Epicureanism is a school of philosophy founded in the 4th century BC by Epicurus. It was one of the major philosophical schools in the Hellenistic world, together with Stoicism and Skepticism, with philosophers like Epicurus, Philodemus, and Lucretius. In ancient Greece, the school was also known as ‘the Garden’, named after the place in Athens where Epicurus and his students would meet. It functioned not only as a school, but also as a community of like-minded people aspiring to live according to the Epicurean ideal. In one of his letters, Seneca imagined the Garden as follows.
“When you approach his little garden and its inscription – ‘Stranger, this is a good place to stay: here pleasure is the highest good’ – the hospitable and humane guardian of that household will be ready and welcome you with barley groats and offer you water in generous quantities and say: ‘Have you been entertained?’ He says: ‘These gardens do not provoke hunger but suppress it, and do not increase thirst with their drinks, but quench it with a free and natural remedy; I have grown old enjoying this pleasure.”
Seneca, Epistulae 21.10 (trans. Elaine Fantham)
As becomes clear from this passage, Epicurus saw pleasure as the highest good. But contrary to popular belief, the Epicureans were not hedonists in the modern sense. In fact, they prescribed a life of moderation rather than one of overindulgence. Epicurus’ philosophy was a practical and therapeutic one, being theoretical only insofar as it served a practical purpose: to improve one’s life. Sadly, the Epicureans have largely been misunderstood.
Pleasure as the Highest Good
Epicurus argued that we should avoid pain and pursue pleasure, contrary to the then traditional idea that suffering is noble and that pleasure is degenerate. Although Epicureanism is a form of hedonism, since it proclaims that ‘pleasure’ (hēdonē) is the highest goal, it is a misunderstanding to think that Epicureanism prescribes to mindlessly and excessively seek pleasure. To the contrary, the Epicureans emphasized that this pleasure should rather be seen as the contentment from fulfilling one’s basic needs, which could only be achieved through an absence of physical pain (aponia) and mental disturbance (ataraxia). Epicurus states it as follows in a letter to his friend Menoeceus.
“When we say, then, that pleasure is the end and aim, we do not mean the pleasures of the prodigal or the pleasures of sensuality, as we are understood to do by some through ignorance, prejudice, or wilful misrepresentation. By pleasure we mean the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul. It is not an unbroken succession of drinking-bouts and of revelry, not sexual love, not the enjoyment of the fish and other delicacies of a luxurious table, which produce a pleasant life; it is sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest tumults take possession of the soul. Of all this the beginning and the greatest good is prudence.”
Epicurus to Menoeceus. From Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers 10.132 (trans. R.D. Hicks)
So in reality, the Epicurean idea of pleasure was more aimed at harm prevention than at the pursuit of sensual delights. Pleasure, they thought, could be obtained through an absence of pain. To achieve this state of painlessness, one does not need much. Above all, we need to avoid situations where we are suffering or likely to suffer, if we can reasonably avoid it. Furthermore, the Epicureans encouraged people to pursuit simple pleasures that are easy to obtain. As for physical pain, this could entail satisfying hunger and quenching thirst, whereas mental pain can be relieved by talking to friends and by liberating oneself from superstition (i.e. religion) and fear of death.
“Pleasure is our first and kindred good. It is the starting-point of every choice and of every aversion, and to it we come back, inasmuch as we make feeling the rule by which to judge of every good thing.”
Fear of Death
Epicurus argued that the universe consisted of just two things: matter and void. He aimed to rid people of superstition by arguing that the world is not reigned by gods but by atoms. Thus, Epicurus argued that one need not fear death nor the afterlife, as he states in the fragment below.
“Accustom thyself to believe that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply sentience, and death is the privation of all sentience; therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life an illimitable time, but by taking away the yearning after immortality. For life has no terrors for him who has thoroughly apprehended that there are no terrors for him in ceasing to live.”
Epicurus to Menoeceus. From Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers 10.124-125 (trans. R.D. Hicks)
Epicurus said that one need not fear death, famously arguing that: ‘death (…) is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not.’ Nor should one fear the afterlife, since the soul, which consists of atoms too, would disperse upon death, making one unable to experience anything beyond the act of dying. One might experience the process of dying, but one cannot experience death itself, nor what happens after (i.e. the afterlife).
“Death (…) is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not.”
The Importance of Friends
Whereas the Stoics insisted that self-mastery was the key to a good life, even under horrible conditions, the Epicureans doubted that the mind had that much power. Instead, they thought that friendship (philia), not self-sufficiency, is central to the good life.
“Of all the means which are procured by wisdom to ensure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.”
Since the Epicureans were known for living together in a community of like-minded people, known as ‘the Garden’, it is no surprise that they valued friendship so highly. However, it is sometimes argued that this stress on friendship is in conflict with the egoistic pursuit of pleasure that the Epicurus prescribes. However, these two can be reconciled, since friendship provides one with a sense of security and comfort, instilling one with confidence that he will be secure of the future. Thus, by liberating one from fear of the future, one can attain a state of mental tranquillity.
The Four-Part Remedy
In conclusion, the aim of Epicureanism is not to indulge in pleasure, but to liberate oneself from pain and fear in order to attain a state of tranquillity. Epicurean philosophy is best summarized in the so called Tetrapharmakos (‘four-part-remedy’), found in a Herculaneum papyrus by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus. According to this summary of Epicurus’ maxims, we should remember that the good life is not hard to attain. Our problems arise from an incorrect view of the world, our ambition, and our greed, while in fact we only need to fulfil our basic needs. The greatest pleasure can be derived not from power or wealth, but simply from the absence of pain.
Dont fear god,
Don’t worry about death;
What is good is easy to get,
What is terrible is easy to endure.
Further Reading
As for further reading on Epicureanism, I can recommend John Sellars’ Fourfold Remedy, which serves as an excellent introduction to the philosophy of Epicurus. As for philosophical overviews, I would recommend the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Other than that, you could listen to some excellent podcasts about the topic, such as the episode below of BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time, in which four experts talk about Epicureanism.
