Epicurus (jan 1, 341 BC – jan 1, 270 BC)

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After the death of Alexander the Great, the focus of philosophy moved away from epistemology and metaphysics and instead focused on personal ethics. Philosophical schools sprang up across the Hellenistic World. One of these was The Garden, founded by the Greek philosopher Epicurus.

Epicurus saw pleasure as the ultimate example of good, while pain was the foremost example of evil. Concepts such as justice and virtue come from pleasure. Epicurus believed that we should focus on maximizing pleasure in our lives whilst avoiding pain. The ultimate goal was to achieve tranquility, or what Epicurus called “ataraxia.”

Opponents of Epicurus denounced him as a seeker of hedonistic and immoral pleasures. On the contrary, Epicurus considered friendship to be the highest form of pleasure. Epicurus’s followers weren’t just students, but friends as well, sharing a simple life of easily sustainable pleasures. Ethically, Epicurus believed that to live a pleasant life, one had to be honorable, just, and wise.

Epicurus saw the fear of death as the main opposition to a life of pleasure and tranquility. He argued that we need not fear death because there is no pain involved on either a conscious or physical level. We simply cease to exist.

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