Epicurus Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Epicurus is one of the major philosophers in the Hellenistic period, the three centuries following the death of Alexander the Great in 3. B. C. E. (and of Aristotle in 3.

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Epicurus

B. C. E.). Epicurus developed an unsparingly materialistic metaphysics, empiricist epistemology, and hedonistic ethics. Epicurus taught that the basic constituents of the world are atoms, uncuttable bits of matter, flying through empty space, and he tried to explain all natural phenomena in atomic terms. Epicurus rejected the existence of Platonic forms and an immaterial soul, and he said that the gods have no influence on our lives.

Epicurus also thought skepticism was untenable, and that we could gain knowledge of the world relying upon the senses. He taught that the point of all one's actions was to attain pleasure (conceived of as tranquility) for oneself, and that this could be done by limiting one's desires and by banishing the fear of the gods and of death. Epicurus' gospel of freedom from fear proved to be quite popular, and communities of Epicureans flourished for centuries after his death. Table of Contents Life Sources Metaphysics Arguments for the Existence of Atoms and Void Properties of Atoms, Limitlessness of the Universe Differences from Democritus Weight The Swerve Sensible Qualities Mechanistic Explanations of Natural Phenomena The Gods Philosophy of Mind Perception Epistemology The Canon: Sensations, Preconceptions, and Feelings Anti- skeptical Arguments The "Lazy Argument" The Self- refutation Argument The Argument from Concept- formation Ethics Hedonism, Psychological and Ethical Types of Pleasure Types of Desire The Virtues Justice Friendship Death The No Subject of Harm Argument The Symmetry Argument References and Further Reading. Collections of Primary Sources. Recent Books on Particular Areas of Epicurus' Philosophy 1. Life. Epicurus was born around 3.

B. C. E., seven years after Plato's death, and grew up in the Athenian colony of Samos, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. He was about 1. 9 when Aristotle died, and he studied philosophy under followers of Democritus and Plato. Epicurus founded his first philosophical schools in Mytilene and Lampsacus, before moving to Athens around 3. B. C. E. There Epicurus founded the Garden, a combination of philosophical community and school. The residents of the Garden put Epicurus' teachings into practice.

Epicurus died from kidney stones around 2. B. C. E. After Epicurus' death, Epicureanism continued to flourish as a philosophical movement. Communities of Epicureans sprang up throughout the Hellenistic world; along with Stoicism, it was one of the major philosophical schools competing for people's allegiances. Epicureanism went into decline with the rise of Christianity. Certain aspects of Epicurus' thought were revived during the Renaissance and early modern periods, when reaction against scholastic neo- Aristotelianism led thinkers to turn to mechanistic explanations of natural phenomena. Sources. Epicurus was a voluminous writer, but almost none of his own work survives. A likely reason for this is that Christian authorities found his ideas ungodly.

Diogenes Laertius, who probably lived in the third century CE , wrote a 1. Lives of the Philosophers, which includes three of Epicurus' letters in its recounting of the life and teachings of Epicurus. These three letters are brief summaries of major areas of Epicurus' philosophy: the Letter to Herodotus, which summarizes his metaphysics, the Letter to Pythocles, which gives atomic explanations for meteorological phenomena, and the Letter to Menoeceus, which summarizes his ethics. It also includes the Principal Doctrines, 4. Because of the absence of Epicurus' own writings, we have to rely on later writers to reconstruct Epicurus' thought. Two of our most important sources are the Roman poet Lucretius (c.

B. C. E.) and the Roman politician Cicero (1. B. C. E.). Lucretius was an Epicurean who wrote De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), a six- book poem expounding Epicurus' metaphysics. Cicero was an adherent of the skeptical academy, who wrote a series of works setting forth the major philosophical systems of his day, including Epicureanism. Another major source is the essayist Plutarch (c. CE), a Platonist. However, both Cicero and Plutarch were very hostile toward Epicureanism, so they must be used with care, since they often are less than charitable toward Epicurus, and may skew his views to serve their own purposes.

Although the major outlines of Epicurus' thought are clear enough, the lack of sources means many of the details of his philosophy are still open to dispute. Metaphysics. Epicurus believes that the basic constituents of the world are atoms (which are uncuttable, microscopic bits of matter) moving in the void (which is simply empty space). Ordinary objects are conglomerations of atoms. Furthermore, the properties of macroscopic bodies and all of the events we see occurring can be explained in terms of the collisions, reboundings, and entanglements of atoms. Rustic Pear Tart more.

Arguments for the Existence of Atoms and Void. Epicurus' metaphysics starts from two simple points: (1) we see that there are bodies in motion, and (2) nothing comes into existence from what does not exist. Epicurus takes the first point to be simply a datum of experience. The second point is a commonplace of ancient Greek philosophy, derived from the Principle of Sufficient Reason (the principle that for everything which occurs there is a reason or explanation for why it occurs, and why this way rather than that).

First, because bodies move, there must be empty space for them to move in, and Epicurus calls this empty space 'void.' Second, the ordinary bodies that we see are compound bodies- -that is, bodies which are made up of further bodies, which is shown by the fact that they can be broken down into smaller pieces. However, Epicurus thinks that this process of division cannot go on indefinitely, because otherwise bodies would dissolve away into nothing. Also, there must be basic and unchangeable building blocks of matter in order to explain the regularities in nature. These non- compound bodies are atoms- -literally, 'uncuttables.' Only bodies and void exist per se, that is, exist without depending for their existence on something else. Other things- -such as colors, time, and justice- -are ultimately explicable as attributes of bodies. Best Grilled Tuna Steak Recipe. Properties of Atoms, Limitlessness of the Universe. Because Epicurus believes that nothing comes into existence from nothing, he thinks that the universe has no beginning, but has always existed, and will always exist.

Atoms, too, as the basic building blocks of all else, cannot come into existence, but have always existed. Our particular cosmos, however, is only a temporary agglomeration of atoms, and it is only one of an infinite number of such cosmoi, which come into existence and then dissolve away. Against Aristotle, Epicurus argues that the universe is unlimited in size. If the universe were limited in size, says Epicurus, you could go to the end of it, stick your fist out, and where your fist was located would be the new 'limit' of the universe. Of course, this process could be reiterated an endless number of times. Since the universe is unlimited in size, there must also be an unlimited number of atoms and an infinite amount of void. If the number of atoms were limited, then the 'density' of atoms in any region would effectively be zero, and there would be no macroscopic bodies, as there evidently are.

And there must be an unlimited amount of void, since without a limitless amount of void, the infinite number of atoms would be unable to move. Differences from Democritus. Up to this point, Epicurus is largely following the thought of Democritus, a pre- Socratic philosopher and one of the inventors of atomism. However, he modifies Democritus' atomism in at least three important ways.

Weight. The first is that Epicurus thinks that atoms have weight.