The Epicurean Life : Epicurus : A Life Of Happiness

Epictetus’ Enchiridion is said to be a shorter, and easier to understand, version of his Discourses. It consists of 52 aphorisms about how to achieve happiness. Epictetus closely associated happiness with freedom, believing the two to be inseparable. [FIND HAPPINESS AND FREEDOM QUOTE] Epictetus touches on subjects of control, desire, fear,

The Leading Doctrines of Epicurean philosophy state that ‘it is impossible to live the pleasant life without also living sensibly, nobly and justly, and conversely it is impossible to live sensibly, nobly and justly without living pleasantly’ (Epicurus, 1998b, p.53). Therefore, the good Epicurean believes in order to live virtuously, one must adhere to a pleasurable life. For Epicureans it is impossible to live virtuously and unpleasantly or vice-versa. In addition, Epicurus describes pleasure as our ‘primary native good’ (Epicurus 1998a, p. 51), implying that all human actions are driven by pleasures and by the avoidance of pains. Another imperative concept to Epicurean philosophy is Epicurus’ idea of the three fundamental aspects in attaining pleasure, those of friendship, freedom and an analysed life

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.

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.

In evaluating the philosopher’s goal of determining how to live a good life, Epicurean philosophers argue that pleasure is the greatest good and pain is the greatest bad. Foremost, for the purpose of this analysis, I must define the pleasure and pain described. Pleasure is seen as the state of being pleased or gratified. This term is defined more specifically by the subject to which the pleasure applies, depending on what he likes. Pain is the opposite of pleasure, which is a type of emotional or physical un-pleasure that results in something that the person dislikes. “Everything in which we rejoice is pleasure, just as everything that distresses us is pain,” (Cicero 1). Through this hedonistic assessment of pleasure and pain, epicurean philosophers come to the conclusion that, “the greatest pleasure [is that] which is perceived once all pain has been removed,” (Epicurus 1).

Lucretius was a Roman poet who believed that the Epicurean systems provided the most important and valuable way of thinking. He pledged all of his poetic and persuasive writing skills towards presenting Epicurus’ teachings in a concise expose. A key Epicurean doctrine which he explores is the concept of the Nature of Happiness. Philosophy, in this mindset, is a refuge from the trials and tribulations of the

People who are viewed as happy in our culture today are also seen as being rich, having a loving family, and a great occupation. Our society is attracted to material things, rather than spiritual ones. Can a person who does not have many possessions and an elevated social position still live a happy life? Epicurus believed that each one of us could achieve true happiness, and our only problem is that we stubbornly search for it in all the wrong places. Epicurus states that we only need three things to be happy besides the essentials needed for survival: friends, freedom, and an analyzed life. I will be comparing contemporary American notions of happiness to the Epicurean view.

Stoic writings like Epictetus’ Enchiridion or The Handbook, show that he believes that to live the best life possible, that person needs to not put any value into emotions. In Epictetus' writing, he writes his beliefs on how a person can achieve the Good Life. The Good Life is a concept people strive to achieve in their lives. Epictetus believes that for a person to have the Good Life, they should not let the death of someone they loved to make them unhappy, that the judgment of death is what makes a person unhappy, that a person should prepare themselves for an event that will happen, that a person must do any task assigned to them, and that they should accept fate. In Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, she writes about a fictional town that holds a “lottery” to determine which person in the town will die. The story seems innocent initially, and as it continues the audience learns about their tradition, that seems awful to the reader, but is normal for the people in the town. Throughout The Lottery, her characters display aspects of Stoic teachings that Epictetus writes about. Thus, Epictetus would believe that the characters in The Lottery are living the Good Life.

Aristotle makes a number of claims in Book I of Nicomachean Ethics that deal with the idea of Happiness and how to obtain it. His stance can be seen when he makes the claim, “Happiness, on the other hand, no one chooses for the sake of these, nor, in general, for anything other than itself.” Aristotle is stating that the end goal of life is to achieve true happiness. We do not work any further towards something else once we are truly happy. We also see this when he says “Happiness, then, is something final and self-sufficient, and is the end of action.” Aristotle thought that our end goal was happiness. It shows how highly he regarded it. Another idea he brings to light is that happiness cannot be obtained in the short term. Aristotle says, “For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day; and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed or happy.” Here he argues that just as the birds singing doesn’t make a perfect summer, happiness is not true in a temporary or daily setting, only at the end of our lives can we determine true happiness. Aristotle believes that short term goals can be okay, but we need a rational and virtuous life in order to obtain the real idea of happiness.

“Happiness in particular is believed to be complete without qualification, since we always choose it for itself and never for the sake of anything else. Honour, pleasure, intellect, and every virtue we do indeed choose for themselves (since we would choose each of them even if they had no good effects), but we choose them also for the sake of happiness, on the assumption that through them we shall live a life of happiness; whereas happiness no one chooses for the sake of any of these nor indeed for the sake of anything else.” ( Aristotle 10-11) Aristotle is the other view of happiness that will be discussed. With him and the Stoics, they are both kind of similar due to both believe in virtue for happiness, Aristotle says virtue a different way and other ways about happiness. Aristotle along with the Stoic’s believe that virtues is the same, but Aristotle says this about virtue “and if we take this kind of life to be activity of the soul and actions in accordance with reason, and the characteristic activity of the good person to be to carry this out well and nobly, and a characteristic activity to be accomplished well when it is accomplished in accordance with the appropriate virtue; then if this is so, the human good turns out to be

Over the years, different philosophers have given different outlines for living a happy and flourishing life. For Epicureans, happiness is pleasure. They describe that we should only persuade necessary desires like simple food and friends and abstain ourselves from unnecessary ones. Rather than pursuit of pleasure, we should pursuit the absence of pain. Therefore, simple life is the key to a happy

Imagine your friend telling you your outfit looked good when in fact you had three stains on your shirt. Imagine your coach telling you you performed to the best of your ability in today’s game, when last game you hit three home-runs. Imagine your boss telling you you’re the best employee he’s ever had, yet gives the promotion to your co-worker. These are some scenario’s that have a higher chance of occurring if I were to take the happiness pill. Therefore, I have decided not to take the pill because according to Epicurus there are three influences that determine your happiness and being being blinded by the truth is not one of them. The truth in this case, is more important to me.

It’s true that stoics believed happiness came from having what is good, and what is good should benefit you constantly. Stoicism revolves around detachment and a few other major concepts. For instance it involves freedom from emotions, living in harmony with nature, and having control over our own judgements and mental

In my opinion, it is not so easy to agree with everything that Epicurus mentions about his notion of “the good life”. For the most part, I like the rational that a simple life is a happy life and I believe that is the message he is trying to convey. Epicurus says “thanks be to blessed nature because she has made what is necessary easy to supply, and what is not easy unnecessary”. I like the philosophy that all the good things in life are free. Sometimes in life, we as people forget that we just need the basics to be happy.

Aristotle, one of the greatest philosophers of all time created an idea that happiness is the ultimate end goal. This world renowned philosopher argues that exercising a fulfilling life will lead to happiness. Likewise, happiness is said to be the ultimate end goal of all activities in life. Basically, Aristotle portrays every activity as a subordinate to becoming happy. He argues that being self sufficient, and leading a fulfilling life will create happiness through virtue. A virtuous person is noble and possess the ability to rationalize. In order to be noble one must posses the ability to create equilibrium of the soul. That is, staying within the mean. Similar to the mean, Aristotle depicts