People who follow Epicureanism beliefs live a peaceful life. Their lives are not reliant on material possessions and other excesses. Believing in Epicureanism gives life meaning by creating tranquility through happiness. Tranquility and peace can only be achieved after removing overabundance. After these are taken away, one is able to reach true happiness. Epicureans believe that “happiness [depends] on avoiding all forms of physical excess”. Greed, for example, is a result from being over-exposed to physical excess. Founder of Epicureanism, Epicurus, said “nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little”. Greed can start out as simply wanting a better car than your neighbor but soon can lead to stockpiling unnecessary possessions
and selfishness. Are these material things bringing happiness or are they bringing the illusion of happiness? Back in Hellenistic Greece an example of physical excess would be owning too much land without a purpose. Now in Modern America, another example physical excess is gluttony. Gluttony is the result of eating too much food and lacking self control. Refined sugars and other harmful foods are readily available in today’s world. Gluttony leads serious health problems such as obesity, heart disease, and depression. Those who follow Epicureanism avoid all of this by following “plain living” and unifying their body in mind so they can avoid life’s temptations. By avoiding life’s temptations and removing all of life’s excesses, epicureanists live peaceful lives.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is generally regarded as the greatest literature about tales of a great king. The Epic of Gilgamesh served to show us a lot of things. The time period of BCE is very blurry, and this story attempts to describe many different things in not only Sumerian beliefs, but also Sumerian's culture as a whole. Like many stories from BCE the truth itself is questionable, even though a lot of the information is fact. The factual information that Gilgamesh teaches us about Sumerian Civilization is that had had many craftsman and artistic skills, and also a strong belief in Gods.
A myth is a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events. Each civilization has its myths about the creation of the world and its human race. Most speak of “gods” who perform feats far beyond that of humankind. Most are legends passed down through oral tradition, and embellished along the way. The book of Genesis is one of the most significant books in the Bible and is sacred scripture for Jews, Samaritans, and Christians. The Babylonian epic, Enuma Elish, is one of the most important sources for understanding the Babylonian worldview. Hesiod’s Theogony is a poem describing the origins and genealogies of
At first glance, I was immediatly inclined to argue in epictetus' favor, because it pains
Philosophy is a very important part of people’s lives. Philosophy is quite basically asking inquiries about existence, reality and nature of knowledge. To better understand philosophy we must look throughout history. Looking back through history helps better show what the philosophers thought during the time period in which they lived. The relativity of the theories, to the time period, is a very important factor in how efficient these theories they were. The first philosopher’s ideas to people today would be considered either very basic, or insane. Yet, in the time period they lived in, they were considered to be geniuses. Also, looking back through time and studying philosophers and what they believed can help create a better idea for our own philosophical creations. The first philosophers were also known as the Presocratics. They were called this because they were in a time period before Socrates was born. They mainly focused on answering what is the explanation of nature, also referred to as metaphysics. Even before the Presocratic philosophers, we need to look at the ancient Greek poets that created myths and examine how their stories came into being made and how it had an effect on their civilization. These myths are a part of Philosophy because they were the first ideas about creation. The transition between these mythic worldviews and pre-Socratic philosophers’ worldview was important because it lays down the structural work for great philosophers to learn from them and develop further theories based on their findings.
“Once upon a time in a far away land” in every imagination, is the start of how a prince and a princess live happily ever after. The fairy tales come to mind when thinking about princes, how charming, intelligent admiring, and many more characteristics that the “idyllic” prince has in many minds like my own. The question is simply asked, “What makes the idyllic prince?” most of us think of someone who has high quality and very first class. Niccolo Machiavelli describes an ideal prince as someone who is in control and dominant. The ideal prince should understand warfare and statecraft. Machiavelli was born in Florence Italy in 1496. He served as an administrator and a diplomat in the Florence Republic, and was imprisoned at various points of his career. One of his notable positions was serving as a political advisor to the Borgia family. He knew many political leaders of Italy, particularly Cesare Borgia, who he wrote The Prince about. Machiavelli judges Gilgamesh as a prince based on his behavior, qualities, and characteristics that Machiavelli describes in The Prince and the behavio...
Stoicism was the belief that emotions were only because of an error in judgment and those that were true intellectuals would be able to forgo all emotion. They felt that all things, including God and the soul were material, because they felt that in order to have true pairs, body and soul, God and the world, that both must be the same substance. (Stoicism [The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]) While Epicureanism was the belief that pleasure is the absence of pain and confusion. To truly follow this line of belief, the believer must seek reas...
Epicurus was admittedly a Hedonist, and this philosophy has had a huge influence on his work. Especially so on his death argument. Hedonism is, “the doctrine that pleasure is the only thing that is good in itself for a person, pain the only thing that is bad in itself for a person.”
In many ways, judging and comparing Vigil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Metamorphoses is inevitable because each of the writers lived at roughly the same time in history, both sought to create a historical work that would endure long past their mortal existences, and while each man was ultimately successful in their endeavors, they achieved their desired goals in vastly different ways. That being said, the epic poem by Ovid is superior because unlike Virgil, whose epic poem utilized a character centered narrative steeped in historical inferences and a theme that celebrated the moral virtues of Greek and Roman society, Ovid defied tradition by creating an intricate narrative that looked
In Homer's epics women were very respected by journey and warrior men. The women were looked upon as beautiful, nurturing human beings. The mortal women in Homer's "Iliad" were mostly known for being faithful wives and very giving mothers. These women care for their children, such as Odysseus's mother did, when he was in great need of confidence and reassurance. After the death of Odysseus's mother, she returned as a shade from the underworld to tell Odysseus, "Your wife weeps for your return as she lives in your house with a loyal heart, and your son has kept your kingdom whole."(90) This gave Odysseus the confidence in his heart to continue on home to Ithaca, to reunite with his dear wife, Penelope. A perfect example of how nurturing and dedicated the women were, not only to their children, but also to their husbands.
Epicureanism does not require the belief of a god nor does it believe in an after life, an
Epicureans maintain the materialist view of the soul, they believe everything is made of matter. Their specific theory is atomism; the theory states that the world is made up of atoms and void. When atoms collide they merge to make up everything in existence. Therefore they believe then
The Classical mythology contains tales and epics of the ancient Greek and roman literatures and myths. On the other hand, Homer’s two epic poems, the Iliad relates to the events of the Trojan War while the Odyssey details Odysseus expedition after the war. Homer’s epic poems, the Odyssey and the Iliad present a major part of ancient history as modern fictional heroic stories. In ancient Greek, heroes were humans who were depicted to possess superhuman abilities. A key example in the classical mythology is Akhilles who is later known in Homer’s Iliad as Achilles. Achilles is he greatest hero of the Iliad whereas Odysseus is the greatest hero of the Odyssey. The greatest heroes from classic mythology and the modern fictional hero’s stories are mortal, and subject to death. The Odyssey and the Iliad marks the beginning of modern fictional literature.
The Utopians live a very simple lifestyle. They work, and in their spare time play games, read, and socialize. Other forms of entertainment, such as gambling and hunting are looked down upon. They only eat what is necessary, and their houses are built simply and furnished only with what is necessary. Thus, their consumption is very low. Utopians do not need material possessions for happiness. Happiness for them comes out of living an honest life and working hard to produce for themselves and for the entire nation.
Epicurus wrote, "We must also reflect that as far as desires are concerned, some are natural while others have no foundation; and that of the natural, some are necessary as well as natural and some are natural only." This illustrates his main philosophy, to do things only for pleasure and avoid all things that may cause pain. I feel this is extreme. For example, if someone was in a fire I would rescue that person despite the pain I may attain from the flames. Epicurus believes that pleasure is a queried through fulfilling desires. There are three types of desires natural necessary, natural unnecessary, and unnatural vain. He thinks natural necessary desires, such as food and sleep are the best kind to receive pleasure. On the other had unnatural vain desires, such as brand name clothes, can never be completely fulfilled so a person should ignore those wants. I agree with this, because it is best not to want things you cannot have. Natural unnecessary desires are considered avoidable. I do not see it as necessary to avoid, but perhaps acquired in moderation.
Stoicism is a perspective, philosophy, and practice that encourages a more peaceful and content life, free from material and physical wealth. While Stoicism is still practiced today, it began as a philosophy conceived in ancient Greece. To some, ancient Stoic ideas may seem outdated and old fashioned today, but many of them are still applicable in our daily lives and help us address the many challenges we face as humans. There are many pros to Stoicism – it encourages human responsibility, helps in dealing with life issues, and aids in leadership and self control. However, in almost everything, there are also a few cons – a lack of drive/empathy, breakdown of morality, mental and physical exhaustion – just to name a few. Some say Stoics are pessimistic and insensitive, while others imply that they are calm and stable people. However, before we explore the advantages and disadvantages of this controversial way of living, lets delve deeper into the actual definition of stoicism.