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Epicureanism Introduction A great school of philosophy was the Epicureans. The founder, Epicurus, was born in 342 (Aristotle was still alive for another twenty years) to a poor Athenian colonist. He began the study of philosophy when he was fourteen years old. He founded his school in 311 and lived in Athens from 307 until his death in 270 when he was about 72 years old. His school was considered a bit of a scandal because it included slaves and women. The less demands we make, the less money we need, the more we are likely to be able to enjoy the simple blessings of a life of appreciation, rather than a life of acquisition. With increased prosperity come worries and complications. Epicurus was not advocating a menial poverty. That too has its worries and problems that are also tiresome and anxiety provoking. But to find a life of minimum needs and simple tastes is the life in which you are most likely to find peace and serenity. It was Epicurus who is known for the saying that “a man could be happy on the rack.” He means that serenity and happiness are found in one’s attitude and mind, not in ones circumstances. Philosophy Epicurus was a prolific author. He was known to have written 300 books! All of these are lost except for some fragments, a few letters and a statement of principles. His philosophy was not focused on the great metaphysical questions that haunted Plato and Aristotle. His philosophy is mainly seeking a way of life that will promote happiness. And for Epicurus, happiness is pleasure. “Pleasure, he said, is the beginning and the end of the blessed life.” He did not mean sensual indulgence primarily, but rather freedom from pain and fear. For Epicurus, philosophy is not to be theoretical, but practical. A life that does not draw attention to itself and does not seek to become involved in others affairs is the life most likely to bring peace and calmness. Metaphysics The closest Epicurus came to getting into metaphysics was in his attempt to deal with a person’s fears about the gods and fears concerning death and dying. He saw the source of both fears to be religion. To deal with this 1 Epicurus came up with a system that showed that the gods (whose existence he did not doubt) lived in a world more perfect than this. Living in perfection they had no concern for our imperfect world and thus were not involved. In terms of death, Epicurus turned to the atomic theories of the pre-Socratic philosophers of Ionia for his answers. He believed that both our bodies and souls were a temporary constellation of atoms that came together during our life and then were scattered upon our death. And thus death was simply the loss of consciousness, like falling asleep, and thus there was nothing to fear. Epicurus also had no interest in science for theoretical reasons. Science was only helpful in helping us free ourselves from fear of the gods. That is, if science could offer us a natural explanation for something that had once been attributed to the gods, than it was good. But if it offered us several different and contradictory explanations then there was no need to decide between them. What did it matter? The main thing was not attributing the mysteries of nature to the gods. Epicurus’ atomism was also part of his essentially materialistic understanding of the universe. As a result there is none of the teleology that we saw in Plato and Aristotle. The universe is not moving toward any end. Material stuff comes together for a while and falls apart. Evil in life is often the result of humans not understanding what promotes the good life. Any other evil is due to the randomness of how the atoms come together. Just as they come together in a way that can promote life, so they can come together in a way that destroys life. But there is no more an evil force in life then there is a good force. Summary Piety, then, is not a matter of getting in good with the gods and avoiding evil, but of right thinking. Understanding the nature of the universe (and thus freeing oneself from fear of the gods and fear of death and dying) is a manifestation of right thinking. Right thinking is demonstrated in living a simple life of affection among a few friends and in having as few desires as possible. 2