Epicurus
Learning to desire what is enough.
Epicurus connects the study of nature with a life free from unfounded fears. The pleasure he seeks requires judgment: understanding needs, cultivating friendship, and recognizing the limits that make a life livable.
What do we really need to live happily?
Biography
Epicurus was born in 341 BCE on Samos to a family of Athenian citizens settled on the island. Ancient biographies name his parents Neocles and Chaerestrate, but several stories about his youth mainly serve later polemics. Around eighteen he spent time in Athens as Alexander’s death reshaped the Greek political world. He subsequently joined his family in Asia Minor. His relationship with Nausiphanes, associated with the Democritean tradition, illuminates his interest in atomism without reducing his philosophy to borrowing. His teaching at Mytilene and then Lampsacus assembled the first companions of what became an enduring community of philosophical inquiry.
02 /Philosophy
Pleasure is the reference good, but not every pleasure should be chosen. The removal of pain and disturbance explains a stable satisfaction that does not require indefinitely increasing one’s possessions.
03 /Reading guides
Original introductions to enter the works, discover their central questions and take the reflection further.
04 /Bibliography
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
A first reading.
When do we have enough?
Read the Letter to Menoeceus by distinguishing needs, pleasures, and fears.
Letter to MenoeceusNature without divine threat
Understand how physics enters a philosophy of happiness.
Letter to HerodotusCan security be shared?
Connect the doctrines about friendship with those about justice and agreements.
Principal Doctrines