Epicurus
Ancient philosophyHow do we achieve happiness? This is the fundamental question to which Epicurus proposes an answer. In this Greek philosophical school, pleasure holds a central place.
However, Epicureanism is also based on a physical conception inherited from Democritus: atomism.
Freedom from fears rooted in religious superstition is a third cornerstone of the doctrine.
The Works of Epicurus Summarised on This Site
Principal Doctrines
This work condenses the essential precepts and practical recommendations that the wise man must follow in order to achieve happiness.
Further Reading: Analyses and Commentaries
To discover this author's thought in greater depth, these books will be useful:
O'Keefe, Tim (2009). Epicureanism. University of California Press.
Rist, J.M. (1972). Epicurus. An introduction. London: Cambridge University Press.
Warren, James (2009). The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism. New York: Cambridge University Press
Jones, Howard (1989). The Epicurean Tradition. London: Routledge
Hibler, Richard W. (1984). Happiness Through Tranquillity. The school of Epicurus. Lanham, MD: University Press of America
Recommended Videos
Conferences, symposia, radio broadcasts... here are 7 videos that will help you better understand Epicurus' thought.
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Biography: Life of Epicurus
Youth
Little is known about Epicurus' life. We do not even know his birthplace: Athens or Samos, an island near Turkey — the sources disagree. He was born in 341 BC.
In any case, he was in Athens at the age of 18, where he went to do his military service. But it was in Samos that he was taught by Nausiphanes, a philosopher influenced by two very distinct schools: the scepticism of Pyrrho and the atomism of Democritus.
He then set off to found his own school in Mytilene, on the island of Lesbos, near the Turkish coast, which he soon left to settle in Lampsacus, on the coast of the Troad, where he spent four years. There he met his first disciples, including Hermarchus, who would later become his successor.
The Garden
In 306 BC, at the age of 35, he returned to Athens, followed by some of his pupils, and purchased a plot of land. There he founded the Garden School, where he would deliver his teachings for the rest of his life.
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Students of the Academy
Sometimes played hooky from school
To go and whisper sweet nothings
In the Garden of Epicure
Pirate Fragments
Unlike many of his contemporaries, who taught only orally, Epicurus wrote numerous works. There were nearly three hundred writings of all kinds (books, letters, etc.), but only a tiny fraction have survived (three letters and a few maxims).
His many detractors spread the rumour that the Garden was a place of debauchery — hence the common association of 'Epicurean' with 'libertine'. In reality, Epicurus led a frugal life. A little bread and cheese was enough for him.
Posterity
His doctrine combines an ethical teaching — grounded in a conception of pleasure as the absence of pain — with a physical account of the world governed by atomism. This freed people from superstition and from the fear aroused by natural phenomena such as thunderstorms, which were then regarded as divine warnings.
After his death in 270 BC in Athens, his teachings were carried on by his disciples and perpetuated for several centuries, spreading throughout the Mediterranean basin. His ideas were later popularised by the Latin poet Lucretius, who rendered the essence of his doctrine in verse.
Main Works
Main Works
Letter to Menoeceus
Principal Doctrines
Vatican Sayings