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6 minutes
For Epicurus, the purpose of human life is happiness, which is obtained by avoiding pain and seeking pleasure. Although he seems like a hedonistic theory, his postulates go further.
Epicurus of Samos (341 BC – 270 BC) was a Greek philosopher who proposed an ethical theory based on hedonism. Well believed that the purpose of human life was to achieve happiness, avoiding painful sensations and seeking pleasurable ones.
However, his vision of pleasure is far from the hedonistic positions that defend that pleasure and happiness are found in luxuries and excesses. On the contrary, for Epicurus the most pleasant life is found in simplicity and in the abstention from unnecessary desires.
Although Epicurus’ philosophy was raised centuries ago, today it is still valid and represents an excellent way to achieve personal happiness. Let’s see what it is and how we can apply this doctrine in our lives.
Epicurus’ philosophy
Epicurus founded his school of philosophy in Athens. he was called the garden and was dedicated to the pursuit of happiness through the exercise of reason. For this great thinker, reason teaches that pleasure is good and pain is bad. So that pleasure and pain are the ultimate measures of good and evil.
Now, the Epicurean perspective has been misconstrued into unbridled hedonism, rather than the painlessness and peace of mind (ataraxia) that Epicurus actually advocated. In fact, this philosopher spoke out against excesses and unnecessary desires due to his ability to lead us to pain.
Happiness according to Epicurus
For Epicurus, happiness is pleasure and serenity, a state in which there are no disturbances of the soul and no pain. In addition, he defends that happiness is an end in itself and the greatest good of human life.
In this way, the philosopher considered that happiness was made up of three factors:
- Tranquillity.
- Freedom from fear.
- Absence of bodily pain.
By fully achieving them, people will be able to experience happiness at its highest level. Regarding freedom from fear, Epicurus states that there are two fears that make our lives unhappy or painful. The first has to do with the punishment of the gods for our bad actions and the second is the fear of death.
According to the philosopher, both concerns are completely unnecessary as they are based on fictions. That is, although for Epicurus the gods exist, they do not care about human affairs. Therefore, we should not fear their punishments or waste time in laborious acts of worship.
As for death, he points out that this consists of the lack of sensation, so it makes no sense to be scared by something that we will never feel.
Although Epicurus has focused on the fear of the gods and death, we can generalize his conception to anxiety about the future, to the fear of uncertainty for not knowing what will become of us tomorrow. It is from these anxieties that we must free ourselves in order to achieve happiness.
The pleasure and the pain
For nature, we try to be happy by avoiding painful experiences and seeking pleasurable ones. However, Epicurus argued that the pleasure we should seek is not just any kind, but one that avoids the suffering of the body (satisfying basic needs) and the disturbance of the soul (avoiding fears, anguish, and anxieties).
Other pleasures, especially excesses and luxuries, must be avoided, since they end up leading us to pain. However, it must be taken into account that Epicurus also said that not all pleasure suits us, and that not all pain should be rejected. In this sense, the philosopher preaches a hedonism of the future.
Namely, sometimes it is not worth risking our future for a momentary pleasure, because in the long run it can cause us greater suffering. Likewise, we have to accept some pains, as long as they guarantee us a happy future. Therefore, you have to know how to choose and judge.
All pleasure, therefore, having a nature appropriate to ours, is a good, although not all pleasure has to be chosen; so also all pain is an evil, but not all pain is by nature always to be avoided.
That said, he who knows how to calculate which activities give him the greatest pleasure and least pain, organizes his life around the most intense and lasting pleasures and distributes them intelligently, is considered wise and virtuous.
Types of desires and pleasures
At this point, it is valid that we ask ourselves what are those desires that we must satisfy according to Epicurus. To guide us, the author distinguished 3 types of desires:
- Natural and necessary desires: They include basic survival needs, such as food and shelter. They are the easiest to satisfy and cannot be removed. Therefore, they are the ones that should become a priority.
- Natural and unnecessary desires: they refer to the aspiration of unnecessary things, such as food gourmet or possession of luxury items. These are usually difficult to satisfy, so they tend to generate pain and discomfort. Epicurus assumes that the ideal is to minimize or eliminate them.
- Vain and empty wishes: they include aspects such as status, wealth, fame or power. The lack of limits in these aspirations means that they are never fully satisfied. Therefore, they condemn us to displeasure and unhappiness.
For his part, Epicurus makes a distinction between 2 types of pleasures:
- On-the-go pleasures: they imply being actively in the process of satisfying a desire. For example, eating when we are hungry.
- Static Pleasures: it is the experience that lasts once our desire is satisfied. For example, the feeling of fullness after eating.
The value of friendship
Finally, Epicureanism emphasizes the friendship as one of the greater means to obtain pleasure and therefore happiness. In this case, connection with friends offers a sense of security, while disconnection leads to isolation, despair, and increased susceptibility to danger.
How to apply Epicureanism in our lives?
For Epicurus, happiness is achieved by losing the fear of God and death; and accepting that it is easy to acquire the good things in life and endure the terrible ones.
Pain is not completely inevitable, but it can be endured. In fact, Epicurus claims that it is possible to experience happiness while in emotional or physical pain.
For it, let’s focus on cultivating a simple life. Enjoy the little things in life, practice gratitude and see the positive in negative situations. The mindfulness and meditation are excellent allies.
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