How Does Epicurus Live A Good Life

The first four Principal Doctrines, deal with anxiety in people’s lives, and how they should think. Epicurus, is telling people not to fear death, God, nor pains in one’s life because they do not last long and they are for the week. The problem with this way of thinking, is that it removes the true God from the person’s life. But, that is not what he is saying. He, “believed that the true life of pleasure consisted in an attitude of imperturbable emotional calm which needed only simple pleasures, a healthy diet, a prudent moral life, and good friends” (pg. 342). This is quit opposite of what people say of Epicureanism in today’s time.

In Epicurus’s argument, it is his responsibility to prove that death is not bad in every cases. As a result, if we want to refute him, we just need to find some cases to show death is

He recommends that we should rid this irrational fear in order to maximize our pleasure and minimize our pain. In his letter, he writes “all things good and bad are experienced through sensation, but sensation ceases at death.” (Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus,1) What Epicurus means is that these sensations are only experienced by those that are alive and will cease once our bodies are dispersed back into tiny particles of atoms. What solidifies this argument is Epicurus’s belief of how we experience the sensory world. Epicurus believes that the soul is our bodies access to sense perceptions and experiences.

1. Epicurus states that death is nothing to us because when analyzing his concept he believes that we as human beings should not fear death. Epicurus argues his concept that human beings should not fear death due to the fact that death in fact is neither pain nor pleasure. As stated in the text Epicurus Letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus says “for good and evil imply awareness, and death is the privation of all awareness; therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life an unlimited time”. In other words, instead of viewing death as something we should constantly think and fear of, fully understanding death can change one’s perspective of life to be more pleasant.

What argument does he provide for why we should not fear death? What is the ethical purpose of this argument for how we should live our lives? Do you agree with Epicurus’s views? Why or why not?

Death is the most inevitable and unknown aspect of life. It is unescapable, and by most of today’s population, it is feared in the utmost regard. Our materialistic views and constant desertion of religious ideals has forced our society to view death as an ultimate end. Socrates and St. Augustine’s views on death differ from many views on the subject in 2017, however, for their time, these men had the power to influence a plethora of individuals with their theories. For Socrates, death should never be feared and should be considered a blessing if our souls were to ascend to heaven, or death could be an extensive slumber without any dreaming whatsoever. With

Death and the value of life According to Epicurus death is nothing to us. His claim is not only that we should not fear death as much as we do, but that any fear of death is irrational. Death cannot touch the victim as, by the time death is here, the victim is gone. Epicurus' argument has fascinated philosophers for centuries and has inspired a fruitful literature about the badness of death in the last decades.

Epicurus was a man of modesty. He believed that happiness was the main goal for an individual to achieve, but he believed that living luxuriously was not the way to attain happiness. He thought that material objects and shopping was a false idea of happiness. Epicurus thought friendship, freedom and an analyzed life was of the utmost importance to being happy. His ideas state that even if you are dirt poor-you still can be happy, but you can have all the money in the world-and still be unhappy. These are pretty common ideas in today’s society as well. Everyone knows the cliché saying, “money can’t buy happiness”, or “you can’t take it with you when you die”, which showcase how the idea of being rich won’t solve the human condition. Of course I believe that Epicurus’s ideas could help people in today’s society, but I also think that today’s society is pretty much set up for commercialism and consumerism.

Epicurus writes, the argument that death is nothing to us, because when we exist, death is not yet present, and when death comes, we no longer exist. There are three reasonable previews to support his view, including: something is bad for someone as long as it must be bad for that person at specific time; Death cannot be bad for someone when they are dead because the person does not exist at that time; Death cannot be bad for someone before death actually come. Among these three reasonable previews, Epicurus draw his conclusion that because there is no time at which death is bad for someone, so death is not bad for anyone. I’m agree with that “Death is not bad for anyone”, because death can’t affect us since we are died. Although the objection is reasonable, I still think the Epicurus’s response is stronger.

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The ethics behind Epicureanism are very simple. Epicurus demonstrates that experience shows happiness is not best attained by directly seeking it. The selfish are not more happy but less so than the unselfish. This statement is very powerful for the simple person. Epicurus proves that if a person seeks to be happy he/she usually won't be able to find true happiness.

In Epicurus’s argument he uses the word death a lot. Rosenbaum further explains this by informing us that death in the context in which Epicurus is discussing, is actually being dead. This further proves the notion of death having ambiguous meanings as stated earlier. Also, according to this essay, death is not the issue but rather being dead. What we as humans fear is being dead; and Epicurus wants to get rid of this fear with the help of his argument. Rosenbaum also explains that since we cannot experience anything at the stage of being dead, it is not bad for us. Rosenbaum gives an example of an individual that cannot hear. If there were a bad symphony being played which was unpleasant to the ears, this person would not hear it. For other people

During Epicurus’s early years he looked towards other philosophers as an inspiration. Epicurus first discusses the idea and “importance of sensual pleasure” (50). To express these teachings Epicurus created a place where people could go to “study [the] pleasure” (51) that he preached about in his teachings. Many found this type of study to be morally uneasy, however, it consistently gained support, to many especially the wealthy. After some time, these places of study began to disappear. Epicurus then began to look at how one can achieve a happy and healthy life. To do this one must originally look towards what makes them unhappy and “dissatisfied” (54) in their lives whether that be their job or something else. Therefore, through Epicurus’s teachings one should not act “on first impulse” but look towards what our desires are telling us that we want in life. Epicurus looked at friendship to achieving a happy life. One must have a connection to others in order to feel complete in the world. Therefore, Epicurus lived amongst many friends where he noticed and expressed that “we don’t exist unless there is someone who can see us existing” (57) therefore, by having friends in our life we always feel that we are part of something in the world that is larger than ourselves. Epicurus also expresses that our friends “do not evaluate us… to worldly criteria” (57). Once one has friends who accept them and show unconditional love, one many look towards Epicurus’s view of freedom in finding happiness. One needs to be free of “everyday affairs and politics” (58) to live a happy life. From giving up these mundane affairs, Epicurus and his friends were able not be reliant on a “material basis” (58) but could find happiness on the simplicity of life. The next

I do agree that you should surround with friends and that we should get rid of unnecessary pains. But he does say that we should have friends over having a significant other and that we don’t need the pleasure of having a significant other, I have a boyfriend and we’ve been dating for almost two years, and I also have plenty of friends as well, I’d like to think I’m pretty happy. Epicurus also says some pains like sadness can lead to an appreciation for life or compassion, I do somewhat agree with this, for example if someone dies it can make you appreciate life (if you didn’t already). He also states that we need to live life with a mindset in which there is no pain, now I’m sure everyone at some point in their life they go through some kind of pain whether it be maybe a death or a heartbreak they go through some kind of pain, so this is something I disagree with. And lastly he says we should be content with the simple things in life, I do agree with this because well we should be content with the little things in life, why should we get mad or upset over the little things in life, by getting mad or upset we are only hurting ourselves which may lead to us hurting others and not meaning to. Epicurus does have some very good points to being happy and I agree with most of them and some of them I do disagree with slightly but I wouldn’t say this man was crazy. And I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want to

To Epicurus happiness was the same as pleasure. And pleasure was freedom from bodily pain and mental anguish. He lived a simple life, owning only two cloaks and only eating bread and olives. With the occasional slice of cheese for a treat. He believed desire was a form of pain and therefore should be eliminated, and thus one should be satisfied with the bare minimum of what is needed to be happy. Therefore, while it was not a life of many desires, it was filled with the only pleasures you would need to be happy. There was a certain joy he found, in pure existence. Today’s society could learn a thing or two from this philosophy, most of which being living simply. It was better to take pleasure in simple things, rather than to chase pleasure.