Epicureanism_And_Stoicism

Epicureanism And Stoicism The Stoics and Epicureans date from the Hellenistic period (ca. 323 BC - 31 BC), and both schools were heavily influenced by the philosophy of Socrates. The Epicurean mission was to live virtuously in a wicked world. They advocated a simple, quiet, reclusive, sensible life of moderation among friends, avoiding extravagant worldly attractions and bringing no trouble on others. A wise person was one who exhibits rational self-control, subordinating excessive impulses and emotion-laden desires to the law of reason. The Epicureans were suspicious of overly artful or sophisticated intellectual debates; they preferred ordinary language and relied only on sense impressions to establish what we perceive or know. The Epicureans sought a life of pleasure -- that is, minimal pain and maximum peace of mind -- by rejecting external goods and pursuing true and lasting internal qualities such as justice, honor, and wisdom. Epicurus said there are four basic truths: (1) there are no divine beings to threaten us; (2) there is no next life; stoics, life, reason, rational, epicureans, virtue, universal, things, seen, philosophy, others, order, nature, logos, ideal, humans, human, highest, easy, debates, bc, zeno, worldly, world, wise, wisdom, wicked, virtuously, virtuous, turn, truths, trump, true, trouble, three