Epicureanism
From Encyclopædia
{ep-ik-yur-re'-uhn-izm} Epicureanism is the philosophical
teaching about nature and
ethics that was derived from the writings of Epicurus and developed by enthusiastic pupils such as the Roman poet
Lucretius and Diogenes of Oenoanda (fl. AD 200). Epicureans based their theory of knowledge on sense
perception, asserting that sensations are invariably good
evidence of their causes. They worked out a complex account of how objects produce sense impressions and explained error by positing the disruption of causal effluences in transit.Epicureans established a physical theory on the same basis. According to the theory, nothing comes from or returns to nothing; change must result from a rearrangement of persisting bodies. The basic elements of things are invisible
atoms, moving in a void, which produce phenomenal objects by combination. The human
soul is made of particularly small, mobile atomic bodies; there is nothing incorporeal or immortal about it. (See ATOMISM.)In
ethics, the main thesis of Epicureanism is that seeking pleasure and avoiding
pain are the supreme good and the principal goal of life. People should therefore forget their
fears of gods and of
punishment after death (both of which have no logical basis) and live for pleasure. Epicurean HEDONISM urges the avoidance of worldly distractions and the pursuit of ataraxia, freedom from disturbance and
pain, should be sought instead.Martha C. NussbaumBibliography: Bailey, Cyril, The Greek Atomists and Epicurus (1928; repr. 1964); Farrington,
Benjamin, ed., The Faith of Epicurus (1967); Jones, H., The Epicurian Tradition (1989); Mitsis, P., Epicurus' Ethical Theory (1988); Rist, J. M., Epicurus: An Introduction (1972).
