Do you want to know who Epicurus was and understand his thought? In this video we offer you a summary of Epicureanism, one of the central philosophies of the Hellenistic age.
Epicurus
Epicurus (341-270 BC) was one of the most influential philosophers of antiquity, founder of the philosophical school called Epicureanism. Born on the island of Samos, he moved to Athens, where he founded his ” Garden “, a philosophical community open to men and women, dedicated to the study and practice of philosophy .
Epicurus developed a thought centered on the pursuit of happiness through pleasure and the absence of pain, promoting a simple and moderate life. He rejected superstition and the idea of a destiny dominated by the gods, proposing instead a vision of the world based on a rigorous atomistic materialism.
Epicurus became famous for his hedonistic view of life, although his hedonism focused on mental and spiritual pleasure, rather than unbridled bodily pleasures, which distinguished him from other philosophical currents.
The thought of Epicurus
For Epicurus, philosophy has an instrumental value, that is, it serves a purpose: philosophy serves human happiness. However, human happiness encounters an obstacle, namely the 4 evils:
- Fear of the Gods
- The fear of death
- The pain
- The absence of pleasure
These evils can make us suffer and, for Epicurus, this happens because we have false beliefs related to these 4 evils. Philosophy, however, can lead us to discover the truth and make us happy. Precisely because of its value in curing the soul, philosophy is called a quadripharmaceutical , precisely because it cures these four evils. This is why, for Epicurus, the theme of death is so important: because it is one of the causes that make men unhappy .
Death is nothing
Death is nothing : this is the famous sentence written by Epicurus in the letter to Menoeceus . But how does Epicurus support this statement?
Epicurus’ reasoning can be divided into two parts:
- PHYSICS
Epicurus’ Physics is very similar to that of Democritus : for Epicurus too, in the Universe there are only atoms and the void. Atoms are the indivisible particles that make up bodies while the void is the space in which atoms move. Atoms come together, aggregate, or disintegrate. When they aggregate, a body comes to life; when they disintegrate, however, the body also disappears.
Atoms move according to the principles of movement , not by divine providence and for this reason Epicurus’ theory is also called Mechanism .
The soul is also composed of atoms , although lighter than others. The atoms of the soul enter our body and pervade us like a warm breath. But they are always atoms, so when they disintegrate, the soul dies. This is the conclusion of Epicurus’ Physics: the soul is mortal. - THE NATURE OF THE SOUL
According to Epicurus, the soul is the seat of all sensation. This means that everything we feel and perceive, we perceive thanks to the soul and when the soul dies we stop feeling. As said before, in fact, since the soul is also composed of atoms, it too is mortal because its atoms can disintegrate. However, the soul is also the seat of all our sensations and therefore, when our soul dies, we stop feeling. This is why Epicurus says that death is nothing : because we cannot feel it.
As he himself says in the letter to Menoeceus, death – considered the most terrible of evils – is nothing for us because when we are there, death is not there and when death comes, we are no longer there .
Epicurus continues by saying that men usually fear death or desire it to put an end to their evils but the wise man knows that death is not to be feared nor desired because it is nothing.For Epicurus, therefore, it is senseless to fear death because it is senseless to fear something that cannot harm us .
