Misconceptions about Epicurean Philosophy

Introduction

Epicurean philosophy is often giving the wrong view even by many people who study it, thanks to the efforts of the people over at the Epicurean sites listed below I can correct some of the misconceptions. If I come across more, this will be updated.

A collection of misconceptions

• Misconception

"An epicurean is just a foody, right"

Sure an (e)picuran is but a (E)picurean isn't.

"The pleasant life is not produced by continual drinking and dancing, nor sexual intercourse, nor rare dishes of sea food and other delicacies of a luxurious table. On the contrary, it is produced by sober reasoning which examines the motives for every choice and avoidance, driving away beliefs which are the source of mental disturbances."

• Misconception

“Epicureanism is just debauched hedonism, as long as pleasure is met it doesn’t matter the amount of pain which follows from it, they are like sociopaths”

Epicurean philosophy is certainly a hedonistic philosophy but not debauched at all, Epicurus thought that the virtue of prudence was the most valuable thing in a hedonists arsenal, he even considers prudence more valuable than philosophy

(the above image was chosen to represent the Salmon of knowledge, a fish that when eaten grants the eater knowledge of the world, just to throw in a bit of Irish mythology) 

• Misconception

“Epicureanism is pretty much the same as Stoicism, the believe in Virtue and think absence of pain is the sole good”

In the future I fully intend to create a blog post which is primarily about the differences between the two Hellenistic school but for now I will keep it short.

Both schools came in to being around the same time and in the same country, both schools have some form of virtue and both schools are following “nature”. The differences however are many which are listed below

Issue	Stoicism	Epicureanism
Sole Good	Virtue is the only good	Pleasure is the only good
Sole Evil	Vice is the only evil	Pain is the only evil
Lineage	Socrates	Democritus (kind of)
Method of achieving goal	Dichotomy of Control, practical wisdom and contemplation	Individualistic but also values practical wisdom. Friendship, discussion of philosophy – anything which causes pleasure (with minimal pain)
Key Terms	Eudaimonia – Eudaimonia is for a Stoic “a life worth living” as long as you a Stoic can practice Virtue their life is worth living Preferred Indifferent – Things not related to Virtue but still are valuable to you Dispreferred Indifferent – Things not related to Virtue that you prefer not to have in your life	Ataraxia – The absence of pain – This is where the body is full of pleasure that pain can no longer appear.
Views of the world (mainly unimportant to Stoics but is important to Epicureans) and after life	The Ancient Stoics viewed the world as rational, dictated by nature/Zeus	The ancient Epicureans viewed the world as everlasting, atomistic and random