Epicurus
Hellenistic Greece, fourth–third centuries BCE
Epicurus connected a pleasurable life with freedom from bodily pain and disturbance, friendship, and prudence.
Historical context
Epicurus founded the Garden in Athens in the Hellenistic period. Letters, maxims, and accounts transmitted by later writers survive from his extensive work.
Overview
If a desire is hard to satisfy and its frustration causes disturbance, reducing it may be prudent. Meeting bodily needs and cultivating reliable friendships, by contrast, supports the pleasurable life his ethics describes.
Main claims
Pleasure guides choice. Prudence distinguishes pleasures that relieve suffering from those that bring future costs.
Experience and knowledge
Sensation is among the criteria of truth in Epicurean epistemology.
Interpretation for comparison · Epicurus · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Judgment and well-being
Freedom from bodily pain counts as a component of the pleasurable end.
Interpretation for comparison · Epicurus · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Debates and nuances
Epicurean pleasure includes moderation and criticism of hard-to-satisfy desires.
The assessment compares only the positions documented in this entry.