He was born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents. Influenced by Democritus, Aristotle, Pyrrho, and possibly the Cynics, he turned against the Platonism of his day and established his own school, known as "the Garden", in Athens. (1)
He taught that the greatest good is to seek modest pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquillity, freedom from fear ("ataraxia") and absence from bodily pain ("aponia"). This combination of states is held to constitute happiness in its highest form, and so Epicureanism can be considered a form of Hedonism, although it differs in its conception of happiness as the absence of pain, and in its advocacy of a simple life.
Epicureanism as Positive Psychology|
Epicureanism as Positive Psychology|
Epicurus directed that this state of tranquility could be obtained through knowledge of the workings of the world and the limiting of desires. Pleasure was to be obtained by knowledge, friendship and living a virtuous and temperate life. He lauded the enjoyment of "simple pleasures", by which he meant abstaining from bodily desires, such as sex and appetites, verging on Asceticism. He counseled that "a cheerful poverty is an honorable state". (2)
Epicurus distinguished between higher and lower pleasures
1. Higher pleasures: Pleasures of the mind - intellectual and aesthetic.
Epicurus distinguished between higher and lower pleasures
1. Higher pleasures: Pleasures of the mind - intellectual and aesthetic.
*Compare this to Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Plato's three part soul theory.
Humans are animals. We have certain needs. We need food. We need water. These natural desires are impossible to live without. We are also social creatures. Without company we suffer. If you try to ignore desires which are both natural and necessary the only result is pain. (4)
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Additionally, Epicurus identified two types of pleasure—moving (kinetic) and static (fulfillment).
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Additionally, Epicurus identified two types of pleasure—moving (kinetic) and static (fulfillment).
Moving pleasure refers to actively being in the process of satisfying a desire. An example of this could be eating food when you feel hungry. In those moments we are taking action toward our intended goal of pleasure.
The other type of pleasure, static pleasure, refers to the experience we have once our desire is met. To use the example of eating food when we are hungry, the static pleasure would be what we are feeling once we have eaten. The satisfaction of feeling full, and no longer being in need (hungry), would be a static pleasure. (3)
According to Epicureanism, one must know something about the nature of pleasure in order to pursue it rationally, and likewise for pain. Epicurus, it appears, uses the terms pleasure and pain (hêdonê, algêdôn) strictly in reference to physical pathê or sensations, that is, those that are experienced via the non-rational soul that is distributed throughout the body. As for the rational part or mind, we have positive and negative experiences through it too. Most prominent among the negative mental states is fear, above all the fear of unreal dangers, such as death. Death, Epicurus insists, is nothing to us, since while we exist, our death is not, and when our death occurs, we do not exist (LM 124–25); but if one is frightened by the empty name of death, the fear will persist since we must all eventually die. This fear is one source of perturbation (tarakhê), and is a worse curse than physical pain itself; the absence of such fear is ataraxy, lack of perturbation, and ataraxy, together with freedom from physical pain, is one way of specifying the goal of life. (5)
Knowledge
According to Epicureanism, one must know something about the nature of pleasure in order to pursue it rationally, and likewise for pain. Epicurus, it appears, uses the terms pleasure and pain (hêdonê, algêdôn) strictly in reference to physical pathê or sensations, that is, those that are experienced via the non-rational soul that is distributed throughout the body. As for the rational part or mind, we have positive and negative experiences through it too. Most prominent among the negative mental states is fear, above all the fear of unreal dangers, such as death. Death, Epicurus insists, is nothing to us, since while we exist, our death is not, and when our death occurs, we do not exist (LM 124–25); but if one is frightened by the empty name of death, the fear will persist since we must all eventually die. This fear is one source of perturbation (tarakhê), and is a worse curse than physical pain itself; the absence of such fear is ataraxy, lack of perturbation, and ataraxy, together with freedom from physical pain, is one way of specifying the goal of life. (5)
Knowledge
Epicurus maintained that the senses never deceive humans, but that the senses can be misinterpreted by the mind. Epicurus held that the purpose of all knowledge is to aid humans in attaining ataraxia. He taught that knowledge is learned through experiences rather than innate and that the acceptance of the fundamental truth of the things a person perceives is essential to a person's moral and spiritual health.In the Letter to Pythocles, he states, "If a person fights the clear evidence of his senses he will never be able to share in genuine tranquility." (1)
It has been argued that Epicurus proposed to use empirical observation as the only means of determining the truth or falsity of beliefs. He set out two rules of investigation at the beginning of his physics requiring that the truth and falsity of beliefs rest entirely on sensory observations. The two rules consist of a demand for empirical concepts and a demand for empirical data. The latter consist of uninterpreted, or what may be called ‘raw’ or ‘incorrigible’, acts of perception. Epicurus proposed to infer all truths about the physical world and human happiness from this incorrigible foundation. (6)
It has been argued that Epicurus proposed to use empirical observation as the only means of determining the truth or falsity of beliefs. He set out two rules of investigation at the beginning of his physics requiring that the truth and falsity of beliefs rest entirely on sensory observations. The two rules consist of a demand for empirical concepts and a demand for empirical data. The latter consist of uninterpreted, or what may be called ‘raw’ or ‘incorrigible’, acts of perception. Epicurus proposed to infer all truths about the physical world and human happiness from this incorrigible foundation. (6)
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