Self Habituation In Brave New World

Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher who lived during the height of the Roman Empire, 50 to 135 CE roughly. He was born a slave in modern Turkey. He was given his name from the Greek word επικτητος, meaning ‘acquired’ or ‘slave’. As a slave he was permitted to attend philosophy lectures, which were held by Stoics at the time. During his time as a slave, Epictetus’ leg was injured, either from torture or an accident, and, due to his familiarity with Stoicism, he was able to endure it. He got his freedom when Nero was appointed emperor; however, during the rule of Domitian, Epictetus was exiled and moved to Greece. He started a philosophy school where he continued to teach about Stoicism and eventually died. His student, Arrian, wrote and published his works: The Discourses and Epictetus’ shorter book, the Enchiridion, or The Manual.

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

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

"'God isn't compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness.'" So says Mustapha Mond, the World Controller for Western Europe in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World. In doing so, he highlights a major theme in this story of a Utopian society. Although the people in this modernized world enjoy no disease, effects of old age, war, poverty, social unrest, or any other infirmities or discomforts, Huxley asks 'is the price they pay really worth the benefits?' This novel shows that when you must give up religion, high art, true science, and other foundations of modern life in place of a sort of unending happiness, it is not worth the sacrifice.

Even prior to birth, they are genetically and physically conditioned to a certain degree, depending on their predestined caste and occupation. Once born, they are conditioned, by caste, to each bear identical morals using a technique called "hypnopaedia", or sleep-teaching. These morals are indoctrinated into their brains, and follow them throughout their entire lives. The people's existence is now secured, as there is little the individual can do to change anything about his or her life. Even a person's emotions have been decided for them, primarily through the use of the quick fix "happy" drug, Soma. Happiness, however shallow it may be, prevails over any other emotion. "And that," the Director explains sententiously, "that is the secret of happiness and virtue-liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny" (Huxley 16). Only the individuals whose conditioning has been flawed, such as Bernard for example, have the ability to see beyond the workings of society and question their lives and surroundings. John the "savage" also notices the defects in the New World Society. Defying the moral values of the New World Society, John wishes for "god…poetry…danger…freedom…goodness…sin" (Huxley 237). Although these individuals may not always be happy, Huxley uses them to represent a more humanistic and benevolent type of existence, which is

25. Epicurean teachings and politics were based on individual pleasure. The highest of all pleasures is the serenity of the soul, in complete absence of mental and physical pain. This can be achieved by eliminating fear.

The principal Doctrines, are written by Epicurus who lived from 341B.C. to 270 B.C. His theory is hedonism, which is rooted in pleasure. The book speaks of pain as being only temporary, and that it is only a pleasure over pain (V). This is a way of life to see the pleasures that life offers are what Epicurus is saying. And although, “no Pleasure is a bad thing in itself,” The results of obtaining the pleasure can bring greater displeasures (VIII). He is looking for the most pleasures one can get, and I suppose if he was not happy with his job, that he would quit. I can see Epicurus, avoiding a lot of things within his life because they would bring pain and frustration, like driving in rush hour. The idea sounds like he is living the simple life, or a hermit’s life.

Drugs, promiscuous sex, birth control, and total happiness are the core values of the World State in the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. In today’s society things like drug use and reckless sex are often seen as taboo, but in World State, these activities are glorified and even considered normal. Aldous Huxley attempts to address to readers the harsh realities and cruel ways of our society in an exaggerated form. His purpose in doing so is to open the eyes of society to what the world might come to if things like technology and humanity get out of hand. In the World State, the motto that people are conditioned to live by is “Community, Identity, and Stability”, all three of which are ironically twisted to encourage members of the society

The future of the world is a place of thriving commerce and stability. Safety and happiness are at an all-time high, and no one suffers from depression or any other mental disorders. There are no more wars, as peace and harmony spread to almost every corner of the world. There is no sickness, and people are predestined to be happy and content in their social class. But if anything wrong accidentally occurs, there is a simple solution to the problem, which is soma. The use of soma totally shapes and controls the utopian society described in Huxley's novel Brave New World as well as symbolize Huxley's society as a whole. This pleasure drug is the answer to all of

In other words, Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. In Brave New World people are controlled through hypnopaedic conditioning and soma. Soma is a drug that causes people to have a happy high without any of the downsides of doing normal drugs. What this all means is that in the World State everyone is too busy being being sedated into thinking that they are happy about everything to notice that they are being controlled and used like farm animals to run their “perfect” society at the most efficient levels they can achieve. At one point in Huxley’s novel, a character says "..there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon..." (pg. 56). This shows how in the World State people continue to block out the gloomy world by constantly subjecting themselves to something they love which in turn is only hurting them. In our own society, technology has become so prevalent in every household that even internet is starting to be considered a necessity. Research has shown that “compulsive Internet use leads to changes in the brain—particularly in reward pathways—comparable to those observed in drug addicts” (Promises 1). In other words our phones and social media are our society’s form of soma. On the other hand, the reality that Huxley portrays is far from our reality for one simple fact. That fact being that our government does not mandate consumerism at all. In the World State, there are “‘Soma distribution[s]’” in which the government hands out soma to delta workers(pg.232). This is a stark contrast to our society due to the fact that we do have “pleasures” that affect our lives, but the

Born of different stations, languages and creeds, Epictetus and Seneca are Roman philosophers who externally appear to be very different. Epictetus was born to a slave mother, sold as a slave himself and spent the majority of his youth as a slave in Rome. Seneca was born into money; he became tutor to a boy named Nero who later acquired position of Emperor of Rome in 54 A.D. Though these two men seem to be from very different worlds, they have a shared purpose in studying philosophy. The purpose of their writings was to teach people how to live well. Though they had a shared purpose, they suggested its achievement through different means. Epictetus professed an ‘expect the worst so you wont be disappointed when it happens’

During his college years Wilde also came across the teaching of Epicurus, a Greek philosopher who lived from 342-270 B.C.E. and taught that pleasure was the highest good. He was "active during the Hellenistic period" and "had a defining influence on those defined as Aesthetes and Decadents, particularly Walter Pater and his occasional disciple Oscar Wilde."(Terpening 1) The Victorian aesthetes, such as Wilde and Pater concerned themselves with sense-perception, wholeness, and the soul. It was the belief of Wilde that "the exterior beauty of a man conceals inner moral decrepitude to those who do not contemplate in earnest . . . Dorian Gray's

Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher who wrote, The Enchiridion, a manual which instructed people on how to live their life ethically and honorably on a social level. His belief was that regardless of personal conditions, people could live with pride and discipline. Epictetus tells us differentiating between what is in our own power to control and what is not is the key to a noble life (281).

First off, we are creatures. We are animals. We're very sophisticated and good-looking and all that, but let's never forget that we're made of flesh and blood. In particular, our brains are incredibly complex evolved machines. Our brains govern basic processes such as breathing and food intake, and also enable us to appreciate the finer points of John Cleese's performances in Fawlty Towers.

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist who lived from 384-322 B.C who was born in Stagira, Macedonia. His father played a major role in society as a physician in the royal court. Young Aristotle took a liking to Plato and decided to go to his academy at the age of seventeen. For the next twenty years, Aristotle remained there first as a student then as a teacher. After the death of Plato, Aristotle moved to Assos in the Asia Minor where he tutored his friend Hermias who was the ruler there and decided to marry his niece. After his death he then tutored Alexander the Great at the capital of Macedonia known as Pella. Later in his life, Aristotle decided to move back to Athens, Greece to open up his own school known as Lyceum.