Epicurus and Stoics Flashcards
What were Epicurus philosophy?
medicine is for the soul
what was main teaching of Epicurus?
- Atoms (everything in world is materialistic)
- pleasure
who was epicurus influenced by?
democratitus (atoms in the void)
how were atoms created
the swerve
what is the swerve
atoms falling down then one “swerved” causing all atoms to collide with eachother
what are characteristics of atoms
- infinite
- eternal
- in the void
- vary in size
what does a life come down to for Epicurus?
trying to attain pleasure, simple pleasure
what types of pleasure is there
- natural
2. necessary
how does epicurus see death and how is this significant?
it’s when you cease to exist, atoms all disappear, making one free from fear of death
what is simple pleasure to epicurus and what does that lead to?
limiting desire = happiness
how do stoics view the relationship between wisdom and pleasure?
wisdom > pleasure
what is the main stoic belief
- human behavior conforms to nature of reality
- primordial fire
how do stoics explain knowledge?
everyone born on blank slate -> interact with objects -> experience that causes impressions -> ideas formed -> knowledge acquired
because of stoics’ explanation of knowledge, what do they know?
they don’t know if everything is right, what they come to know are generalizations
what do stoics believe is cause of all knowledge
primordial fire, where fire = rational force that is process of reality (think of in terms of burning bush in bible I AM WHAT I AM)
what is primordial fire also known as
operative logic of universe
because of belief of primordial fire, what do stoics think of life
everything that happens is because of primordial fire, which means everything is set in stone by fate
how do stoics view life
there are things you’re able to control (emotions), and the uncontrollable (natural disasters for example)
how do stoics view events
all events are neutral, no evil in neutral events
What do stoics mean by only having control of certain things and how to respond to it?
you can only control emotions, so you have to try to react serene APATHY to things, just trust the process because everything is already decided by fate
how do stoics view freedom?
actual freedom is decided by fate
