Epicureanism

This school was named after its founder, Epicurus, an Athenian citizen born on Samos in 341 b. c.e. Epicurus was a prolific writer and composed some 300 scrolls of his theories on the nature of reality and humanity's place therein. Only a few scraps of his works have survived, including three of his letters preserved in the works of the later author Diogenes Laertius; a set of forty-three maxims called The Principle Doctrines; and part of his treatise On Nature discovered in the remains of Hurculaneum, a city destroyed by the same volcanic eruption that buried Pompeii (Luce 1992, 139-140).

Epicureanism is perhaps best known for its doctrine that pleasure was the ultimate purpose of life. One would think that unfettered hedonism would have been the lifestyle espoused by this school, but in truth, Epicurus believed that the only real pleasure was the absence of pain and want, and thus the true path to pleasure was the avoidance of pains and desires. Epicurus distinguished between kinetic and static pleasures. Kinetic pleasures, he said, were short-lived and generally caused more problems than they were worth. One might think of heroin addiction as an example. By contrast, static pleasures were mainly associated with the mind and produced a joy that was mostly divorced from the body. Contemplation of the perfection of the gods and the study of philosophy were static pleasures that led to happiness and had no drawbacks (Luce 1992, 145). Some pleasures more physical in nature that were allowed by Epicurean doctrine were drinking when one was thirsty and eating when hungry, but Epicurus taught that neither of these should be done to excess. Desire for fame, money, or power was seen as bad, as there was no natural fulfillment to these desires: No matter how much any individual had of them, there was no cessation of the desire for more.

Epicurus was no atheist. He believed in the gods, but he believed that they were beyond the human realm of existence. Like humans, gods would seek their own pleasure, and, as far as Epicurus was concerned, this did not include involving themselves in the affairs of men. That being the case, Epicurus taught, there were gods, perfect in all ways, who had little or nothing to do with people. Epicurus also had certain novel ideas concerning the nature of the soul. Unlike many of his predecessors, Plato especially, Epicurus believed that the soul was a physical entity that grew up with and in the body. Following the atomic theory (see above) line of reasoning, Epicurus taught that the body and soul were composed of atoms, those of the soul being smaller than those of the body, but just as physical. As such, there was no incorporeal, immortal aspect of the human persona (Diogenes Laertius 10, 67):

But it is impossible to think of the incorporeal except for nothingness. And nothingness is able neither to act nor to be acted upon; it merely provides energy for bodies to move through it. And so those who say that the soul is incorporeal are deceived. For it would not act or suffer, if that were so. But now, clearly, both of these are properties of the soul.

As there was no existence after death, the Epicureans believed that people should not waste time worrying about the afterlife. Instead, Epicurus developed the Tetrapharmakon, or Four-Part Remedy, for human sorrow: First, one should meditate, especially on the perfect nature of divinity. Second, one should accept death as the end and not worry about it. Third, one must accept a simple lifestyle. Finally, one should relax with friends and study philosophy as much as possible (Luce 1992, 148).

In an effort to facilitate that last remedy, Epicurus established schools where his followers could gather, study, and live Epicurean lifestyles together. He himself bought a house with a garden in Athens, and his school came to be known as the Garden (like Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum). The Garden endured into the second century c. e. Other schools were established in Egypt and Asia, and Epicurus wrote some of his letters to these schools. Membership was open to all levels of society—men, women, slaves, free, rich, poor—with the only requirement being that the members swear an oath of loyalty to Epicurus. The Epicurean theories of "absentee" deities and the mortality of the soul made them anathema to the Christians, who criticized them heavily, leading to the modern conception of an Epicurean as one who leads a hedonistic lifestyle.