/ethics/logic is the school division (Diogenes Laertius VII 39), but in Marcus it is not an object of study but an instrument of instantaneous analysis. The strict term by the word is φαντασία; φυσιολογεῖν/παθολογεῖν/διαλεκτικεύεσθαι are verbs, not entered among the terms. The governing discipline is assent (the right processing of the impression).