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Epicureanism
Earlier in this course we
examined Cyrenaic Hedonism as a possible solution to the problem of happiness,
only to realize that the approach was too flawed to lead to any kind of
lasting happiness. We will now focus on another branch of hedonistic
philosophy which is somewhat more sophisticated than that of the Cyrenaics--namely,
Epicureanism.
1. Who Was Epicurus?
Epicurus was a Greek, born at
Samos in 341 BC and died in 270 BC. In 310 he founded a school in
Mitylene, which he moved to Athens in 306. Since the permanent
headquarters of this new school were located in his house and garden, Epicurus'
school came to be known as "the Garden." This
school attracted quite a  large following of adherents even during Epicurus'
lifetime and its membership included women and slaves. Part of the
reason for the admiration in which Epicurus was held by those around him
undoubtedly had to do with his character: his was an extremely simple
lifestyle ("Send me a little pot of cheese" he wrote to a friend,
"so that I may have a luxurious feast whenever I like").
Epicurus is said to have
written almost three hundred works, almost all of which have
disappeared. What we have left of his original thought are three letters
(to Herodotus, Menoeceus and Pythocles) that have been preserved by Diogenes
Laertius and a few fragments.
It is said that Epicurus suffered
from bad health throughout most of his life and he experienced a great amount
of pain as he got older. It is perhaps for this reason that he focused
so much of his attention on the pursuit of pleasure. Epicurus' approach
to philosophy is eminently practical: he viewed the practice of
philosophy as a kind of therapy for
the soul which aims at the
eradication of suffering. As he himself puts it:
"Vain is the word of the
philosopher which does not heal any suffering of man. For just as
there is no profit in medicine if it does not expel the diseases of the
body, so there is no profit in philosophy either if it does not expel the
suffering of the mind."
2. The Teachings of
Epicurus
1) The Supreme Good
Like all of the major
philosophers that we have already studied, Epicurus believes that the aim of
life is happiness. Like the Cyrenaics, however, he maintains that
happiness is to be attained through pleasure (hedone).
Pleasure, he says,
is the beginning and
the goal of a happy life. We recognize pleasure as the first and natural
good; starting from pleasure, we accept or reject; and we return to those
as we judge every good thing, trusting this feeling of pleasure as our
guide.
Pleasure for Epicurus, then
is the chief good, that goal to which all our actions are aimed. We
had previously seen that Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics I, rejects the idea
that pleasure could be the supreme good, because it is more proper to
animals than to human beings. Epicurus would probably counter that Aristotle
is being slightly unrealistic about human nature: if we look at the
way people act (if we examine what they pursue and avoid, during the
normal course of the life) it seems obvious that the attainment of pleasure
is indeed the aim of all human action.
Now that you have some
general notions about Epicurus' life and his approach to philosophy, you are
ready to read the most important source of his ideas---his famous
"Letter to Menoeceus":
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Letter
to Menoeceus
[Diogenes
Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers]
Epicurus
to Menoeceus, Greeting.
The
Role of Philosophy
"Let no one delay to study philosophy while he is young, and when
he is old let him not become weary of the study; for no man can ever
find the time unsuitable or too late to study the health of his soul.
And he who asserts either that it is not yet time to philosophize, or
that the hour is passed, is like a man who should say that the time is
not yet come to be happy, or that it is too late. So that both young and
old should study philosophy, the one in order that, when he is old, he
many be young in good things through the pleasing recollection of the
past, and the other in order that he may be at the same time both young
and old, in consequence of his absence of fear for the future.
"It is right then for a man to consider the things which produce
happiness, since, if happiness is present, we have everything, and when
it is absent, we do everything with a view to possess it. Now, what I
have constantly recommended to you, these things I would have you do and
practice, considering them to be the elements of living well.
The
Problem of Death
"Accustom yourself also to think death a matter with which we are
not at all concerned, since all good and all evil is in sensation, and
since death is only the privation of sensation. On which account, the
correct knowledge of the fact that death is no concern of ours, makes
the mortality of life pleasant to us, inasmuch as it sets forth no
illimitable time, but relieves us for the longing for immortality. For
there is nothing terrible in living to a man who rightly comprehends
that there is nothing terrible in ceasing to live; so that he was a
silly man who said that he feared death, not because it would grieve him
when it was present, but because it did grieve him while it was future.
For it is very absurd that that which does not distress a man when it is
present, should afflict him only when expected. Therefore, the most
formidable of evils, death, is nothing to us, since, when we exist,
death is not present to us; and when death is present, then we have no
existence. It is no concern then either of the living or of the dead;
since to the one it has no existence, and the other class has no
existence itself. But people in general, at times flee from death as the
greatest of evils, and at times wish for it as a rest from the evils in
life.
Nor is the not-living a thing feared, since living is not connected with
it: nor does the wise man think not-living an evil; but, just as he
chooses food, not preferring that which is most abundant, but that which
is nicest; so too, he enjoys time, not measuring it as to whether it is
of the greatest length, but as to whether it is most agreeable. And,
they say, he who enjoins a young man to live well, and an old man to die
well, is a simpleton, not only because of the constantly delightful
nature of life, but also because the care to live well is identical with
the care to die well. And he was still more wrong who said: 'Tis well to
taste of life, and then when born To pass with quickness to the shades
below.'
On
the Classification of the Desires
"And we must consider that some of the desires are natural, and some
empty; and of the natural ones some are necessary, and some merely
natural. And of the necessary ones, some are necessary to happiness, and
others, with regard to the exemption of the body from trouble; and others
with respect to living itself; for a correct theory, with regard to these
things, can refer all choice and avoidance to the health of the body and
the freedom from disquietude of the soul. Since this is the end of living
happily; for it is for the sake of this that we do everything, wishing to
avoid grief and fear; and when once this is the case, with respect to us,
then the storm of the soul is, as I may say, put an end to; since the
animal is unable to go as if to something deficient, and to seek something
different from that by which the good of the soul and body will be
perfected....
Selecting
Appropriate Pleasures
"Every pleasure is therefore a good on account of its own nature, but
it does not follow that every pleasure is worthy of being chosen; just as
every pain is an evil, and yet every pain must not be avoided. But it is
right to estimate all these things by the measurement and view of what is
suitable and unsuitable; for at times we may feel the good as an evil, and
at times, on the contrary, we may feel the evil as good. And, we think,
contentment a great good, not in order that we may never have but a
little, but in order that, if we have not much, we may make use of a
little, being genuinely persuaded that those men enjoy luxury most
completely who are the best able to do without it; and that everything
which is natural is easily provided, and what is useless is not easily
procured. And simple flavors give as much pleasure as costly fare, when
everything that can give pain, and every feeling of want, is removed; and
bread and water give the most extreme pleasure when any one in need eats
them. To accustom one’s self, therefore, to simple and inexpensive
habits is a great ingredient in the perfecting of health, and makes a man
free from hesitation with respect to the necessary uses of life. And when
we, on certain occasions, fall in with more sumptuous fare, it makes us in
a better disposition towards it, and renders us fearless with respect to
fortune.
When, therefore, we say that
pleasure is a chief good, we are not speaking of the pleasures of the
debauched man, or those which lie in sensual enjoyment, as some think who
are ignorant, and who do not entertain our opinions, or else interpret
them perversely; but we mean the freedom of the body from pain, and the
soul from confusion. For it is not continued drinkings and revels, or the
enjoyment of female society, or feasts of fish and other such things, as a
costly table supplies, that make life pleasant, but sober contemplation,
which examines into the reasons for all choice and avoidance, and which
puts to flight the vain opinions from which the greater part of the
confusion arises which troubles the soul....
Concluding
Recommendations
"Do you then study these precepts, and those which are akin to them,
by all means day and night, pondering on them by yourself, and discussing
them with any one like yourself, and then you will never be disturbed by
either sleeping or waking fancies, but you will live like a god among men;
for a man living amid immortal gods, is in no respect like a mortal
being." |
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Along with the
"Letter to Menoeceus," another important source of information
on Epicurus' approach to happiness is found in the collection of his maxims
that have been preserved for posterity by Diogenes Laertius:
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Selected
Maxims of Epicurus
[Diogenes
Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers]
XXXI.
Let us, however, now add the finishing stroke, as one may say, to this
whole treatise, and to the life of the philosopher; giving some of his
fundamental maxims, and closing the whole work with them, taking that
for our end which is the beginning of happiness.
3.
"The limit of the greatness of the pleasures is the removal of
everything which can give pain. And where pleasure is, as long as it
lasts, that which gives pain, or that which feels pain, or both of them,
are absent.
5.
"It is not possible to live pleasantly without living prudently,
and honorably, and justly; nor to live prudently, and honorably, and
justly, without living pleasantly. But to whom it does not happen to
live prudently, honorably, and justly cannot possibly live pleasantly.
7.
"No pleasure is intrinsically bad: but the effective causes of some
pleasures bring with them a great many perturbations of pleasure.
13.
"Irresistible power and great wealth may, up to a certain point,
give us security as far as men are concerned; both the security of men
in general depends upon the tranquillity of their souls, and their
freedom from ambition.
14.
"The riches of nature are defined and easily procurable; but vain
desires are insatiable.
15.
"The wise man is but little favored by fortune; but his reason
procures him the greatest and most valuable goods, and these he does
enjoy, and will enjoy the whole of his life.
16.
"The just man is the freest of all men from disquietude; but the
unjust man is a perpetual prey to it.
17.
"Pleasure in the flesh is not increased, when once the pain arising
from want is removed; it is only diversified.
22.
"He who is acquainted with the limits of life knows that that which
removes the pain which arises from want and which makes the whole of
life perfect, is easily procurable; so that he has no need of those
things which can only be attained with trouble.
28.
"Of all the things which wisdom provides for the happiness of the
whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friendship.
29.
"The same opinion encourages man to trust that no evil will be
everlasting, or even of long duration; as it sees that, in the space of
life allotted to us, the protection of friendship is most sure and
trustworthy.
30.
"Of the desires, some are natural and necessary, some natural, but
not necessary, and some are neither natural nor necessary, but owe their
existence to vain opinions. (Epicurus thinks that those are natural and
necessary which put an end to pains as drink when one is thirsty; and
that those are natural but not necessary which only diversify pleasure,
but do not remove pain, such as expensive food; and that these are
neither natural nor necessary, which are such as crowns, or the erection
of statues.)
31.
"Those desires which do not lead to pain, if they are not
satisfied, are not necessary. It is easy to impose silence on them when
they appear difficult to gratify, or likely to produce injury.
32.
"When the natural desires, the failing to satisfy which is
nevertheless, not painful, are violent and obstinate, it is a proof that
there is an admixture of vain opinion in them; for then energy does not
arise from their own nature, but from the vain opinions of men.
42.
"He who desires to live tranquilly without having anything to fear
from other men, ought to make himself friends; those whom he cannot make
friends of, he should, at least avoid rendering enemies; and if that is
not in his power, he should, as far as possible, avoid all intercourse
with them, and keep them aloof, as far as it is for his interest to do
so.
43.
"The happiest men are they who have arrived at the point of having
nothing to fear from those who surround them. Such men live with one
another most agreeably, having the firmest grounds of confidence in one
another, enjoying the advantages of friendship in all their fullness,
and not lamenting as a pitiable circumstance, the premature death of
their friends. |
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Based upon what you have just
read, we can now examine the details of Epicurus' approach to the happy
life:
2) Different Types
of Pleasure
Epicurus held that there were
two distinct kinds of pleasure: pleasure that arises from movement (kinetic
pleasure) and pleasure that arises from rest (static
pleasure). Kinetic Pleasure
is that which we experience while we are in the process of satisfying our
desires (e.g., drinking wine, eating a good meal, engaging in sexual
intercourse). It is the pleasure we feel as we proceed to eliminate a
need or lack. Static Pleasure,
on the other hand, can be described as the state of having satisfied desire
(e.g., having drunk the wine, having eaten a good meal, having engaged in
sexual intercourse). Unlike kinetic pleasure, which is purely
physical, static pleasure is more of an internal state in which suffering,
privation, fear, and agitation are removed and the soul is at rest. Or
to put it in terms we have already used, static pleasure is nothing other
than ataraxia
(or literally a - not having tarachai - troubles)--the
state of perfect serenity, tranquility and inner peace that occurs when our
desires have been satisfied.
As we have already seen, the
Cyrenaics would view the highest good as kinetic pleasure. Epicurus,
however, parts company with this school by arguing instead that static
pleasure is our final end:
'When, therefore, we say
that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasures of the dissolute
and those that lie in enjoyment, as some suppose who are ignorant and
disagree with us or take it in a bad sense, but rather not being pained in
body and not being troubled in soul." (Letter to Menoeceus)
3) Reason and Pleasure
Epicurus has gotten something
of a bum-rap from posterity. Even the term, Epicurean, these days
suggests someone who is insatiable in his desires for all kinds 
of
pleasures. In fact, nothing could be farther from Epicurus' own
approach. Epicurus was first and foremost a philosopher and understood
that the pursuit of pleasure must be guided by reason.
First of all, he recognized
the truly rational person would not indiscriminately pursue every kind of
pleasure, since some will lead to greater pain later on. Conversely,
there are times when a smart hedonist will be more than willing to suffer
temporary pain, if he knows that it will lead to more lasting pleasure:
"For the very reason that
pleasure is the chief and natural good, we do not choose every pleasure,
but there are times when we pass by pleasures if they are outweighed by
the hardships that follow; and many pains we think better than pleasures
when a greater pleasure will come to us once we have undergone the
long-continued pains....By measuring and by looking at advantages and
disadvantages, it is proper to decide all these things; for under certain
circumstances we treat the good as evil, and again, the evil as good."
For example, a rational
person might forgo a night of partying on the town because he knows that the
next morning the misery he experiences from the mass quantities of alcohol
he consumes will greatly outweigh the pleasure he experiences from binge
drinking. Conversely, the pain involved struggling though
medical school is greatly outweighed by the future pleasures involved in
having a satisfying career as a physician
3) Different Types
of Desires
Epicurus also distinguishes
between the various types of desires
that call out to be satisfied:
"You must consider
that of the desires some are natural, some are vain, and of those that are
natural, some are necessary, others only natural. Of the necessary
desires, some are necessary for happiness, some for the ease of the body,
some for life itself."
What we have here is a
classification of desires, with those that are natural and necessary being
more vital to our happiness than those that are merely natural and those
that are vain (or unnatural). A diagram of the various types of
desires would look something like this:
To make it a bit easier to
grasp what Epicurus has in mind by classification of desires, here are a few
examples from each category:
-
vain
desires:
exotic foods, designer clothing, luxury items
-
merely natural
desires: sexual desire
-
necessary for
life:
food, drink, shelter, clothing
-
necessary for
ease:
a bed
-
necessary (only) for
happiness: friendship, freedom, philosophical contemplation
5) Simplicity as the
Key to Pleasure
What is the point of this
classification of desires? Epicurus believes that the more we can
limit our desires, particularly to those that are most necessary, the more
likely we are to achieve sustainable pleasure and hence to be
happy.
The key to all this is
simplicity, since simple pleasures are ultimately the easiest to  satisfy in
life. For example, if we can learn to derive pleasure from
something as basic bread and water when we are hungry, chances are we will always
be happy in life: "To be accustomed to
simple and plain living," Epicurus maintains, "is conducive to health and makes a man ready for
the necessary tasks in life. It also makes us more ready for the
enjoyment of luxury if at intervals we chance to meet with it, and it
renders us fearless against fortune."
If on the other hand, we feel
we need a large home in a posh community, designer clothes, jewels of all
kinds and sporty cars, our happiness, quite simply, is up for grabs.
The person who needs such "vain" items in order to be happy is
probably destined to be miserable. As we have seen, the individual who
pursues vain pleasures can never be certain that fortune will always
favor him with their possession and, even if he manages to get them, he will probably never be satisfied anyway.
As Epicurus himself puts it: "Nothing
is sufficient to someone for whom a little is not enough."
The great
Roman Epicurean poet, Lucretius, captures the love for simplicity shared by
members of the school in his masterpiece, On the Nature of Things:
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Lucretius
On
the Nature of Things
We
find that the requirements of our bodily nature are few indeed,
no
more than is necessary to banish pain,
and
also to spread out many pleasures for ourselves.
Nature
does not periodically seek anything more gratifying than this,
not
complaining if there are no golden images of youths about the
house
who
are holding flaming torches in their right hands
to
illuminate banquets that go on long into the night.
What
does it matter if the hall doesn't sparkle with silver and gleam with
gold,
and
no carved and gilded rafters ring to the music of the lute?
Nature
does not miss these luxuries
when
people can recline in company on the soft grass
by
a running stream under the branches of a tall tree
and
refresh their bodies pleasurably at small expense.
Better
still if the weather smiles on them,
and
the season of the year stipples the green grass with flowers. |
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4) Importance of
Friendship
One of the more surprising
features of Epicurus' thought is the emphasis he put on the necessity of friendship
for happiness. No life can ultimately be satisfying, he maintains,
unless it includes friends:
"Of all the things that
wisdom provides for the happiness of life as a whole, by far the greatest
is the possession of friendship. We ought to look around for people
to eat and drink with, before we look for something to eat and drink; to
feed without a friend is the life of a lion and a wolf."
The problem with Epicurus'
approach is that, at least initially, the motivation for friendship must be
based upon self-interest, since our motivation in choosing a friend is to
contribute to our own pleasure. According to Cicero:
"[The Epicureans]
argue that friendship can no more be sundered from pleasure than can the
virtues, which we have discussed already. A solitary, friendless
life must be beset by secret dangers and alarms. Hence reason itself
advises the acquisition of friends; their possession gives confidence, and
a firmly rooted hope of winning pleasure. And just as hatred,
jealousy and contempt are hindrances to pleasure, so friendship is the
most trustworthy preserver and also creator of pleasure alike for our
friends and for ourselves. It affords us enjoyment in the present,
and it inspires us with hopes for the near and distant future.
So far Epicurus stresses the
benefits of having friends. The approach so far is completely
self-centered as we would expect: friends are views as instruments of
our own pleasure. We do not necessarily care about them for their own
sake, but simply because of what they can do for us.
But Cicero then goes on to
also state that the Epicurean loves his friend as much as he loves himself:
Thus it is not possible to
secure uninterrupted gratification in life without friendship, nor yet to
preserve friendship itself unless we love our friends as much as
ourselves. Hence this unselfishness does occur in friendship, while
we also rejoice in our friends' joy as much as in our own, and are equally
pained by their sorrows. Therefore the Wise Man will feel exactly
the same towards his friend as he does towards himself, and will
exert himself as much for his friend's pleasure as he would for his own."
[Cicero, De Finibus I.20]
How are we to explain this
dichotomy? The answer, I believe, is that Epicurus realized that
friendship was necessary for one's happiness, but that in order for
friendship to exist, it must be grounded in something more than
self-interest. The survival of friendship demands that we must be as
concerned about our friend's interests as we are about our own.
Ironically, the real pleasure involved in friendship comes when we begin to
care about another human being as much (and perhaps even more) than we care
about ourselves.
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Trivia
Question: What great American leader described himself as an
Epicurean? Click here to
find out. |
Table of Contents |
Sophia Project | Department of Philosophy
© 2002, M. Russo
For more information contact: mrusso@molloy.edu
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