Paste your essay in here…Damir Kamalov
Professor Laura Gradowski
Intro to the Problems of Philosophy
9 May 2018
Epicureanism in the Modern World
Modern life is amazing, it has led to record low levels of poverty, violence, and disease. However like most things its a double edged sword, while we have all these amazing things we’re still dealing with massive disparities between the rich and the poor as well as a growing divide in this country. These are symptoms of human natures contact with certain temptations that can be diminished if you follow certain lifestyles. For example Epicureanism which was originally created in Ancient Greece would have a profound effect on life if people started practicing it. In this paper I will claim that Epicureanism is a practical solution to the negative effects of modern life by showing how you can apply it normally throughout your life as well as the effect it would have if it became popularized en masse.
Epicureanism is an ancient philosophy that believes the way to achieve happiness in life is ataraxia and aponia. Ataraxis is essentially freedom from worry and aponia is freedom from a state of pain. These two states are the essential goals of this philosophy but these were common goals during the time this was created. However taken at face value this philosophy seems very selfish. Especially considering the fact that Epicurus himself says that pleasure is the greatest good. Which would lead you to believe that his entire philosophy is built around a sort of hedonistic set of values. However you would only think that if you had a very limited view of this philosophy and didn’t understand the words in the context that he used them in.
For example the definition of pleasure to Epicureanism is much different than the straightforward definition, since bodily pleasure is just one minor aspect of it. First, while it is true that since pleasure is the greatest good that you would want as much as you can according to his philosophy. However in Epicureanism prudence is very beneficial to the person. He knew that continued excess and consistent overindulgence would never lead to their goal state of ataraxia and aponia. Second, he himself talks about this and how short sightedness can lead to less pleasure in the long run “And since pleasure is our first and native good, for that reason we do not choose every pleasure whatsoever, but will often pass over many pleasures when a greater annoyance ensues from them” (Epicurus.net, Letters to Menoeceus). Finally, Epicurus knew he was going to be misrepresented and construed as saying that everyone should just grab pleasure and live a life of excess as much as possible which would just be irresponsible.
“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 willful 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 lust, not the enjoyment of the fish and other delicacies of a luxurious table” (Epicurus.net, Letters to Menoeceus)
This quote clears up the issue that Epicureans are simple minded heathens that want to live each day as it were their last and jump from pleasure to pleasure without a moment of thought. Epicureanism is more about long term thinking for the good of everybody and not the selfish worldview that some people make it out to be.
So it is now apparent that Epicureans didn’t just preach pleasure constantly, however what were the major things that they believed and warned against? the soul is finite and made of extremely small atoms that we can’t even perceive. He believed in having a soul but he also believed that the soul is destroyed upon death. This is a theme in Epicureanism that worries many people. This is a very essential part of the philosophy. This removal of the afterlife leads to two things that would be greatly beneficial to society. One is an enhanced appreciation for life and knowing that because there is nothing after this, there is no reason to constantly suffer in worry for judgement. The other is said by Epicurus in his principal doctrines “Death is nothing to us; for that which has been dissolved into its elements experiences no sensations, and that which has no sensation is nothing to us” (Epicurus.net, Principal Doctrines). By dealing with the problem of death this way it’s very worrying at first. However when you deal with this after the initial shock of nothing after death you begin to gain a sense of urgency to live your life happily instead of just hating yourself. This doesn’t mean people need to quit a job that they need to survive in this society but they you would find happiness somewhere in there life and pursue it.
It is also a very practical philosophy that would help everyone in a way that would empower the people to live as communities rather than as just people on their own as well as helping people with their own bad habits. A lot of our modern day problems come from human excess whether it be obesity or greed. Epicureanism is a very responsible philosophy that doesn’t seek to take away enjoyment but find it in places that are beneficial to the individual in the long term. It also heavily encourages building a community no matter where you live. “The same conviction which inspires confidence that nothing we have to fear is eternal or even of long duration, also enables us to see that in the limited evils of this life nothing enhances our security so much as friendship.” (Epicurus.net, Principal Doctrines). Lack of communities is especially a problem in the city, many people don’t even talk to their neighbors or distrust them. Epicureanism places a great deal of value on friendship because as it was thousands of years ago friends are our greatest sources of pleasure as well as essential to reaching ataraxia and aponia.
Applying this to the modern world is much easier than it seems. This philosophy while thousands of years old is actually seen today in modern institutions. For example Thomas Jefferson was an Epicurean, he even states it, in one of his letters to William Short in which he says “I too am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing every thing rational in moral philosophy which Greece & Rome have left us” (Thomas Jefferson, Letters to William Short). You can even see it in the declaration of independence because when the declaration says “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (US, 1776) you can see how neatly that fits into the Epicurean mindset. This isn’t to say that America is an Epicurean philosophy but it does have elements in the core of the nation that are very similar to Epicurean philosophy.
In modern American life we have a problem when it comes to dealing with people. Whether due to political affiliation or the presumption of certain beliefs we can’t seem to agree with each other. While it is impossible to force a philosophy on a nation it is prudent to ask would this philosophy work when applied large scale. Epicurus believed that “The man who best knows how to meet external threats makes into one family all the creatures he can; and those he can not, he at any rate does not treat as aliens; and where he finds even this impossible, he avoids all dealings, and, so far as is advantageous, excludes them from his life.” (Epicurus, Doctrines). This is actually a very effective way to deal with each other. He’s essentially saying that if you see someone as an enemy as many Democrats and Republicans do it’s better to just be friends and not see them as “the other”. In America this is the crux of the problem, we don’t see each other as people that can discuss things without fighting. He understood that fighting does not lead to a peaceful state of mind or body while friendship does. Also when he talks about excluding people from your life he does not mean excluding everyone who doesn’t agree with you from your life because it is not advantageous to exclude half the country from the other half. This philosophy could help repair the divide that happened in this country and lead us away from the trappings of excess in our modern life.
Another problems in modern American life is our excess of almost everything. Whenever possible we take one small pleasure and drive it to the extreme. For example food, our portion sizes have increased greatly over the past 50 years as well as our levels of obesity. Long term excess is not good for long term pleasure. “No pleasure is a bad thing in itself, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail disturbances many times greater than the pleasures themselves.” (Epicurus.net, Principal Doctrines).The long term effects of obesity like diabetes and heart diseases are not going to help you reach aponia. Instead of getting pleasure through food it would be better to get pleasure through friends or learning. This isn’t to say that Epicureanism will cure obesity but it will help people stop overindulging constantly and giving themselves over to excess.
Epicureanism in its most essential form is choosing long term pleasure, friendship, and believing that its peoples choice to drive their lives forward over overindulgences and fatalism. People would greatly benefit from it because of how much it applies practically to every part of our lives. However the realistic chance of it coming in popularity in America now is very slim. Interestingly enough there are small communities online and in Greece of Epicureans who are still following this philosophy. This means that people are at least somewhat interested by Epicureans and that there is hope for a revitalization in the future. In the end the thing that matters the most is that people learn to stop being angry at people who don’t agree with you and see them as not the alien but a person.
Works Cited
Cook, Vincent. “Epicurus & Epicurean Philosophy.” Epicurus – Letter to Menoeceus, www.epicurus.net/index.html.
founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-0850.