Epicurus
Epicurus (/ˌɛpɪˈkjʊərəs/ or /ˌɛpɪˈkjɔːrəs/;[2] Greek: Ἐπίκουρος, Epíkouros, “ally, comrade"; 341–270 BC) was
an ancient Greek philosopher as well as the founder of
the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. Only a few
fragments and letters of Epicurus’s 300 written works remain. Much of what is known about Epicurean philosophy derives from later followers and commentators.
nounce other philosophers as confused, and claim to be
“self-taught”.
Epicurus never married and had no known children. He
was most likely a vegetarian.[5][6] He suffered from kidney
stones,[7] to which he finally succumbed in 270 BC[8] at
the age of seventy-two, and despite the prolonged pain
involved, he wrote to Idomeneus:
For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain
the happy, tranquil life, characterized by ataraxia—peace
and freedom from fear—and aponia—the absence of
pain—and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by
friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are measures of
what is good and evil; death is the end of both body and
soul and should therefore not be feared; the gods neither
reward nor punish humans; the universe is infinite and
eternal; and events in the world are ultimately based on
the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty
space.
1
I have written this letter to you on a happy
day to me, which is also the last day of my life.
For I have been attacked by a painful inability
to urinate, and also dysentery, so violent that
nothing can be added to the violence of my
sufferings. But the cheerfulness of my mind,
which comes from the recollection of all my
philosophical contemplation, counterbalances
all these afflictions. And I beg you to take
care of the children of Metrodorus, in a manner worthy of the devotion shown by the young
man to me, and to philosophy.[9]
Biography
His parents, Neocles and Chaerestrate, both Athenianborn, and his father a citizen, had emigrated to the Athenian settlement on the Aegean island of Samos about ten
years before Epicurus’s birth in February 341 BC.[3] As
a boy, he studied philosophy for four years under the
Platonist teacher Pamphilus. At the age of eighteen, he
went to Athens for his two-year term of military service.
The playwright Menander served in the same age-class of
the ephebes as Epicurus.
2 The school
Epicurus’ school, which was based in the garden of his
house and thus called “The Garden”,[10] had a small but
devoted following in his lifetime. The primary members
were Hermarchus, the financier Idomeneus, Leonteus and
his wife Themista, the satirist Colotes, the mathematician Polyaenus of Lampsacus, Leontion, and Metrodorus
of Lampsacus, the most famous popularizer of Epicureanism. His school was the first of the ancient Greek philosophical schools to admit women as a rule rather than an
exception.[11] An inscription on the gate to The Garden is
recorded by Seneca in epistle XXI of Epistulae morales
ad Lucilium:[12]
After the death of Alexander the Great, Perdiccas expelled the Athenian settlers on Samos to Colophon, on
the coast of what is now Turkey. After the completion
of his military service, Epicurus joined his family there.
He studied under Nausiphanes, who followed the teachings of Democritus. In 311/310 BC Epicurus taught in
Mytilene but caused strife and was forced to leave. He
then founded a school in Lampsacus before returning to
Athens in 306 BC where he remained until his death.[4]
Stranger, here you will do well to tarry;
There he founded The Garden (κῆπος), a school named
here our highest good is pleasure.
for the garden he owned that served as the school’s meeting place, about halfway between the locations of two
other schools of philosophy, the Stoa and the Academy. Epicurus emphasized friendship as an important ingrediEven though many of his teachings were heavily influ- ent of happiness, and the school resembled in many ways
enced by earlier thinkers, especially by Democritus, he a community of friends living together. However, he also
differed in a significant way with Democritus on deter- instituted a hierarchical system of levels among his folminism. Epicurus would often deny this influence, de- lowers, and had them swear an oath on his core tenets.
1
2
3
3 TEACHINGS
Teachings
Main article: Epicureanism
Ancient Greece, and he differs from the formulation of
utilitarianism by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
by emphasizing the minimization of harm to oneself and
others as the way to maximize happiness.
Epicurus’s teachings represented a departure from the
other major Greek thinkers of his period, and before, but
was nevertheless founded on many of the same principles as Democritus. Like Democritus, he was an atomist, believing that the fundamental constituents of the
world were indivisible little bits of matter (atoms; Greek:
ἄτομος atomos, “indivisible”) flying through empty space
(Greek: κενόν kenon). Everything that occurs is the result of the atoms colliding, rebounding, and becoming entangled with one another. His theory differs from the
earlier atomism of Democritus because he admits that
atoms do not always follow straight lines but their direction of motion may occasionally exhibit a "swerve"
(Greek: παρέγκλισις parenklisis; Latin: clinamen). This
allowed him to avoid the determinism implicit in the earlier atomism and to affirm free will.[13]
He regularly admitted women and slaves into his school
and was one of the first Greeks to break from the godfearing and god-worshiping tradition common at the time,
even while affirming that religious activities are useful as
a way to contemplate the gods and to use them as an example of the pleasant life. Epicurus participated in the
activities of traditional Greek religion, but taught that
one should avoid holding false opinions about the gods.
The gods are immortal and blessed and men who ascribe
any additional qualities that are alien to immortality and
blessedness are, according to Epicurus, impious. The
gods do not punish the bad and reward the good as the
common man believes. The opinion of the crowd is, Epicurus claims, that the gods “send great evils to the wicked
and great blessings to the righteous who model themselves
after the gods,” whereas Epicurus believes the gods, in reality, do not concern themselves at all with human beings.
Small bronze bust of Epicurus from Herculaneum. Illustration
from Baumeister, 1885
It is not the man who denies the gods worshipped by the multitude, who is impious, but
he who affirms of the gods what the multitude
believes about them.[14]
3.2 Pleasure as absence of suffering
3.1
Prefiguring science and ethics
Epicurus is a key figure in the development of science
and scientific methodology because of his insistence that
nothing should be believed, except that which was tested
through direct observation and logical deduction. He was
a key figure in the Axial Age, the period from 800 BC to
200 BC, during which, according to Karl Jaspers, similar thinking appeared in China, India, Iran, the Near
East, and Ancient Greece. His statement of the Ethic of
Reciprocity as the foundation of ethics is the earliest in
Epicurus’ philosophy is based on the theory that all good
and bad derive from the sensations of what he defined as
pleasure and pain: What is good is what is pleasurable,
and what is bad is what is painful. His ideas of pleasure
and pain were ultimately, for Epicurus, the basis for the
moral distinction between good and evil. If pain is chosen over pleasure in some cases it is only because it leads
to a greater pleasure. Although Epicurus has been commonly misunderstood to advocate the rampant pursuit of
pleasure, his teachings were more about striving for an
absence of pain and suffering, both physical and mental,
and a state of satiation and tranquility that was free of the
3.4
Epistemology
fear of death and the retribution of the gods. Epicurus argued that when we do not suffer pain, we are no longer in
need of pleasure, and we enter a state of ataraxia, “tranquility of soul” or “imperturbability”.[15][16]
Epicurus’ teachings were introduced into medical philosophy and practice by the Epicurean doctor Asclepiades
of Bithynia, who was the first physician who introduced
Greek medicine in Rome. Asclepiades introduced the
friendly, sympathetic, pleasing and painless treatment
of patients. He advocated humane treatment of mental disorders, had insane persons freed from confinement
and treated them with natural therapy, such as diet and
massages. His teachings are surprisingly modern, therefore Asclepiades is considered to be a pioneer physician in psychotherapy, physical therapy and molecular
medicine.[17]
3
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?
This argument was a type favoured by the ancient Greek
skeptics, and may have been wrongly attributed to Epicurus by Lactantius, who, from his Christian perspective,
regarded Epicurus as an atheist.[22][23] It has been suggested that it may actually be the work of an early skeptic
writer, possibly Carneades.[24] According to Reinhold F.
Glei, it is certain that the argument of theodicy is from
an academic source which is not only not Epicurean, but
Epicurus explicitly warned against overindulgence beeven anti-Epicurean.[25] The earliest extant version of this
cause it often leads to pain. For instance, Epicurus
trilemma appears in the writings of the skeptic Sextus
warned against pursuing love too ardently. He defended
Empiricus (160–210 AD).[26]
friendships as ramparts for pleasure and denied them
any inherent worth.[18] He also believed, contrary to Epicurus did not deny the existence of gods. He instead
Aristotle,[19] that death was not to be feared. When a stated that what gods there may be, do not concern themman dies, he does not feel the pain of death because he selves with us, and thus, that they would not seek to punish
[27]
no longer is and therefore feels nothing. Therefore, as us either in this or any other life.
Epicurus famously said, “death is nothing to us.” When
we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are
not. All sensation and consciousness ends with death and 3.4 Epistemology
therefore in death there is neither pleasure nor pain. The
fear of death arises from the belief that in death, there is Epicurus emphasized the senses in his epistemology, and
his Principle of Multiple Explanations (“if several theawareness.
ories are consistent with the observed data, retain them
From this doctrine arose the Epicurean epitaph: Non fui, all”) is an early contribution to the philosophy of science.
fui, non sum, non curo (“I was not; I was; I am not; I
do not care”), which is inscribed on the gravestones of
There are also some things for which it is
his followers and seen on many ancient gravestones of
not enough to state a single cause, but several,
the Roman Empire. This quotation is often used today at
of which one, however, is the case. Just as if
humanist funerals.[20]
you were to see the lifeless corpse of a man lyAs an ethical guideline, Epicurus emphasized minimizing
ing far away, it would be fitting to list all the
harm and maximizing happiness of oneself and others:
causes of death in order to make sure that the
single cause of this death may be stated. For
you would not be able to establish conclusively
It is impossible to live a pleasant life withthat he died by the sword or of cold or of illout living wisely and well and justly, and it is
ness or perhaps by poison, but we know that
impossible to live wisely and well and justly
there is something of this kind that happened
without living pleasantly.
to him.[28][29]
(“justly” meaning to prevent a “person from harming or being harmed
by another”)[21]
3.5 Politics
In contrast to the Stoics, Epicureans showed little interest in participating in the politics of the day, since doing so leads to trouble. He instead advocated seclusion.
See also: Epicurean paradox
This principle is epitomized by the phrase lathe biōsas
(λάθε βιώσας), meaning “live in obscurity”, “get through
The “Epicurean paradox” is a version of the problem of life without drawing attention to yourself”, i.e., live withevil. It is a trilemma argument (God is omnipotent, God out pursuing glory or wealth or power, but anonymously,
is good, but Evil exists); or more commonly seen as this enjoying little things like food, the company of friends,
quote:
etc. Plutarch elaborated on this theme in his essay Is the
3.3
Epicurean paradox
4
5 WORKS
Saying “Live in Obscurity” Right? (Εἰ καλῶς εἴρηται τὸ people had a right to “life, liberty, and property.”[30] To
λάθε βιώσας, An recte dictum sit latenter esse vivendum) Locke, one’s own body was part of their property, and
1128c; cf. Flavius Philostratus, Vita Apollonii 8.28.12.
thus one’s right to property would theoretically guarantee
But the Epicureans did have an innovative theory of jus- safety for their persons, as well as their possessions.
tice as a social contract. Justice, Epicurus said, is an
agreement neither to harm nor be harmed, and we need
to have such a contract in order to enjoy fully the benefits of living together in a well-ordered society. Laws and
punishments are needed to keep misguided fools in line
who would otherwise break the contract. But the wise
person sees the usefulness of justice, and because of his
limited desires, he has no need to engage in the conduct
prohibited by the laws in any case. Laws that are useful
for promoting happiness are just, but those that are not
useful are not just. (Principal Doctrines 31-40)
4
Legacy
This triad, as well as the egalitarianism of Epicurus,
was carried forward into the American freedom movement and Declaration of Independence, by the American
founding father, Thomas Jefferson, as “all men are
created equal” and endowed with certain "unalienable
rights,” such as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Jefferson considered himself an Epicurean. [31]
In An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David
Hume uses Epicurus as a character for explaining the impossibility of our knowing God to be any greater or better
than his creation proves him to be.
Karl Marx's doctoral thesis was on "The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature.”
Epicurus was first to assert human freedom as coming from a fundamental indeterminism in the motion of
atoms. This has led some philosophers to think that for
Epicurus free will was caused directly by chance. In his
On the Nature of Things (De rerum natura), Lucretius appears to suggest this in the best-known passage on Epicurus’ position.[32] But in his Letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus follows Aristotle and clearly identifies three possible causes - “some things happen of necessity, others
by chance, others through our own agency.” Aristotle
said some things “depend on us” (eph hemin). Epicurus
agreed, and said it is to these last things that praise and
blame naturally attach. For Epicurus, the “swerve” (or
clinamen) of the atoms simply defeated determinism to
leave room for autonomous agency.[33]
Epicurus was also a significant source of inspiration and
interest for both Arthur Schopenhauer, having particular influence on the famous pessimist’s views on suffering and death, as well as one of Schopenhauer’s successors: Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche cites his affinities to
Epicurus in a number of his works, including The Gay
Science, Beyond Good and Evil, and his private letters
to Peter Gast. Nietzsche was attracted to, among other
things, Epicurus’ ability to maintain a cheerful philosophical outlook in the face of painful physical ailments. NiBust of Epicurus leaning against his disciple Metrodorus in the etzsche also suffered from a number of sicknesses during
Louvre Museum
his lifetime. However, he thought that Epicurus’ conception of happiness as freedom from anxiety was too passive
Elements of Epicurean philosophy have resonated and and negative.
resurfaced in various diverse thinkers and movements
throughout Western intellectual history.
The atomic poems (such as 'All Things are Governed by 5 Works
Atoms’) and natural philosophy of Margaret Cavendish
were influenced by Epicurus.
The only surviving complete works by Epicurus are three
His emphasis on minimizing harm and maximizing hap- letters, which are to be found in book X of Diogenes Laërpiness in his formulation of the Ethic of Reciprocity was tius' Lives of Eminent Philosophers, and two groups of
later picked up by the democratic thinkers of the French quotes: the Principal Doctrines (Κύριαι Δόξαι), reported
Revolution, and others, like John Locke, who wrote that as well in Diogenes’ book X, and the Vatican Sayings, pre-
5
12. On Piety
13. Hegesianax
14. Four essays on Lives
15. Essay on Just Dealing
16. Neocles
17. Essay addressed to Themista
18. The Banquet
19. Eurylochus
20. Essay addressed to Metrodorus
21. Essay on Seeing
22. Essay on the Angle in an Atom
23. Essay on Touch
24. Essay on Fate
Epicurus, Nuremberg Chronicle
25. Opinions on the Passions
served in a manuscript from the Vatican Library.
Numerous fragments of his thirty-seven volume treatise
On Nature have been found among the charred papyrus
fragments at the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum.
In addition, other Epicurean writings found at Herculaneum contain important quotations from his other
works. Moreover, numerous fragments and testimonies
are found throughout ancient Greek and Roman literature, a collection of which can be found in Usener's
Epicurea.
According to Diogenes Laertius, the major works of Epicurus include:
26. Treatise addressed to Timocrates
27. Prognostics
28. Exhortations
29. On Images
30. On Perceptions
31. Aristobulus
32. Essay on Music
33. On Justice and the other Virtues
1. Thirty-seven treatises on Natural Philosophy
2. On Atoms and the Void
3. On Love
4. Abridgment of the Arguments employed against the
Natural Philosophers
5. Against the Doctrines of the Megarians
34. On Gifts and Gratitude
35. Polymedes
36. Timocrates (three books)
37. Metrodorus (five books)
38. Antidorus (two books)
6. Problems
7. Fundamental Propositions
8. On Choice and Avoidance
9. On the Chief Good
39. Opinions about Diseases, addressed to Mithras
40. Callistolas
41. Essay on Kingly Power
10. On the Criterion (the Canon)
42. Anaximenes
11. Chaeridemus, a treatise on the Gods
43. Letters
6
6
10 NOTES
Hero cult
The Talmudic interpretation is that the Aramaic word is
derived from the root-word ‫( פק"ר‬PKR; lit. licentious),
According to Diskin Clay, Epicurus himself established hence disrespect.
a custom of celebrating his birthday annually with com- The Christian censorship of the Jewish Talmud in the afmon meals, befitting his stature as hero ctistes (or found- termath of the Disputation of Barcelona and during the
ing hero) of the Garden. He ordained in his will annual Spanish Inquisition and Roman Inquisition, let the term
memorial feasts for himself on the same date (10th of spread within the Jewish classical texts, since Roman
Gamelion month).[34] Epicurean communities continued Catholic Church censors replaced terms like Minim (“secthis tradition,[35] referring to Epicurus as their “savior” tarians”, coined on the Christians) with the term Epikor(soter) and celebrating him as hero. Lucretius apotheo- sim or Epicursim, meaning heretics.
sized Epicurus as the main character of his epic poem De
rerum natura. The hero cult of Epicurus may have operated as a Garden variety civic religion.[36] However, clear
9 See also
evidence of an Epicurean hero cult, as well as the cult
itself, seems buried by the weight of posthumous philo• Epikoros (Judaism)
sophical interpretation.[37] Epicurus’ cheerful demeanor,
as he continued to work despite dying from a painful stone
• Philosophy of happiness
blockage of his urinary tract lasting a fortnight, according to his successor Hermarchus and reported by his bi• Separation of church and state
ographer Diogenes Laërtius, further enhanced his status
among his followers. [7]
10 Notes
7
In literature and popular media
Paul the Apostle encountered Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers as he was ministering in Athens.[38]
Horace describes himself as Epicuri de grege porcum “a
swine from Epicure’s herd” in his Epistles.[39]
In Canto X Circle 6 (“Where the heretics lie”) of Dante's
Inferno, Epicurus and his followers are criticized for supporting a materialistic ideal when they are mentioned to
have been condemned to the Circle of Heresy.
Epicurus the Sage is a two-part comic book by William
Messner-Loebs and Sam Kieth portraying Epicurus as
“the only sane philosopher” by anachronistically bringing
him together with many other well-known Greek philosophers. It was republished as graphic novel by the Wildstorm branch of DC Comics.
8
Epicurus and the Epicurism
Main article: Epikoros (Judaism)
[1] Diogenes Laërtius, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent
Philosophers, X:136.
[2] Jones, Daniel (2006). Cambridge English Pronouncing
Dictionary. 17th edition. Cambridge UP.
[3] Apollodorus of Athens (reported by Diogenes Laertius,
Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 10.14–15) gives his birth
on the fourth day of the month February in the third year
of the 109th Olympiad, in the archonship of Sosigenes
[4] “Epicurus - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy”.
[5] “The Hidden History of Greco-Roman Vegetarianism”.
[6] Dombrowski, Daniel A. (1984). The Philosophy of Vegetarianism. ISBN 0870234315.
[7] Bitsori, Maria; Galanakis, Emmanouil (2004). “Epicurus’ death”. World Journal of Urology 22 (6): 466–469.
doi:10.1007/s00345-004-0448-2. PMID 15372192.
[8] In the second year of the 127th Olympiad, in the archonship of Pytharatus, according to Diogenes Laertius, Lives
of Eminent Philosophers, 10.15
[9] Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 10.22
(trans. C.D. Yonge).
In Rabbinic literature the term Epikoros is used, without
a specific reference to the Greek philosopher Epicurus,
[10] Long, A. A. (1986). Hellenistic philosophy: Stoics, Epiyet it seems apparent that the term was derived from his
cureans, Sceptics. p. 15.
name.[40]
Epicurus’s apparent hedonistic views (as Epicurus’ ethics [11] Two women, Axiothea and Lastheneia, were known to
have been admitted by Plato. See Hadot, Pierre. Qu'estwas hedonistic) and philosophical teachings, though opce que la philosophie antique?, page 99, Gillimard 1995.
posed to the Hedonists of his time, countered Jewish
Pythagoras is also believed to have inducted one woman,
scripture, the strictly monotheistic conception of God in
Theano, into his order.
Judaism and the Jewish belief in the afterlife and the
world to come.
[12] “Epistulae morales ad Lucilium”.
7
[13] The only fragment in Greek about this central notion is
from the Oenoanda inscription (fr. 54 in Smith’s edition).
The best known reference is in Lucretius’s On the nature
of things, 2.216-224, 284-293.
[14] letter by Epicurus to Menoeceus; see Diogenes Laërtius
de clarorum philosophorum vitis, dogmatibus et apophthegmatibus libri decem (X, 123)
[15] Folse, Henry (2005). How Epicurean Metaphysics leads
to Epicurean Ethics. Department of Philosophy, Loyola
University, New Orleans, LA.
[16] Konstan, David. Epicurus, The Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy (Fall 2013 Edition).forthcoming URL
= <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/
epicurus/>
[17] Yapijakis C (2009). “Hippocrates of Kos, the father of
clinical medicine, and Asclepiades of Bithynia, the father
of molecular medicine. Review”. In Vivo 23 (4): 507–14.
PMID 19567383.
[18] Cicero, Marcus Tullius. “II.82”. De finibus bonorum et
malorum. ISBN 3-519-01219-7.
[19] Rosenbaum, Stephen. Appraising Death In Human Life:
Two Modes Of Valuation, in French, Peter, and Wettstein,
Howard (editors), Life And Death: Metaphysics And
Ethics, Midwest Studies In Philosophy, volume XXIV.
Blackwell Publishers, Inc., 2000, p.153 (Aristotle 'seems
to have believed [in] fearing death ... . [But] his conclusion should be understood to be [merely] that the fact that a
person dies is bad [because] nothing is any longer good or
bad for him or her.') Books.Google.com (accessed 2011Feb-04)
[20] “Epicurus (c 341-270 BC)". British Humanist Association.
[29] The poem version can be found in: Titus Lucretius Carus
(Jul 2008). Of The Nature of Things. Project Gutenberg
EBook 785. William Ellery Leonard (translator). Project
Gutenberg. Book VI, Section Extraordinary and Paradoxical Telluric Phenomena, Line 9549–9560
[30] John Locke (1689) "Two Treatises of Government#Property"
[31] Jefferson considered himself an Epicurean (1819): “Letter, Thomas Jefferson to William Short”
[32] 2.251-262 “On the Nature of Things, 289-293” Check
|url= scheme (help).
[33] “Epicurus page on Information Philosopher; cf. Letter to
Menoeceus, §134.”.
[34] Reason and religion in Socratic philosophy. p. 160. ISBN
0-19-513322-6. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list
(help)
[35] Glad, Clarence E. Paul and Philodemus: adaptability in
Epicurean and early Christian psychology. p. 176. ISBN
90-04-10067-9.
[36] Nussbaum, Martha Craven. The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics. p. 119. ISBN 0691-14131-2.
[37] Clay, Diskin. Paradosis and survival: three chapters in
the history of Epicurean philosophy. p. 76. ISBN 0-47210896-4.
[38] The Holy Bible, Acts 17:18
[39] Horace, Epistles Bk I, ep. 4 v. 16.
[40] “Epikoros”. encyclopedia.com.
[21] “Epicurus Principal Doctrines 5 and 31 transl. by Robert
Drew Hicks”. 1925.
11 Further reading
[22] Larrimore, Mark Joseph (2001). The Problem of Evil.
Wiley-Blackwell. p. xix–xxi.
Texts
[23] Lactantius,De Ira Dei, chapter 13 (Ioan. Graphei, 1532,
p. 494)
[24] Larrimore, Mark Joseph (2001). The Problem of Evil: a
reader. Blackwell. p. xx.
[25] Glei, Reinhold F. (1988). Et invidus et inbecillus. Das
angebliche Epikurfragment bei Laktanz, De ira dei 13,2021 in: Vigiliae Christianae 42. pp. 47–58.
• Epicurus (1994). Inwood, Brad; Gerson, Lloyd P.,
eds. The Epicurus Reader. Selected Writings and
Testimonia. Indianapolis: Hackett. ISBN 0-87220242-9.
• Epicurus (1993). The essential Epicurus : letters, principal doctrines, Vatican sayings, and fragments. Eugene O'Connor, trans. Buffalo, N.Y.:
Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-810-4.
[26] Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism, 175: “those
who firmly maintain that god exists will be forced into
impiety; for if they say that he [god] takes care of everything, they will be saying that god is the cause of evils,
while if they say that he takes care of some things only or
even nothing, they will be forced to say that he is either
malevolent or weak”
• Epicurus (1964). Letters, principal doctrines, and
Vatican sayings. Russel M. Geer, trans. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
[27] O'Keefe, Tim (2008-02-12). “Epicurus”. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Lucretius Carus, Titus (1976). On the nature of the
universe. R. E. Latham, trans. London: Penguin
Books. ISBN 0-14-044018-6.
[28] Lucretius.
• Laertius, Diogenes (1969). Caponigri, A. Robert,
ed. Lives of the Philosophers. Chicago: Henry Regnery Co.
8
12
• Körte, Alfred (1987). Epicureanism : two collections
of fragments and studies (in Greek). New York:
Garland. ISBN 0-8240-6915-3.
• Oates, Whitney J. (1940). The Stoic and Epicurean philosophers, The Complete Extant Writings
of Epicurus, Epictetus, Lucretius and Marcus Aurelius. New York: Modern Library.
• Diogenes of Oinoanda (1993). The Epicurean inscription. Martin Ferguson Smith, trans. Napoli:
Bibliopolis. ISBN 88-7088-270-5.
Studies
EXTERNAL LINKS
12 External links
• Media related to Epicurus at Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations related to Epicurus at Wikiquote
• Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article: Κύριαι Δόξαι
• Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article: Ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς Μενοικέα
• Diogenes Laërtius, Life of Epicurus, translated by
Robert Drew Hicks (1925).
• Society of Friends of Epicurus – Epicurean community
• Bailey C. (1928). The Greek Atomists and Epicurus,
Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Epicurus entry by David Konstan in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Bakalis, Nikolaos (2005). Handbook of Greek Philosophy from Thales to the Stoics. Analysis and fragments. Victoria: Trafford. ISBN 1-4120-4843-5.
• Epicurus entry by Tim O’Keefe in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Gordon, Pamela (1996). Epicurus in Lycia. The
Second-Century World of Diogenes of Oenoanda.
Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-47210461-6.
• Gottlieb, Anthony (2000). The Dream of Reason.
A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to
the Renaissance. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN
0-393-04951-5.
• Hibler, Richard W. (1984). Happiness Through
Tranquillity. The school of Epicurus. Lanham, MD:
University Press of America. ISBN 0-8191-3861-4.
• Hicks, R. D. (1910). Stoic and Epicurean. New
York: Scribner.
• Jones, Howard (1989). The Epicurean Tradition.
London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-02069-7.
• O'Keefe, Tim (2009). Epicureanism. University of
California Press.
• Panichas, George Andrew (1967). Epicurus. New
York: Twayne Publishers.
• Stoic And Epicurean by Robert Drew Hicks (1910)
(Internet Archive)
• Epicurus.info – Epicurean Philosophy Online: features classical e-texts and photos of Epicurean artifacts
• Epicurus.net – Epicurus and Epicurean Philosophy
• Epicurus and Lucretius – small article by “P. Dionysius Mus”
• The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature – Karl Marx's doctoral
thesis
• Epicurus on Free Will
• The Garden of Epicurus – useful summary of the
teachings of Epicurus
• Philosophy of Happiness (PDF)
• Epicurea, Hermann Usener - full text
• Works by or about Epicurus at Internet Archive
• Works by Epicurus at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Rist, J.M. (1972). Epicurus. An introduction. Lon- Portrait
don: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-52108426-1.
• Discussion, bibliography, 3D models of the lost portrait
• Warren, James (2009). The Cambridge Companion
to Epicureanism. New York: Cambridge University
Primary sources
Press. ISBN 978-05218-7347-5.
• William Wallace. Epicureanism. SPCK (1880)
• Principal Doctrines – unidentified translation
9
• Principal Doctrines – the original Greek, two English translations, and a parallel mode
• Vatican Sayings – unidentified translation
• Vatican Sayings – the original Greek with an English
translation
• Letter to Herodotus
• Letter to Pythocles
• Letter to Menoeceus
10
13
13
13.1
TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES
Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses
Text
• Epicurus Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus?oldid=683173828 Contributors: AxelBoldt, MichaelTinkler, Brion VIBBER,
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Jboutchard, M3andros, Epicurean87, SieBot, John Stattic, Moonriddengirl, Malcolmxl5, Fabullus, Gmchugh, Aaronh7, Monegasque,
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13.2
Images
• File:Epicurus_Louvre.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Epicurus_Louvre.jpg License: CC BY-SA
2.5 Contributors: Eric Gaba (User:Sting), July 2005 Original artist: ?
• File:Epicurus_Nuremberg_Chronicle.jpg Source:
Chronicle.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Epicurus_Nuremberg_
• Nuremberg_chronicles_-_f_078r_1.png Original artist: Nuremberg_chronicles_-_f_078r_1.png: Hartmann Schedel
• File:Epikur.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Epikur.jpg License:
Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums, 1885. Band I., pag. 483. Original artist: Unknown
Public domain Contributors:
• File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-bysa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:People_icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/People_icon.svg License: CC0 Contributors: OpenClipart Original artist: OpenClipart
• File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
• File:Speaker_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Speaker_Icon.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
13.3
Content license
• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0