Note the emphasis Epicurus places on practicing the precepts “with one who is like minded.” In keeping with Aristotle, Epicurus sees the indispensable value of friendship as a crucial motivator towards one’s own true happiness. The problem is that more often than not, other people are a detriment to our happiness, by creating false competition for unnecessary pleasures. The solution to this is to remove oneself from ordinary society and to create a special commune where you interact only with those fellow like-minded pursuers of wisdom. In creating this vision, Epicurus no doubt influenced many Utopian thinkers from More to Marx who pin their hopes of happiness on a complete change in the social relations that form the fabric of who we are as human beings. Conclusion There are necessary and unnecessary desires. Necessary desires, like desiring to be free from bodily pain, help in producing happiness, whereas unnecessary desires, like desiring a bigger car or a more luxurious meal, typically produce unhappiness. The German philosopher Karl Marx (1818–1883), whose ideas are the basis of Marxism, was profoundly influenced as a young man by the teachings of Epicurus [145] [146] and his doctoral thesis was a Hegelian dialectical analysis of the differences between the natural philosophies of Democritus and Epicurus. [147] Marx viewed Democritus as a rationalist skeptic, whose epistemology was inherently contradictory, but saw Epicurus as a dogmatic empiricist, whose worldview is internally consistent and practically applicable. [148] The British poet Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892) praised "the sober majesties / of settled, sweet, Epicurean life" in his 1868 poem "Lucretius". [143] Epicurus's ethical teachings also had an indirect impact on the philosophy of Utilitarianism in England during the nineteenth century. [143] Soviet politician Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) lauded Epicurus by stating: "He was the greatest philosopher of all time. He was the one who recommended practicing virtue to derive the greatest joy from life". [149] The overwhelming majority of surviving Greek and Roman sources are vehemently negative towards Epicureanism [126] and, according to Pamela Gordon, they routinely depict Epicurus himself as "monstrous or laughable". [126] Many Romans in particular took a negative view of Epicureanism, seeing its advocacy of the pursuit of voluptas ("pleasure") as contrary to the Roman ideal of virtus ("manly virtue"). [127] The Romans therefore often stereotyped Epicurus and his followers as weak and effeminate. [128] Prominent critics of his philosophy include prominent authors such as the Roman Stoic Seneca the Younger ( c. 4 BC – AD 65) and the Greek Middle Platonist Plutarch ( c. 46 – c. 120), who both derided these stereotypes as immoral and disreputable. [124] Gordon characterizes anti-Epicurean rhetoric as so "heavy-handed" and misrepresentative of Epicurus's actual teachings that they sometimes come across as "comical". [129] In his De vita beata, Seneca states that the "sect of Epicurus... has a bad reputation, and yet it does not deserve it." and compares it to "a man in a dress: your chastity remains, your virility is unimpaired, your body has not submitted sexually, but in your hand is a tympanum." [130] According to Diskin Clay, Epicurus himself established a custom of celebrating his birthday annually with common meals, befitting his stature as heros ktistes ("founding hero") of the Garden. He ordained in his will annual memorial feasts for himself on the same date (10th of Gamelion month). [29] Epicurean communities continued this tradition, [30] referring to Epicurus as their "saviour" ( soter) and celebrating him as hero. The hero cult of Epicurus may have operated as a Garden variety civic religion. [31] However, clear evidence of an Epicurean hero cult, as well as the cult itself, seems buried by the weight of posthumous philosophical interpretation. [32] Epicurus never married and had no known children. He was most likely a vegetarian. [33] [34] Death [ edit ]

Oates, Whitney J. (1940). The Stoic and Epicurean philosophers, The Complete Extant Writings of Epicurus, Epictetus, Lucretius and Marcus Aurelius. New York: Modern Library. In spite of this, DeWitt argues that Epicureanism and Christianity share much common language, calling Epicureanism "the first missionary philosophy" and "the first world philosophy". [135] Both Epicureanism and Christianity placed strong emphasis on the importance of love and forgiveness [136] and early Christian portrayals of Jesus are often similar to Epicurean portrayals of Epicurus. [136] DeWitt argues that Epicureanism, in many ways, helped pave the way for the spread of Christianity by "helping to bridge the gap between Greek intellectualism and a religious way of life" and "shunt[ing] the emphasis from the political to the social virtues and offer[ing] what may be called a religion of humanity." [137] Middle Ages [ edit ] Dante Alighieri meets Farinata, an Epicurean from Florence, in his Inferno in the Sixth Circle of Hell (canto 10). Epicurus and his followers are imprisoned in flaming coffins for the heretical belief that the soul dies with the body, [134] shown here in an illustration by Gustave Doré. Throughout this chapter the Dalai Lama gives examples of how different people dealt with losing a loved one. The Dalai Lama states that he believes it is a good idea to prepare yourself ahead of time for the kinds of suffering you might encounter, because sometime in life you are going to experience some type of suffering, so if you prepare yourself you will know what to expect. He goes on about how everyone is going to face suffering sometime in their life and if we view suffering as something natural then we can begin to live a happier life. If you can prepare yourself for the fact that in your life you're going to experience a traumatic event, for example a death of a family member, you can face the fact that everybody in life eventually passes on and you'll be able to get over the grieving process sooner and carry on with a happier life knowing that they're in a better place. The Buddhist recognizes the possibility of clearing the mind and achieving a state in which there is no more suffering in people's lives. If you come to the fact and realize you are suffering you'll overcome it faster rather than denying that everything is all right.

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Last year inflicted ill-health, death, bereavement, unemployment and poverty on some, and led others to look inwards and re-evaluate lifestyle and priorities. Many have sought therapeutic remedies for anxiety and insomnia as well as advice on how to feel happier. Some ancient Mediterranean answers to such psychological issues can be found in John Sellars’s little book. It explores the ideas of the Athenian philosopher Epicurus, born in 341BC, 19 years before Aristotle died. Epicurus taught that the most important factor in achieving happiness is mental tranquillity. Epicureanism can ease contemporary worries, Sellars believes; in some ways it resembles cognitive behavioural therapy. The Art of Happiness (Riverhead, 1998, ISBN 1-57322-111-2) is a book by the 14th Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, a psychiatrist who posed questions to the Dalai Lama. Cutler quotes the Dalai Lama at length, providing context and describing some details of the settings in which the interviews took place, as well as adding his own reflections on issues raised. [1] Epicurus was an extremely prolific writer. [121] [119] [64] [68] According to Diogenes Laërtius, he wrote around 300 treatises on a variety of subjects. [119] [64] Although more original writings of Epicurus have survived to the present day than of any other Hellenistic Greek philosopher, [68] the vast majority of everything he wrote has still been lost, [121] [119] [64] and most of what is known about Epicurus's teachings come from the writings of his later followers, particularly the Roman poet Lucretius. [64] The only surviving complete works by Epicurus are three relatively lengthy letters, which are quoted in their entirety in Book X of Diogenes Laërtius's Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, and two groups of quotes: the Principal Doctrines (Κύριαι Δόξαι), which are likewise preserved through quotation by Diogenes Laërtius, and the Vatican Sayings, preserved in a manuscript from the Vatican Library that was first discovered in 1888. [64] In the Letter to Herodotus and the Letter to Pythocles, Epicurus summarizes his philosophy on nature and, in the Letter to Menoeceus, he summarizes his moral teachings. [64] Numerous fragments of Epicurus's lost thirty-seven volume treatise On Nature have been found among the charred papyrus fragments at the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. [64] [68] Scholars first began attempting to unravel and decipher these scrolls in 1800, but the efforts are painstaking and are still ongoing. [64] In the seventeenth century, the French Catholic priest and scholar Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655) sought to dislodge Aristotelianism from its position of the highest dogma by presenting Epicureanism as a better and more rational alternative. [141] In 1647, Gassendi published his book De vita et moribus Epicuri ( The Life and Morals of Epicurus), a passionate defense of Epicureanism. [141] In 1649, he published a commentary on Diogenes Laërtius's Life of Epicurus. [141] He left Syntagma philosophicum ( Philosophical Compendium), a synthesis of Epicurean doctrines, unfinished at the time of his death in 1655. [141] It was finally published in 1658, after undergoing revision by his editors. [141] Gassendi modified Epicurus's teachings to make them palatable for a Christian audience. [141] For instance, he argued that atoms were not eternal, uncreated, and infinite in number, instead contending that an extremely large but finite number of atoms were created by God at creation. [141]

True to his philosophy, Epicurus claimed to spend the last few days of life in pleasure, despite all the physical pain he was in. As he writes in his Letter to Idomeneus: Kenny, Anthony (2004), Ancient Philosophy, A New History of Western Philosophy, vol.1, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, pp.94–96, ISBN 978-0-19-875273-8 During the Middle Ages, Epicurus was remembered by the educated as a philosopher, [134] but he frequently appeared in popular culture as a gatekeeper to the Garden of Delights, the "proprietor of the kitchen, the tavern, and the brothel." [134] He appears in this guise in Martianus Capella's Marriage of Mercury and Philology (fifth century), John of Salisbury's Policraticus (1159), John Gower's Mirour de l'Omme, and Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. [134] Epicurus and his followers appear in Dante Alighieri's Inferno in the Sixth Circle of Hell, where they are imprisoned in flaming coffins for having believed that the soul dies with the body. [134] Renaissance [ edit ] Epicurus is shown among other famous philosophers in the Italian Renaissance painter Raphael's School of Athens (1509–1511). [138] Epicurus's genuine busts were unknown prior to 1742, so early modern artists who wanted to depict him were forced to make up their own iconographies. [139]At the end of the chapter he talks about how deep religious faith has sustained countless people through difficult times. He tells a story about a man named Terry Anderson who was kidnapped off the streets in Beirut in 1985. After seven years of being held as a prisoner by Hezbollah, a group of Islamic fundamentalist extremists, he was finally released. The world found him a man overjoyed and happy to be reunited with his family and he said that prayers and religion got him through those seven years (303). This is the main example Lama used. In Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1779), David Hume also attributes the argument to Epicurus: Gordon, Pamela (2013), "Epistulatory Epicureans", in Boter, G. J.; Chaniotis, A.; Coleman, K. M.; de Jong, I. J. F.; Reinhardt, T. (eds.), Epistolary Narratives in Ancient Greek Literature, Mnemosyne: Supplements: Monographs on Greek and Latin Language and Literature, vol.359, Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill, ISBN 978-90-04-25303-2