EPICUREANISM: ORIGIN, CHARACTERISTICS AND REPRESENTATIVES - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

The epicureísmo was a philosophical system appeared in the fourth century. C. in Athens. It was created by Epicurus of Samos, who taught his doctrine in a school called The Garden. The main basis of his philosophy was the pursuit of happiness.

To achieve that goal, Epicureanism promulgated the need to strike a balance between the pleasures of the body and the mind, as well as the elimination of fears. Among the latter, he pointed out those caused by the idea of ​​fate, death or the gods themselves.

Epicurus

For Epicurus, every element was made up of atoms and men could perceive their shapes and qualities using their senses. His followers were called Epicureans and they had to avoid pain and disturbances.

Likewise, they also had to move away from excessive luxuries and comforts and lead a harmonious life. One of the peculiarities of this school was that it allowed entry to anyone interested, including women.

Epicureanism, which some consider related to hedonism, had some important followers in ancient Rome. Among these, the poets Lucrecio and Horacio, in whose works the follow-up to the theories of this current can be glimpsed.

Origin

The doctrine of Epicureanism was taught by Epicurus of Samos, who also gave it his name. The philosopher was born in 341 BC. C and, after traveling to various places, founded a school called the Garden. It was there that he developed his ideas.

Epicurus

Epicurus was born on the island of Samos into an Athenian family. His education was provided by his father, teacher, and by various philosophers.

When he turned 18, he went to Athens to do his military service. Later, he was reunited with his father in Colophon, where he began to teach.

In the year 311, he created his first philosophical school on the island of Lebos. Shortly after, he was director of another school in Lampsaco, today in Turkey.

The garden

The philosopher returned to Athens in 306. He soon began to teach his ideas to a group of followers. The chosen place was the patio of Epicurus' house, a garden that ended up giving the school its name.

Unlike other philosophers, women could go to The Garden to learn from the teacher. This caused quite a few slanders about the activities that were developed. However, Epicurus was very successful and students from Asia Minor and the rest of Greece flocked to hear him.

In addition to teaching these classes, Epicurus wrote quite a few works. According to historians, when he died he left more than 300 tracts, although almost nothing of them has been preserved.

The current knowledge about the author comes from three different letters: to Herodotus, on the theory of knowledge; to Pitocles, on astrology and cosmology; and the last one to Meneceo, on ethics. Besides, some indirect notes on his teachings are preserved.

Characteristics of the doctrine

In contrast to a good part of hedonism, Epicureanism did not focus the search for pleasure only on the body. The followers of this current gave greater importance to the intellect. Furthermore, much of this school's definition of pleasure or happiness refers to absence, rather than presence.

In this way, they considered pleasure as the absence of pain or any affliction, such as hunger or sexual tension. It was about achieving a perfect balance between body and mind, which would provide serenity or ataraxia.

In short, Epicurus pointed out that this serenity came from the domain of fear, which identified with the gods, death, and uncertainty about the future. The purpose of the philosopher was to eliminate those fears in order to be happy.

The pleasures and sufferings

Epicureanism considered that pleasures, and also sufferings, were the consequence of getting or not satisfying appetites. This doctrine distinguished between three kinds of pleasures:

-The first were natural and necessary. Among them were feeding, seeking shelter, and feeling safe.

-The following were natural but not necessary. They stood out in this group to have a pleasant conversation or sex.

-Finally, he pointed out unnatural or necessary pleasures, such as the pursuit of power, fame or money.

Experts emphasize that Epicurus was not a dualist. Faced with Plato, for example, Epicurus did not believe that there was a difference between the soul and the body. Both were materials and were made up of atoms.

This led him to distinguish two other types of pleasures, based on the soul and the body, different but united.

Those of the body were not the most important for the followers of this current. Epicurus advocated balancing these pleasures in a conscious way. Thus, he said that one could not enjoy food if the soul had not been known.

On the other hand, there were the pleasures of the soul. These were superior, as they are more durable and have influence on the body.

Canonical

The Canonical is a part of the philosophy that is dedicated to analyzing knowledge and how the human being can achieve it.

Epicurus and his followers believed that sensation, perceived by our senses, was the basis of all knowledge. Any of these sensations caused pleasure or pain in the human being, which gives rise to feelings, the basis of morality.

The philosopher considered that the so-called “general ideas” existed, which were the sensations that are repeated many times and are recorded in the memory.

One of his best-known followers, Diógenes Laercio, also wrote about the so-called “imaginative projections”. Through these, it can be inferred that there are elements such as atoms, although they cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Physical

Reality, according to Epicurus, is made up of two fundamental elements. The first would be the atoms, materials. The second would be the vacuum, the space through which atoms move.

The Epicureans thought that everything in the world are various combinations of atoms. For them, the same soul was made up of atoms, although of a special kind, more subtle than those that are part of the body.

However, that did not mean that the soul ceased to be material. This school thought that when a person died, the soul did too.

According to experts, Epicurus took this idea from Democritus, although he modified a good part of his doctrine. The main difference is that he introduced an element of chance in the way atoms move, stating that, contrary to what Democritus said, there was no determinism in their behavior.

In this regard, Epicurus always tried to give great importance to freedom. He considered ethics as the fundamental aspect and the other questions were subordinated to it.

Ethics

As noted above, ethics was the most important part of Epicurus' philosophy. It is the basis for achieving the purpose of the Epicureans: happiness based on ataraxia and autonomy of mind.

The ethics of this philosophical current was based on two opposite points: fear, which must be avoided; and pleasure, which is considered valuable.

The four fears

Overcoming fears was, for Epicurus, the way to happiness. In fact, Epicureanism has also been called "tetrapharmac", or medicine against the four fears that, according to the doctrine, were the most significant: the fear of the gods, death, pain and the fear of failure to seek the good.

Despite naming the gods as the cause of one of those fundamental fears, experts say that Epicurus was not an atheist. If, on the other hand, he thought that they did not really care about what happened to humans, since they were very far away. According to the philosopher, this remoteness made it absurd to fear them.

Regarding death, Epicurus affirmed that there was no point in being afraid of it. In his own words, he explained the matter by saying “death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it arrives, we no longer exist "

Finally, one should not be afraid of the future either, since “the future does not depend entirely on us, nor is it totally alien to us, so that we should not wait for it as if it were to come infallibly nor despair as if it would not come. never".

Purpose

The philosophy of Epicurus, contrary to that of other schools, did not pretend to be theoretical. The teachings given intended that all who so desired could put into practice the path they described to achieve happiness. It was about eliminating fears and leading a pleasant and fulfilling life.

To achieve this, they used empiricist elements of knowledge, atomistic physics and a hedonistic ethic.

Representatives and their ideas

The most famous followers of Epicurus were in Ancient Rome. Among them, the poet Horacio, author of the statement “Carpe Diem” (Seize the day), Virgilio and Lucrecio stand out. Historians qualify Epicureanism as a typically Mediterranean doctrine, with secular characteristics and pagan points.

Despite the fact that the school of thought had a certain prestige during the seven centuries after the death of its creator, the Middle Ages marked the end of its influence. Many of his writings were destroyed, since Christianity strongly rejected his ideas. The Christian vision of pain totally clashed with Epicurean philosophy.

Only a few followers of Platonism or Aristotelianism slightly incorporated some of his ideas, but with little success.

Diogenes of Enoanda

Since very few of Epicurus' writings have survived to this day, the work of some of his followers is critical to understanding his philosophy. Among these stood out Diogenes of Enoanda, a Greek philosopher of the second century who spread the thought of this current.

As part of his outreach work, Diogenes ordered some of Epicurus' maxims to be recorded on a large wall near the main market in the city of Enoanda, today in Turkey. The goal was for citizens to remember that they would not find happiness through shopping or consumerism.

Precisely, the fragments found of this wall, destroyed by an earthquake, constitute one of the main sources for historians about Epicureanism. In them appears a part of his doctrine that was almost unknown to the experts, the clinamen (deviation).

Unfortunately, only a third of what was recorded on the wall has been recovered.

Zeno of Sidon

Zenón was a philosopher born in century I a. In Greece, probably in the city of Sidón (today in Lebanon). He was a contemporary of Cicero, who stated in his book "On the Nature of the Gods" that Zeno despised other philosophers, including classics like Socrates.

Following Epicurus, Zeno affirmed that happiness did not lie solely in enjoying the present, much less in the wealth that one had. For him, the hope of continued prosperity and pleasure was fundamental. It was about not looking into the future with fear.

Horatio

The followers of Epicurus were not only found among the philosophers. There were also other intellectuals who promulgated his ideas in his works, such as Quinto Horacio Flaco, one of the main poets of Ancient Rome.

Horacio, known for his satirical poems, lived for several years in Athens, where he studied Greek and philosophy, especially Epicureanism.

His work is characterized by reflection on what is desired. Aside from the recurring praise for a retired life, what he called Beatus Ille, Horacio is known for creating a maxim that fits perfectly with Epicureanism: carpe diem, which means "seize the day."

Lucretius

Roman, like Horacio, Lucrecio was a philosopher and poet who lived between 99 BC. C and 55 a. Only one text by this author is known, called De rerum natura (On the nature of things). In that work he defends the teachings of Epicurus, in addition to the atomistic physics of Democritus.

Lucretius explained the movement and groupings of atoms, in addition to pointing out the mortality of the soul. The intention of the author, according to the experts, was to free the human being from the fear of the gods and death. Those fears, for the poet, were the main causes of unhappiness.

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