EPICURIANISM

Epicūrus (341–271 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher of the Hellenistic age and founder of the Epicurean school of philosophy.

The aim of Epicurus was the wise conduct of life, to be attained by reliance on the evidence of the senses, and the elimination of superstition and of the belief in supernatural intervention. Happiness consists in attaining tranquility of mind, an attainment achieved by a proper understanding of nature.

Epicurus' moral theory is summed up in a sentence from one of his letters: ‘We say that pleasure is the beginning and end of living happily.’ Thus for Epicurus pleasure is identical with the good. It is in the nature of people to seek pleasure; pain, which is a disturbance of the natural state, is caused by unsatisfied desire, and pleasure is experienced when the natural state is restored. Therefore one must satisfy desire, and this is pleasure. But some pleasures bring pain in their wake. Therefore one must satisfy desires which are natural and necessary, but accept as the limit of pleasure the onset of pain. Hence pleasure may lie in limiting desire. (Epicurus is perhaps uniting under the term ‘pleasure’ both positive enjoyment and the absence of pain.)

Mental pleasure is found in ataraxia, ‘freedom from disturbance’. This can be achieved in three ways:

1. by learning the nature of the universe and of death, which removes fear of the supernatural (the worst mental pain),

2. by withdrawing from the turmoils of public life, and

3. by avoiding emotional commitments.

The meaning given in modern times to the word ‘epicure’ (a gourmet or person devoted to sensual pleasures) represents widespread hostility to and misunderstanding of Epicurean philosophy. Particular antagonism was felt by the Stoics; nevertheless Epicureanism spread, first to Antioch and Alexandria, then into Italy, and for a brief time during the late republic it won the adherence of men like Calpurnius Piso, Cassius, and Cicero's friend Atticus. Naturally the early Christians regarded Epicureanism with abhorrence because it stated that there was no providential God and no survival after death, that the universe had been created by accident, and that the aim of life was pleasure.