The Meaning of Life

Epicurus and Pleasure

Death
(1)Anything

good or bad in our

lives depends upon sense
perception.
(2) Death involves the cessation
of sense perception.
Therefore, (3) Death cannot be
either good or bad, and so is of
no significance to us.

Accepting the Nature of

Death
Once

we accept deaths true

nature, we are able to enjoy the
lives that we have:
We will cease seeking and/or
worrying about immortality.
If death cannot bother us when
we are dead, then we ought not
view it with sadness now.

The End and Purpose of

Life
According

to Epicurus: Pleasure
But Epicurus views pleasure as
the absence of both physical pain
and mental distress.
He says that pleasures upper
limit is simply the removal of
everything productive of pain.

Prudence
Prudence

is the most important of the

virtues.
Prudence involves taking account of the
results of our actions now on our own
futures.
Present pleasures can produce future
pains, and present pains can produce
future pleasures.
Without prudence, one will not achieve
the highest balance of pleasure over
pain.

Bad Pleasures
No

pleasures are bad considered

merely in themselves.
But some pleasures are
productive of pains that outweigh
the pleasure.
What we call debauchery would
not be blameworthy if it actually
succeeded in removing mental
distress but it does not do so in
the long run.

Intellectual Virtue?
Why

should we use our rational

capacities in a theoretical
manner?
Study of the world via science
provides us with understanding.
Understanding will dispel fear.
The mind, through knowledge,
makes possible a life that
reaches all goals within itself and
has no need whatever of infinite

Moral Virtue?
We

have already seen that

prudence, which will involve
temperance, is necessary to
achieve best balance of pleasure
over pain.
Justice results from agreement: I
wont harm you if you dont harm
me.
Such an agreement is a means to
protecting myself from certain

Injustice
Why

is injustice bad?
Injustice would involve violating
the agreement that I have with
others not to harm them as long
as they do not harm me.
One possibility: I am caught and
punished.
Another possibility: I am not
caught, but I will worry about
being apprehended and

How to Proceed?
Desires

are either (1) without a

foundation in nature, or (2) in
accordance with nature.
Those that are (1) without a
foundation in nature, are those
that have as their objects things
that are impossible for us to
achieve. (For example,
immortality.)

Desires in Accordance with

Nature
Some

of these are not necessary: desires

for really tasty foods, or for vintage wines.
Others are necessary, either for
(i) well-being and happiness,
(ii) freeing the body from its burdens, or
(iii) the preservation of life.
Being able to assess our desires is crucial
to prudence and thus to happiness.
No need to scorn luxuries, but those who
aim to satisfy necessary desires are better
able to appreciate luxuries.

Friendship
Epicurus

regards the acquisition

of friends as essential to the good
life.
Friends supply an important kind
of security.