Menoeceus Vs Epicurus

433 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: The philosophy of epicurus essay

Early in the letter, Epicurus states that is never too early or late to learn. In the to letter Menoeceus, Epicurus explains that Menoeceus should live his life according to certain doctrines that Epicurus created. By doing so, Epicurus informs Menoceus that if he does follow these principles, then his life will be full of happiness and pleasure. Epicurus includes that maintaining the goal in life is to seek pleasure, and the avoid pain. Epicurus seems to push his views about the nature and the value of life, specifically talking about death. Epicurus argues that it is irrational to fear death because it does not harm you, so why fear what cannot harm or cause you pain. Epicurus believes that only pleasure and pain can define a person’s life,

Show More
Related

  • A Comparison of The Aeneid and Metamorphoses

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    This gives the readers a clue that what is to happen in the upcoming text is a

    Read More

  • Telemachus And Menelaus In The Odyssey

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    Telemachus and Pisistratus arrive at Sparta. When they arrive Menelaus is hosting a double wedding feast for his son and daughter. Then, Menelaus serves Telemachus and Pisistratus food. Telemachus is amazed by Menelaus of how he takes care of the palace. Menelaus tells him a story that he has been wandering the sea for seven years and discovered that his brother Agamemnon was murdered. He also shared Telemachus that he lost a lot of friends during the Trojan war. He was deeply sudden with all these discoveries and realizes that it is better to stay home with his family and with his people by living honorably in Sparta. That is why the city of Sparta is well take care of because of his stay and ruling. Menelaus is satisfied with his city. Then, Menelaus talked about Odysseus and how he misses him so much and Telemachus cries. The room was quiet then Helen, Menelaus’s wife walks

    Read More

  • Aeneid vs. Odyssey

    2152 Words  | 5 Pages

    are followed and proper respect given the gods, it is possible for man to live

    Read More

  • Seneca: On Grief for Lost Friends (Letter LXIII)

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ing Lucilius not to do. From personal experience, Seneca has learned that because Fortune both gives and takes, “fate [does not pay] any regard to seniority!” (Seneca, paragraph 6). Death does not wait for old age, but rather subtly takes away when it pleases. Due to this, everyone is “liable to death as we are ourselves” (Seneca, paragraph 6). In addition, because liability does not follow any “rules”, anything can happen on any given day. This should give us more of a reason to reach out and create many more bonds and prevent grief from allowing us to reach “enlightenment” (Seneca, paragraph 5). To conclude his letter, Seneca leaves Lucilius with the idea that soon someday meet with the same ends as Flaccus, without denying the idea of another world after the physical world, as foretold by “sages” where those supposedly dead have gone on ahead in wait for others.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Death In De Rerum Natura By Lucretius

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    Man 's thoughts of death and eventual oblivion is mainly concerned with “whose subject he would be in life or death,/ Which doom, by land or sea, would strike him down” (Lucretius, “Death,” 150). This idea of death in the mind of a stoic is a predetermined one. It something that cannot be changed. You will achieve your end as it is innately yours and cannot be swayed. While, in keeping with epicurean thought, Lucretius is urging us to realize that it does not matter which evils you face in life and by which doom you meet your end, as long as it was in pursuit of your highest good, happiness. Without life you can never have an potential that existence brings. Life entails hardship for man and “he must be there,/ Himself, to feel its evil, but since death/ Removes this chance, and by injunction stops/ All rioting of woes against our state” (Lucretius, “Death,” 151). This promise of serenity in death is the epicurean promise, and it reveals that death will be the point at which you come nearest to your ultimate and highest happiness, all of which would be utterly impossible without first living and experiencing the due evils of

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Free Will In Oedipus The King

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tiresias’s comment, “How terrible—to see the truth when the truth is only pain to him who sees” (359-360) suggests that the “truth” is already set in stone; all that is left is for the people involved with the truth to decide how they will handle with the truth. Oedipus’ later response to the truth confirms this. When the Chorus says, “How can I say you’ve chosen for the best? Better to die than be alive and blind” (1497-1498), Oedipus replies, “What I did was best—don’t lecture me, no more advice. I, with my eyes, how could I look my father in the eyes when I go down to death?” (1499-1502) and “My troubles are mine and I am the only man alive who can sustain them” (1548-1549). Instead of committing suicide to end his misery, Oedipus chooses to continue living because of his belief that he can sustain his pain. Sophocles makes it evident that this is by Oedipus’ choice rather than Apollo’s dictation, therefore demonstrating that characters have freedom over their reactions. Through the inclusion of such dialogue, Sophocles shows that characters still have true free will, though in a small

    Read More

  • Comparing The Infernal Machine and Oedipus Rex

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    The myth of Oedipus’s incest and parricide has been retold many different times. The basic story line has remained the same. Oedipus leaves Corinth to try to escape a fate of incest and parricide. After he leaving the city, he ends up saving Thebes from the Sphinx, becoming king of the city and in the process fulfilling the prophecy. The character of Oedipus changes in each play to help support a different meaning to the entire myth. Cocteau’s The Infernal Machine and Sophocles’s Oedipus the King are both centered on the myth, yet their themes are different. By changing Oedipus’s personality, motive, relationship with Jocasta, his mother and wife, and his character development Cocteau makes his theme the idea that the gods simply play with humans, instead of like Sophocles’s theme that man can not escape his own fate.

    Read More

  • Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...his life, Oedipus gained wisdom. He knows now that every mortal must suffer. No one can escape it.

    Read More

  • Epicurus Fear Of Death

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    Epicurus claims that one should not fear death because “Death, the most frightening of bad things, is nothing to us; since when we exist death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist” (Letter to Menoeceus, 125). Death might be alarming to an individual because they do not know what to expect, or fear that they will not meet expectations. Epicurus states that when one dies, they no longer exist. If one no longer exists then being dead is not bad, and if being dead was bad, one would not exist to experience it. Therefore death

    Read More

  • Thrasymachus Vs Hobbes

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    The concept of justice has been a crucial factor in determining governments and the structure of society. In this essay I will argue two thinkers, Thrasymachus and Hobbes, as represented in the writings of The Republic, by Plato and Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes divergent ideas on justice.

    Read More

  • Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (the King) and Seneca’s Oedipus

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    Contrary to Sophocles’ Oedipus that was written to the Greeks, a peaceful and wise audience, Seneca’s Oedipus was written to the Romans, a militaristic and violent community.  Seneca successfully appeals to the elements of Roman literature; therefore, Edith Hamilton in The Roman Way calls him the “Father of sentimental drama.”  Seneca wrote the play in around 50 AD about 480 years after Sophocles’ production.  The Roman audience responded to a melodramatic plot rather than the tragic theme of the former Oedipus.  Seneca, in rewriting the play Oedipus makes significant adjustments to suit the Roman audience, particularly plot and style changes.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Suffering In Oedipus The King

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through hardships and unpleasant struggles a man is forged, hardened, and tempered. He only see this truth after he has suffered. Looking back, he realizes it was all a part of a design greater than himself to serve an end goal or purpose. In the tale of Oedipus the King, Sophocles explores the issues of man’s unescapable fate and the enlightenment brought upon by suffering. Unaware of his fate and deceived by the illusion of freewill, Oedipus’s journeys reveal his true purpose as an instrument of the Gods: a lash of punishment, not only to himself for those who surround him.

    Read More

  • Ethics Of Epicurus Essay

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ethics of Epicurus basically state that the only thing valuable in a person’s life is pleasure. He also states that some pleasures can lead to pain. In order to not have painful pleasures, we need to judge our desires in the right way. Epicurus also realized that we do not know what we really need. What we want is not what we really need. Epicurus thought that the goal of life would be to pursue a life with friends, having freedom, and analyzing one’s life. Those three things would lead to happiness. He thought that pursuing the pleasure of always eating with a friend would fulfill his soul. He wanted to be free and self-sufficient which would satisfy his desire to be free. Lastly, he thought that we should reflect on our worries in order to realize why our souls are not at rest. He thought those three things would lead to the healthiest soul.

    Read More

  • Life of Leisure

    673 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • True Prudence Essay

    739 Words  | 2 Pages

    After people realize their dream, they can get real pleasures in life. According to Great traditions in ethics, Epictetus advocates the life of self-control. (55) However, he also contains that it belongs to a wise man to resist pleasure; and to a fool to be enslaved by it. He thinks no event is terrible when viewed by the disciplined mind. (56) Epictetus’s thinking contradicts Epicurus’s idea. Epicurus maintain that mot all the pleasure is immoral, and all the troubles and failures in the way of pursuing dream are not painful. A real prudent person has the ability to distinguish what the true pleasures exists in life and what the false indulgence is. Self-control and self- discipline are crucial elements for being prudent, but being self-control should also be able to enjoy the real pleasure existing in life. Being prudent does not means eliminating all the pleasure, and it more wisely to make every

    Read More

More about Menoeceus Vs Epicurus

Open Document