Hellenistic philosophy Flashcards
Epicureanism
the highest good is pleasure (hedone) - people are miserable and unhappy because they have fears and anxieties, the path to salvation is to see that these fears are baseless
atomists, there are only atoms bumping around in the void, there is no god
there is no reason to fear god, or death
We perceive pleasure to be good
Stoicism
live in accordance with nature - we study what there is, and this shows us that there is no gods or immortal soul - we don’t have to fear gods or death, we study nature in order to free ourselves of pain, which is to gain pleasure and this leads to happiness
Stoicism aren’t atomists, they think matter is continuous and is structured by god or reason
God or reason is something that is continuous with the physical world, it is not separate from it
According to stoic physics, there are theories on what there is, there is archai, matter, or logos, rational picture, it’s god, it’s mind, it’s something that rules everything
The whole cosmos is a living, rational animal
Stoics were determinists, they didn’t mean that we don’t have free will though
Living according to the stoics mean live in accordance with nature
The stoic sees how things work rationally in the world, and in line with nature
Figure out what nature is like so we can adjust ourselves accordingly
Given the nature of things, it is appropriate to choose health over sickness, we should choose these not because they are good, but because they are appropriate to you
Scepticism
withhold judgment
We should suspend judgment
Atomism
Nothing but atoms and void
There are indivisible atoms, eternally in motion
Even are souls are made like this
This is one reason we should not fear death, when we die, our soul perishes and dissipates with our body
Also no reason to fear gods, because they are just being happy, not concerned with morals
Epicurean Hedonism
There is a highest good, happiness, that we should strive for in everything that we do
The highest good is pleasure
The epicurean view, unlike our ordinary connotations of hedonism, epicurean hedonism. To achieve the most pleasure, we get it from acting virtuously
First argument: don’t accept all pleasures indiscriminately
Not all pleasures are alike
We can distinguish pleasures by which we don’t need to satisfy, the pleasures you could do without are more trouble than they are worth
Some desires are natural, some are groundless, some natural desires are necessary and some are merely natural
Not all pleasures are alike, some are going to bring more harm than good and won’t be all that pleasant in the end
Types of pleasures:
Necessary and natural - we need to satisfy, or else we will have pain or die
Of those natural pleasures, some are necessary, such as drinking water
Unnecessary but natural: don’t need to satisfy these, if it’s easy and doesn’t lead to pain then go ahead
Unnatural: based on groundless opinion - e.g that honor is important
Katastematic pleasures - freedoms from disturbance and freedom from suffering
Kinetic pleasures and active pleasures - joy and delight
It’s awareness of the absence of pain and that is the highest pleasure
Katastematic pleasures
Ataraxia: mental calmness, calm pleasure, absence of inner turmoil (and not intense states of positive pleasure)
Aponia: freedom from bodily pain
Physics
Atomism - the swerve
happiness/the aim we aim at is nothing but the awareness of pleasure, but that doesn’t mean we are constantly seeking pleasure, but pleasure may seem to be more like calm
Ethics
Hedonism
Different kinds of desires, different kinds of pleasures
The virtuous life is the prudent, practical person’s life leads to the most happiness
Virtue is just the means to a pleasant life
Sober calculation which searches out the reasons for every choice and avoidance and drives out the opinions which are the source of the greatest turmoil
Prudence is the principle of all things
Cradle argument
Infants naturally pursue what is pleasant/avoid the painful. This suggests that we are born for a life of pleasure, and pleasure is ‘natural’ to us
Pleasure is a thing that without a doubt, we can see that it is good
This is a part of the empiricist picture
Empiricism epistemology:
All perceptions are true = feelings (of pleasure and pain) are sense perceptions (what we see, hear, touch) are incorrigible (we cannot be wrong)
Perception is the criterion of truth
If all sense perceptions are true, how can you believe that and believe in atomism
Well they allow that it is ok to reason to non-evident things, like the existence of atoms, such non-evident things cannot be confirmed by perception, you can believe them as long as there is nothing that is disconfirming them
We perceive pleasure to be good - therefore, pleasure is good, and we should pursue it
God is an indestructible and blessed animal, in accordance with the general conception of god commonly held, and does not ascribe to god anything foreign to his indestructibility or repugnant to his blessedness.
The pronouncements of the many about the gods are not basic grasps but false suppositions
No providential gods
- We have a basic conception (basic grasp - prolepsis) of what a god/divine being is like
- Including in our basic grasp of divine being would be something such as being blessed
- Nothing is blessed if it is troubled
- And the gods would be troubled if they paid any attention to our petty doings
- So, gods are indifferent to us humans
Death is nothing to us
For what is dispersed does not perceive, and what does not perceive is nothing ot us
Don’t fear death
The dead have no sensations
The only bad thing is pain, which you can only experience through sensations
Therefore, there is nothing bad about being dead
Lucretius’s symmetry argument:
Look back at the eternity that passed before we were born, and mark how utterly it counts to us as nothing. This is a mirror that nature holds up to us, in which we may see the time that shall be after we are dead
It is irrational to fear death because it is irrational to fear what is not bad for you
Fourfold remedy or fourfold cure
Tetrapharmakon
A list of things you have to repeat until you truly believe it
Don’t fear god
Death is nothing to worry about
What’s good is easy to acquire
What’s terrible is easy to endure
Skepticism
Pyrrhonian Skepticism
Pyrrho of Elis - no written work, only testimonies
Timon of Philus
Aenesidemus
Aggripa
Sextus Empiricus - outlines of pyrrhonism, against the mathematicians
Pyrrho of Elis - when Pyrrho went to India, he accompanied someone who was friends with Alexander
