ThePhilsophyCenter: Ethics: Epicureanism

 Epicureanism is a very interesting philosophy developed by the philosopher Epicurus. Here's a profile of the man:

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CHARACTER PROFILE: EPICURUS

Born: 341 BC. Samos: Greece.

Died: 270 BC. Athens. 

Works: "Letter to Menoeceus", "Principal Doctrines", "On Nature"

Ideas: Ataraxia and Aponia

Text Intro: Epicurus, born  341 BC, is an influential philosopher and one of the most important Greek philosophers after the death of Aristotle (d. 322 BC). He lived a life devoted to study and established a school of philosophy called the Garden in Athens. 

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Epicurus' philosophy is often viewed as hedonistic but it is also often seen as much more hedonistic than it really is, as Epicurus does encourage having certain virtues (according to him, they are prudence, temperance, justice, and courage) to attain happiness. The problem about this encouragement of virtues is the only reason behind why the Epicureans do this is to attain happiness. Epicurus'  philosophy encourages and prioritizes the pursuit of pleasure and also tells us something we should also actually follow: not fearing death. I'll elaborate on the not fearing death part later.

This encouragement to pursue pleasure and avoid pain might be wrongly viewed by us to be the only thing Epicureanism wants. Though Epicurus pursues antaraxia (tranquility, peace) and aponia (freedom from pain), he also tells us to have moderation and wisdom. 

Epicurus knows to attain happiness there shouldn't be fear, as to him, fear causes unhappiness, and our most common fear is one of death. So, he says if we overcome the fear of death, we will be happy. He backs his statement by saying death isn't inherently physically painful (as its the end of physical sensation)  and cannot be emotionally painful (as its the end of consciousness (Epicurus did not believe in any sort of afterlife)

What Epicureanism gets wrong is about what it centers: pleasure. Life is not for for pursuit of pleasure, as they are meaningless (Ecclesiastes 2) and we should not pursue them more than God, for example. It's not an obligation not to fear death, however.

That's all for today.

25 October Topic: Stoicism

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