Epicurus: The Existence Of Bodies

Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher who was born in 341 BC and died in 270 BC. As a boy, he studied philosophy for four years under the Platonist teacher Pamphilus, when he turned 18 he went to Athens for his two-year term of military service. Many of his teachings were strongly influenced by earlier thinkers but Epicurus would deny this influence, and call other philosophers confused and he’d claim to be “self –taught”. Epicurus’ school was based in the garden of his home, and he called it “The Garden”. His school was one of the first ancient

Evil is a concept that humans have developed to explain suffering and disaster. It is seen as the cause of suffering, Religious perspectives would argue that it is contrary to the will of their omnipotent being or predestination. The two types of evil are natural evil, evil not caused by humans such as tsunamis, and moral evil, evil caused by human such as rape and murder. However, this presents the problem of evil, presented by Epicurus; “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” (Epicurus, BC 341-270) This proved the inconsistent triad. If God is benevolent,

2000 years ago the Greek philosopher Democritus came up with the idea that if he cut an object in half, for example a rock, that he could eventually cut it until he reached a tiny piece that could no longer be cut or divided. Democritus named this unbreakable piece ‘atomos’ which in greek meant ‘indivisible/ uncuttable’. However this idea was rejected in favour of another philosopher, Aristotle, whose theory was that all matter was made up of 4 elements, fire, water, air and earth.

That the beliefs and rituals practiced by the followers joined them in societal oneness. He did not believe that God created people but that people created the idea of God for social and moral order. (Jeffery Brodd, 2016,2013 by Oxford University Press, pp. 9,10,444)

The first chronicled Roman who was classically trained in Epicureanism is Titus Albucius, a member of the upper class living around 100 B.C.E. who spent his youth studying philosophy and oration in Athens. Albucius grew fond of Epicureanism and declared himself a devotee of the school; however, after reaching adulthood, Albucius returned to Rome to follow the cursus honorum, eventually ending up as praetor of a province. After being exiled, Albucius went back to Athens and fully dedicated himself to Epicureanism by abandoning the political life entirely. Indeed, a seemingly innocuous

Throughout the years the human race has come a very long way. We have made many advancements and have mastered and discovered incredible things. Part of the reason we have become so advanced is because of the many great people who have questioned things and tried to figure things out. One thing that people have tried to figure out for many years now is what everything is made of and how it works. At first, people thought that everything on earth was made of four main elements; fire, earth, air, and water, but around 400 BCE a Greek philosopher, named Democritus1, said that he believed that all matter is composed of tiny individual elements which came to be known as atoms2. The word atom comes from the Greek word atomos2, which means “indivisible.”

If I had to choose between Epicurus, Plato and Aristotle on who had the best ethical system, I would choose Aristotle. I would choose Aristotle because, he lays the ground work of what the virtues are in a person and how they should be exemplified in everyday life. He tells us about the vices of deficiency and excess and how we should reach a mean to help us achieve happiness in life. Aristotle gives a clear example between happiness and pleasure and how they don’t correlate between each other. He states pleasure is like grazing cattle, where one cannot truly get full. From this idea of trying to achieve happiness/ Eudemonia, one must practice achieving the mean of the virtues. I like Aristotle’s idea of achieving eudemonia, because I value

He advised the people to conduct themselves as Christians, to leave their sinful life in the past, and abandon the ways of the non-believers

He says that God has made the laws of nature. Human beings are responsible for understanding and experimenting to discover it. I feel that this a great idea because it allows a lot of leg room. That means that religion doesn’t always have to be the end all be all in certain matters. Humans can turn to medicine, philosophy, or other sciences in order to gain knowledge and help others.

Parmenides, as did Heraclitus before him, wrote about a state known as "What Is." However, they differed sharply in their view of that state. Parmenides insisted that "What Is" be viewed as a constant. Heraclitus' focus was on elements transferring to and from opposites. Parmenides concentrated on a sense of "being." Heraclitus believed in a flux or "Yin and Yang" in the world that promoted harmony and stability, "What is opposed brings together, the finest harmony is composed of things at variance." (pg29, frg49) For Parmenides, "What Is" leads us to the truth about our universe, in that it is timeless, eternal, motionless, perfectly uniform, the same all throughout. "There are signs that being

Epictetus was born in 55 AD in Hierapolis, Phrygia and he died in 135 AD in Nicopolis, Achaea. He was born to the life of a slave and died as a great roman philosopher. As a slave he studied Stoic philosophy due to his owner recognizing his intellectual potential. He studied under the Musonius Rufus. He was granted freedom after Emperor Nero’s death. After some time Epictetus had gained his freedom and opened up his own school of philosophy where he taught up until he was exiled from Rome. After being banished Epictetus relocated to Nicopolis in Greece where he opened another school and taught there up until his death. Epictetus’ main school of philosophy was that of Stoicism which teaches that philosophy is more so a way of life as opposed to something one takes up in their free time. Stoicism also teaches about the ways to live a perfect life through means of clear judgment, inner calm, and freedom from suffering which is attained by letting go of worldly pleasures.

Epicurus was on a trip to Athens, however, he had to have first satisfied the obligatory two years of service in the Athenian Army. When Alexander the Great died, a revolt ensued, spurred on by those who resented the previous rule and the newly appointed leader. The revolt was quelled;

Atoms of an element cannot be created, destroyed nor divided into smaller pieces or transformed into atoms of another element. This was based on the law of conservation of mass, as stated by Antoine

thought of his people as the true seekers of knowledge, and the "white men" as

The name atom comes from the greek word atomos which means “uncuttable”. Implying that atoms are the smallest unit of all matter. Atoms are the basic units of all living things and matter. In your body there is an estimate atoms in your body. In other words 7 billion billion billion, that 's a lot. Throughout history many discoveries have been made. Some people have made an impression on today 's idea of the atom such as Mendeleev,Boyle,Bohr,and Thomson.