We explain what Epicureanism is, its origin and why it focuses on pleasure. In addition, we tell you how it influenced modern philosophy.
What is Epicureanism?
Epicureanism is a philosophical movement whose ultimate goal is to seek modest and lasting pleasure. Founded by Epicurus of Samos (341-270 BC) on the outskirts of Athens, Epicureanism is often confused with mere hedonism (a philosophical doctrine that identifies pleasure with good). This is due to the fact that Epicurus and his followers, the Epicureans, propagated a philosophy based on the pursuit of pleasure.
Although it is true that Epicurus, like Aristippus (435-350 BC), was a hedonist, his doctrine should not be reduced to a banal and selfish pleasure. The pleasure pursued by the Epicureans is a modest one and sustainable over time, whose form is that of ataraxia (tranquility and freedom from fear) and aponia (absence of bodily pain). You must read about Artistic Gymnastics once.
The Epicurean school had an important development in ancient Greece, whether in its opposition to Platonism or its later rivalry with Stoicism. Its greatest development occurred in the late stage of Hellenism and during the Roman era.
Both Lucretius and other Roman philosophers compiled and unified the Epicurean teachings until their near disappearance in the 3rd century AD. C. Several centuries later, the Epicurean school reappeared in the Enlightenment and remained in vogue even until contemporary times.
History, origin and etymology of the term “Epicureanism”
The Epicurean school was founded in Athens around 306 BC, the year in which its founder, Epicurus, settled in the city. It is from him that the Epicureans, his followers, take their name. The fact that this school is called Epicureanism indicates, by the suffix “-ism”, that it is a philosophical doctrine. His followers are also known as “the philosophers of the garden”.
Epicurus founded his school on the outskirts of Athens, on the road to the port of Piraeus. It was publicly known as the Garden, or kêpos in classical Greek (κῆπος). The Garden was made up of men and women, which was a novelty at the time. There, a simple way of life was promoted, isolated from political and social life, and which encouraged above all the practice of friendship.
The Garden was in fact a large rural space, far from the city, whose practical and hidden life challenged the ideas and teachings of the Platonic Academy and even the Aristotelian Lyceum, both schools with which it coexisted. On its doors, according to Seneca in his Epistolae morales ad Lucilium, the following was inscribed: “Stranger, your time will be pleasant here. In this place the greatest good is pleasure.” Maybe you should definitely read about Rhythmic Gymnastics once.
The school opened its doors to people of all kinds, whether free men, women or slaves. Internally, it was organized according to a strict hierarchy, whose main positions or strata were the following:
- The philosophers or philosophoi.
- The scholars or philologoi.
- The teachers or kathegetai.
- The imitators or synetheis.
- The students “in preparation” or kataskeuazomenoi.
Main idea of Epicureanism: pleasure
Epicurus advocated above all things a constant search for pleasure. Only through pleasure could the healing of the human soul be achieved. A happy and pleasant life could overcome the barriers of physical pain or spiritual discomfort. Thus, philosophy should serve to make man happy: “philosophy is an activity that with words and reasoning seeks a happy life” (fragment 219 as compiled by Esteban Bieda in Epicurus).
- However, the search for pleasure should not be understood as an abandonment of reason for a life dedicated to leisure. It is about directing intellectual activity to the attainment of pleasure and tranquility. It does not matter if in this search the teachings of ancient masters must be set aside. It could even be the case that they should be corrected.
- The important thing for Epicureanism was to be able to reach the state of ataraxia, and for this reason, in one of his surviving fragments, Epicurus says: “Run away from all education, happy man, unfurling the sails of your boat” (fragment 16 as compiled by Esteban Bieda in Epicurus).
- In short, the pleasure sought was more inclined to a mental pleasure than a physical one. Unnecessary desires had to be suppressed, such as the desire for power, the desire for fame or those that could arise on the occasion of political life.
- On the other hand, those fears considered to be the main causes of conflict in life had to be eliminated. According to Epicurus, these were the fear of the gods (punishment) and death (end).
Epicurus considers that this abandonment of the previous and prior philosophical content occurs because it was nested in a sterile intellectualism and could not account for the path to human happiness. Fragment 221 in Epicurus says:
The word of that philosopher is empty, by the action of which no disease of man is cured. For just as there is no benefit to medicine if it does not expel the diseases of the body, so it is with philosophy if it does not expel the disease of the soul.
Pleasures according to Epicureanism
Pleasures, according to Epicureanism, can be differentiated into two large categories:
- Pleasures of the body: These are those that involve pleasurable sensations or freedom from pain. They only exist in the present.
- Pleasures of the soul: These are those that require a process and mental state, such as the feeling of joy (khara), ataraxia and aponia.
These pleasures, and also suffering, as its opposite, are linked to the satisfaction of appetites. The appetites according to Epicureanism can be:
- Natural and necessary appetites (eating, shelter, sleeping)
- Natural and non-necessary appetites (sexual pleasure)
- Non-natural and non-necessary appetites (fame, money, power)
The search for and completion of pleasure as the supreme good depend on the satisfaction of the appetites divided into these three large groups, and their subsequent balance.
Types of knowledge according to Epicureanism
Epicureanism can be divided into physics, canonical and ethical.
- Physics was dedicated to the study of nature from an atomistic perspective.
- Canonical, or criterionology, was concerned with the criteria by which we can differentiate the false from the true.
- Ethics was that branch of Epicurean thought that developed an ethical hedonism, and in whose work one could see the culmination of the entire system of Epicurean philosophical thought.
The influence of Epicureanism on modern philosophers
Epicureanism has reached the most diverse and different corners of the philosophical world. Thus, a list of different philosophers and thinkers covers those who have collected and claimed part of the Epicurean teachings. Among them we have the following:
- Walter Charleton
- Robert Boyle
- Francisco de Quevedo
- John Locke
- Immanuel Kant
- John Stuart Mill
- Karl Marx
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Michel Onfray
What does it mean to be an Epicurean today?
A person who practices a moderate, honest and wise love or enjoyment is considered an Epicurean. An Epicurean knows about the different arts of life, sexual enjoyment in moderation, the state of calm or ataraxia and even forms of aponia as the absence of pain and a sign of happiness.
However, the term is often misused, especially when a person who practices Epicureanism is confused with someone who practices hedonism and the pursuit of fleeting pleasures, such as excesses of the body and mind.
Documents of Epicureanism
We owe the titles of at least forty of Epicurus’ works to Diogenes Laertius (3rd century BC), a Greek historian. As with most texts from Antiquity, Epicurus’ teachings survive only in quotations and fragments collected by later philosophers.
Thus, to this day, we have three letters (to Herodotus, to Pitocles and to Meneceus), a series of capital maxims, some fragments that appear in the Vatican codex Gnomologium Vaticanum and works by his disciples, such as Philodemus of Gadara or, later, Sextus Empiricus, Plutarch, Cicero and Seneca, among others.
