64
DEATH IS
NOTHING TO US
EPICURUS (341–270 BCE)
IN CONTEXT
BRANCH
EthicsAPPROACH
EpicureanismBEFORE
Late 5th century BCE
Socrates states that seeking
knowledge and truth is the
key to a worthwhile life.c.400 BCE Democritus and
Leucippus conclude that
the cosmos consists solely of
atoms, moving in empty space.AFTER
c.50 BCE Roman philosopher
Lucretius writes De rerum
natura, a poem exploring
Epicurus’s ideas.1789 Jeremy Bentham
advocates the utilitarian idea
of “the greatest happiness for
the greatest number.”1861 John Stuart Mill argues
that intellectual and spiritual
pleasures have more value
than physical pleasures.E
picurus grew up in a time
when the philosophy of
ancient Greece had already
reached a pinnacle in the ideas of
Plato and Aristotle. The main focus
of philosophical thinking was
shifting from metaphysics toward
ethics—and also from political to
personal ethics. Epicurus, however,
found the seeds of a new school of
thought in the quests of earlier
philosophers, such as Socrates’
examination of the truth of basic
human concepts and values.Central to the philosophy that
Epicurus developed is the view
that peace of mind, or tranquillity,
is the goal of life. He argues that
pleasure and pain are the roots of
good and evil, and qualities such
as virtue and justice derive from
these roots, as “it is impossible to
live a pleasant life without living
wisely, honorably, and justly, and
it is impossible to live wisely,
honorably, and justly without living
pleasantly.” Epicurianism is often
mistakenly interpreted as simply
being about the pursuit of sensual
pleasures. For Epicurus, the
greatest pleasure is only attainable
through knowledge and friendship,
and a temperate life, with freedom
from fear and pain.Fear of death
One of the obstacles to enjoying the
peace of a tranquil mind, Epicurus
reasons, is the fear of death, and
this fear is increased by the
religious belief that if you incur
the wrath of the gods, you will be
severely punished in the afterlife.
But rather than countering this fear
by proposing an alternative state
of immortality, Epicurus tries to
explain the nature of death itself.
He starts by proposing that whenTerrifying images of the merciless
god of death Thanatos were used to
depict the pain and torment ancient
Greeks might incur for their sins, both
when they died and in the afterlife.