Epicureans believe in hedonism, which means that pleasure is only good. So basically, if you are experiencing pain or suffering then you can not be fully happy. A certain amount of this is very true but what about those are suffering but they are happy spiritually?
Also, Epicureans believe that Gods should not reward humans. So, they live a normal life, trying to avoid pain and suffering, without getting any rewards. This is where I highly disagree. Humans only do things to get rewards or some type of recognition. So to live in a world where no one is rewarded for their efforts is hard to believe.
Living without getting rewards is does not make life fun. So do the Epicurean people think their life is meaningless. If so they should just kill themselves. The purpose of life is to have a happy life, and without rewards, how happy can life be for epicureans? Wouldn't you say that life without benefits is not a happy life to begin with.
The reward for an Epicurean avoiding pain and suffering is pleasure. For them the absence of suffering is pleasure, it might not be the best but it is better than the opposite. The suicidal thoughts of the Epicureans was also based on if they could not live freely as if under a tyranny then it would be better to commit suicide than to live oppressed. The Epicureans believed that the Gods did not punish or reward.
ReplyDeleteThe reward for an Epicurean avoiding pain and suffering is pleasure. For them the absence of suffering is pleasure, it might not be the best but it is better than the opposite. The suicidal thoughts of the Epicureans was also based on if they could not live freely as if under a tyranny then it would be better to commit suicide than to live oppressed. The Epicureans believed that the Gods did not punish or reward.
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