Epicurus' doctrine arose at a time of dissatisfaction with the condition of the Greek City-States. Social life in Polis was frivolous and marked by social injustice. Power was concentrated in the hands of a few: the urban aristocracy. There was no happiness among men in the social context, in which people were strictly interested in wealth and power; in the religious context, in which superstition predominated, religion became servile, surrounded by meaningless myths and rites, and the search for oracles and the belief in riddles also grew. People enjoyed the most superfluous pleasures that came from riches, and so they were relatively happy, because they were forgetting what really brings happiness. It was from this that Epicurus created his doctrine against superstition and material goods, aimed at an interior reflection and search for true happiness.
This doctrine is divided into canonical, physics and ethic. However, the first two parts are clarifications for the foundation of ethics, since the natural sciences are only important insofar as they serve as an aid to morals. No theory is valid if it does not have a moral objective, which cannot be applied in practical life. The purpose of its ethics is to provide happiness to men, so that it can free them from ailments that plague them, whether arising from political and social circumstances or caused by motives religious.
Happiness is achieved through the control of fears and desires, so that it is possible to reach the ataraxia, which represents a state of stable pleasure and balance and, consequently, a state of tranquility and the absence of disturbances, because, according to Epicurus, there are bad and violent pleasures, resulting from addiction and that are transient, causing only dissatisfaction and pain. But there are also pleasures arising from the moderate pursuit of Happiness.
According to Epicurus, the possession of few material goods and not obtaining public office provide a happy life full of inner tranquility, as these things bring varied disturbances. Therefore, the necessary conditions for the good health of the soul are in the humility. And to achieve happiness, Epicurus creates 4 “remedies”:
1. The gods are not to be feared;
2. Death is not to be feared;
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3. Good is not difficult to achieve;
4. Evils are not hard to bear.
According to these recommendations, it is possible to cultivate positive thoughts which enable a person to lead a philosophical life based on ethics. Happiness is achieved through few material things to the detriment of the pursuit of voluptuous pleasure. Man seeking pleasure seeks natural happiness. However, it is necessary to know how to choose in order to avoid the pleasures that cause the greatest pain; when man does not know how to choose, pain and unhappiness arise.
The sage must know how to bear the pain, as it will soon be over or even those that last for a longer time are bearable. The achievement of pleasure and the suppression of pain are achieved through the wisdom that finds a state of internal satisfaction. Virtue subordinated to pleasure can only be achieved by the following items:
- Intelligence – prudence, the pondering that seeks true pleasure and avoids pain;
- Reasoning – reflects on the considerations raised to know which pleasure is more advantageous, which should be supported, which can attribute greater pleasure, etc. Pleasure as a way of suppressing pain is an absolute good, as no greater or new pleasure can be added to it.
- self-restraint – avoids the superfluous, such as material goods, sophisticated culture and political participation;
- Justice – must be sought for the fruits it produces, as it was stipulated so that there is no harm among men.
In short, all of Epicurus' efforts were aimed at the happiness of men. US gardens (community of disciples of Epicurus) joy and simple life reigned. Friendship was the best of feelings, as it provided the correction of one another's faults, allowing their correction. With that, the Epicurean moral is based on the propagation of his actions, as he was not restricted only to the feeling and the pleasure as norms of morality, but it went far beyond its own theory, being the living example of the doctrine that uttered.
By João Francisco P. Cabral
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Uberlândia - UFU
Master's student in Philosophy at the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Philosophy - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
CABRAL, João Francisco Pereira. "The Ethics in Epicurus"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/filosofia/a-etica-epicuro.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.