Often, in the course of Western culture, morality and politics overlap. In the thought of Epicurus (341–271 B.C.E.), they do not, and this fact alone makes him an especially interesting figure, for in the ancient Greek world ethics and the good life were generally conceived in political terms. Hence, it would be surprising if Epicurus’ rejection of political involvement were not in part a reaction to the thought of Plato and Aristotle and a return, in a sense, to Socratic thinking and an intense type of psychological therapy. Moreover, it would also be surprising if Epicurus’ denial of the political, the avoidance of turbulence and fear, and the striving for psychological equilibrium were not in part a reaction to the pressures of the times—the achievements of Alexander, his death, the fragmentation of the empire, the increased familiarity among diverse cultures, and political crisis.
Epicurus was born on the island of Samos, off the coast of Asia Minor. His father was an Athenian citizen, and Epicurus at eighteen traveled to Athens to perform his military service. At about that time Alexander died, Aristotle left Athens and died a year later, and the Lyceum, Aristotle’s school, came under new leadership. Epicurus seems to have returned to live with his family in Colophon and then to have organized his own philosophical circle first in Lesbos and then in Lampsacus, before moving to Athens in 307/306 B.C.E. He remained in Athens until his death in 271.
Upon his return to Athens, Epicurus purchased a house outside the city gates and founded a school, the “Garden,” a kind of religious fellowship or society of friends. Apparently Epicurus had followers throughout the Greek world, and he kept in touch with many of them by means of letters, of which some fragments have survived. Epicurus wrote a great deal; Diogenes Laertius, the third-century doxographer, records forty-one of Epicurus’ ‘best books’ and notes that no previous writer had greater productivity. Of this massive corpus, however, only a small portion remains, principally three letters quoted by Diogenes (To Herodotus, To Pythocles, and To Menoeceus), a collection of forty maxims or “principal doctrines” also quoted in Diogenes, and the quantity of Epicurean teaching cited and employed in Lucretius’ De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things).
As A. A. Long has put it, “Epicurus’ philosophy is a strange mixture of hard-headed empiricism, speculative metaphysics, and rules for the attainment of a tranquil life.” That is, he develops a theory of knowledge that is grounded in sensation and sensory evidence. On this basis, Epicurus accounts for concepts, statements, truth, and rules of logic. He then proceeds to draw on the pre-Socratic atomists, Leucippus and Democritus, to develop his own theory of atoms and the void. From this theory he gives an account of the gods, fate, free will, and such matters. Finally, Epicurus uses these accounts to show how one should live in order to reduce pain and anxiety and thereby to maximize psychic tranquility (ataraxia) and pleasure. For example, he argues, tranquility occurs when the knowledge of nature removes our fear of the gods and of death itself. Human beings, Epicurus claims, can dissolve illusion and prejudice and thereby achieve the freedom from pain and the peace of mind that characterize the best life. There is no voluptuary hedonism in this; Epicurus does not fit the later parody of his thought. Rather there is dignity, moderation, and detachment, born of strife and worry but seeking nobility in a world riddled with turbulence, conflict, and superstition.
Recommended Readings
Annas, Julia. The Morality of Happiness. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Gerson, L., and B. Inwood (trans.). Hellenistic Philosophy. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1988.
Irwin, T. H. Classical Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Long, A. A. Hellenistic Philosophy. London: Duckworth, 1974.
Long, A. A., and David Sedley (trans. and commentary). The Hellenistic Philosophers. Vols. I and II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Mitsis, P. Epicurus’ Ethical Theory. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988.
Nussbaum, Martha. The Therapy of Desire. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
Prior, William. Virtue and Knowledge: An Introduction to Ancient Greek Ethics. London: Routledge, 1991.
Rist, John. Epicurus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972.
Sharples, R. W. Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics. London: Routledge, 1996.