Epicureanism
Maybe it’s time to give Epicurus some love: Plato et al have had 2,500 years, but the ideas of Epicurianism fit in much better with modern thought. For example, Epicurus was a materialist, 2,300 years ago. He believed thought was nothing more than atoms in motion. He did believe in gods and souls, but he believed they, too, were composed of atoms. He is acknowledged as the first to formulate the Problem of Evil.
Hs ideas on society fit almost perfectly with modern conceptions of the ideal society — something that can hardly be said of Plato. Oh, and his quotes are great soundbites. On Justice:
Justice… is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed. There is no such thing as justice in the abstract; it is merely a compact between men.
On politics:
I have never wished to cater to the crowd; for what I know they do not approve, and what they approve I do not know.
On death:
Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.
On material possessions:
Riches do not exhilarate us so much with their possession as they torment us with their loss. Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little. Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.
On seizing the day:
The fool, with all his other faults, has this also, he is always getting ready to live.
On… politics again? Or a statement of introversion?
The time when most of you should withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd.
Summary: Epicurus deserves some love, if only because he figured out lots of the stuff we are only now figuring out, 2300 years ago.
