How Did Epicurus Contribute To The Good Life

I came to think of how our world would be shape today if would follow his beliefs. And I must disagree when he stated “if you kiss your child or your wife, say that you are kissing a human being; for it when it dies you will not be upset” (89-90) as a human being we are bond to love and care for those around us. If we did what Epictetus mention our world would not consist of what it is today. We would not be able to find the motivation to strive for happiness. Our world and reality would be comprised of having the capacity to think performed and live but with no emotion and motivation to do

Epicurus relied on observation and critical thinking to study the world around him. He did not simply state that events occur throughout the world were directly caused by a God or gods. Although, it is crucial to understand he never denied the existence of the supernatural, but just that they had no direct effect on human life. This way of thinking could be considered radical for its time. One of the his most important, or central ideals is his view on contentment.

Epicurus was a hedonist, a materialist and a consequentialist who strongly believed that in order to attain the good life one must live a pleasant existence free of worry and pain. Through reflection of the concepts in Epicurus’s Letter to Menoeceus this paper will

These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.3 The Greek philosopher Epicurus is most likely the first recognized philosopher to ask how the existence of evil could be compatible with the nature of God (The Wrath of God 13).4 According to Epicurean philosophy, the notions of good and evil are identified with pleasure and pain respectively. The Epicurean claim is that only pleasure is good. Accordingly, this translates into “pursue pleasure (good) and avoid pain (evil).”5 David Hume in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion says of Epicurus: “Epicurus’ old questions are yet unanswered. Is he (God) willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?”6 Even if Epicurus is regarded as the first to raise

For Epicurus to argue that death is nothing to us is interesting and demands reasoning that can break through the initial shock of the argument. If people believe this Epicurus thinks it will take away the want for immortality, and help them feel more pleasure without this unrealistic burden. He goes into three arguments of sensation, subject of death, and atomism. He states that good and evil exist within sensation, and that death ends sensation. This point is crucial because it makes us more willing to accept that maybe death is neither good or bad but simply neutral, sense we can no longer feel. The second argument points out that there is no subject of harm in death because the dead no longer exist or in other words a dead person can no

In the Letter to Menoeceus Epicurus is contrasting the wise man and the impious man. The wise man has an idea of a god and is not afraid of death. Whereas, the impious man shapes his idea of god based on those around him and either fears death or anticipates it. Epicurus points out the irony of how man desires to make gods like himself, yet he longs to have some of the characteristics of the gods like immortality and blessedness.

For Epicurus’ opinion, people have three kind of pleasure:“natural and necessary, and second one is natural but unnecessarily, the third one is neither natural nor necessary”. He thinks that people should be happy in their life, and pleasure is the most important thing for everyone. This doesn’t means people just follow their instincts, because people should going for the long-term pleasure, and they should give up some happy about their instincts to get the real happy.

Epicureanism is a philosophy developed the teachings and ideals of a man named Epicurus. Epicureanism is defined by Epicurus as the pleasure for the end of all morality and that real pleasure is attained through a life of prudence, honor, and justice. Epicurus introduced this philosophy around 322 B.C, and two schools established in Athens. Epicurus taught the ethics of his philosophy in his school, that a person should live by "the art of making life happy", and that "prudence is the noblest part of philosophy"(newadvent.org). Epicurus ideals for life intrigued people and they began to think that perhaps the ethics of Epicureanism had some truth behind it; a person should live his/her life to the fullest in order to become happy. Epicurus

Epicurus was one of the major philosophers of the Hellenistic time period. He helped to start the foundation for modern science and also human psychology. His main focus was that one should have happiness and can achieve this by not fearing death or even the gods. Epicurus made many different claims of ideas that were followed by many. His followers were known as Epicureans. They believed that there were three things that motivated people to be unhappy. These three things were hatred, envy, and contempt. Epicurus advice was to avoid these feelings as much as possible, but also knowing that this wasn’t always ideal.

Epicurus believed that in order to live a good life, humans should make life choices that fit their own desired nature. Like every other animal on earth, humans naturally seek pleasure and try to avoid pain. Epicurus suggests that we should try to pursue pleasure as rationally and intelligently as possible. To pursue pleasure rationally, Epicurus said before going forth with an action, we should first consider what pleasures this action or event might lead to. Ask yourself; is this going to cause me pain? If so, how much pain will this cause me? “If you do not, on every occasion, refer each of your actions to the goal of nature, but instead turn prematurely to some other [criterion] in avoiding or pursuing [things], your actions will not be

The majority of human beings, at the end of their lives, want to be able to say that they have lived life to the fullest. It can be said that people’s definitions of what is “good” vary from person to person. However, there are often specific similarities in the beliefs and perceptions of those who have been able to achieve lives of happiness and contentment. Epicurus, in his Letter to Menoeceus, states that one who has a “clear and certain understanding of these things” will be able to properly pursue the pleasures associated with a happy and blessed life and avoid those pains that prevent one from doing so (2). He claims that “these things” are beliefs regarding various aspects of life, including one’s relationship with the gods, perception of death, what can and cannot be controlled, and the dismissal of a short, yet pleasant life for a long life. Epicurus states that by living life with an understanding of “these things” in mind, one becomes wise and is then able to live and do well and attain that sought-after pleasant life that is free from pain and free from fear.

His ideas are that if you do something pleasurable there will be side effects. Since we can plan our lives, we may do what is best for us now, or we could do something that will be better for us later. I agree with him because if you waste your money on a party that will last one night, you are only thinking about now, and not what you will do about being broke. I agree with Epicurus’s ideas that “a pleasure result in the short term must be weighed against the possibility if a greater, more lasting, or intense pleasure in the long term.”

It is commonly accepted that in antiquity people always believed in gods regardless of their stature. Taking into consideration the different periods of history, there have been observed cases of incredulity and skepticism as far as the existence of Gods was concerned. The disbelief over gods and generally divergences on the traditional way of treating gods developed into atheism, though this atheism never resolved itself into an extravagant tendency. It was claimed that Epicurus was an atheist himself since he was accorded the syllogism that Gods were not omnipotent since they are not able to prevent evil and they are malevolent in case they have the power though they do not want to prevent it. Going further, he was even accredited with the doubt of the existence of gods. On the contrary, Epicurus disputed infamous atheists of the classical period and strongly supported that gods existed. However, Epicurus’ meaning on the existence of gods was ambiguous.

Epicurus considers the goal of living to be is happiness, resulting from absence of physical pain and mental disturbance. Epicurus believes that please an pain measures of what is good and evil, death is the end of the body and soul and should therefore not be feared and the events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.

In his Letter To Menoeceus, Epicurus shares with us how one should go about living a blessed and pleasurable life. He states the is human nature to desire a life devoted to self pleasure. Someone in opposition to Epicurus argument would say that living a life devoted to oneself is not living a blessed life because one is not living by the grace of god. He makes the argument that one should not live a life of fear or pain, and actions that will bring ultimate happiness will lead to achieving wisdom, therefore the soul will always be tranquil because it is not search of other fulfillments and this will allow one to live a virtuous life.