Biography
Epicurus tried to free humanity from the fear of the gods and death. He was an Athenian Greek citizen, the son of Neocles and Chaerestrate, and remains to this day one of the most influential philosophers in history. His father, a member of the old and prominent Athenian family of the Philaidae, participated in the colonization of Samos, where Epicurus was raised. From a young age, he came into contact with the philosophy of Nausiphanes. At the age of eighteen, he went to Athens to complete his military and civic service. Very little is known about the next fifteen years of his life. Later, he founded his own philosophical circles in Mytilene and then in Lampsacus.At the age of thirty-four, he returned to Athens and purchased a property between the Dipylon Gate and the Academy, where he established his philosophical school, known as the Garden of Epicurus. He taught there for thirty-five years, living a quiet and simple life surrounded by men, women, courtesans, and slaves, all of whom participated equally in the Epicurean Garden.
PHILOSOPHY:
The aim of Epicurus was to investigate the causes of human misery and false beliefs, such as superstition, in order to offer an alternative way of life based on happiness, freedom from fear, and inner peace. According to Epicurus, a pleasant life is achieved through the absence of pain and mental disturbance, together with self-sufficiency and the companionship of trusted friends.
Pleasure and pain are the measures by which people should determine what to seek and what to avoid. For Epicurus, pleasure is morally legitimate and should be pursued because it leads to the highest state of well-being: mental tranquility. Even pain can sometimes be beneficial if it eventually leads to peace of mind. For example, the effort and hardship required to study a science may later bring lifelong satisfaction and wisdom.
Epicurus taught a moderate form of hedonism in which pleasures are judged not by their intensity but by their quality. He distinguished between pleasures of action and pleasures of state, considering the latter far superior. For example, satisfying hunger is a pleasure of action, while the calm and satisfaction that follow after one has eaten enough constitute a pleasure of state. If someone eats excessively and suffers stomach pain afterward, they may have experienced the immediate pleasure of action, but they lose the deeper pleasure of peace and tranquility. According to Epicurus, people are often deceived by temporary pleasures and move away from the lasting pleasures that lead to true happiness.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF HIS TEACHING:
• The purpose of life is pleasure: “By pleasure we do not mean luxury or excessive indulgence, but freedom from bodily pain and disturbance of the soul, through which one attains tranquility.”• Death marks the end not only of the body but also of the soul.
• The gods do not interfere in human affairs.
• The universe is infinite and eternal.
• All events are based on the motion and interaction of atoms moving through empty space.