POST 2: EPICURUS VS EPICTETUS

Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 14:52:07

epicurus' ethical theory stems from his belief that "nothing is created out of nothing." epicurus sees that fear of death is one thing that deprives one from happiness, but he has a solution to this: epicurus believes that death is merely a "deprivation of sensation." he believes that what people consider painful is actually not death itself, but the anticipation of it. but since death "gives no trouble when it comes," then it is nothing "but an empty pain in anticipation." for epicurus, death itself is nothing to be feared since it "does not concern either the living or the dead;" for the living, death has yet to come, and therefore is non-existent; while being dead simply implies non-existence, thus for the dead, death is "no more."

epicurus' conception of pain and pleasure is quite a unique one; he thinks that both pain and pleasure must coexist, with pain existing in order for one to enjoy greater pleasure. but this could also work the other way around, for if many pleasures result in "greater discomfort," we tend to avoid the pleasure. this is similar to not going to a party to completely get yourself wasted because you want to avoid a four-day hangover. then, in order for one to understand which pleasures to choose and which to avoid, one should understand the nature of one's desires, which he goes into detailed discussion in section six. an ethical person is then, according to epicurus, one who understands his desires such that he can rationally choose his actions so they will result in more pleasure than pain.

epictetus' view on ethics is quite different from that of epicurus. while epicurus thinks the gods do not "interfere in the events of nature" and that one must first acquire an understanding of his desires so he can choose proper actions that maximize his pleasures and minimize his pains, epictetus seems to think that human beings live in the "universal city of god" and they each have their own functions and duties toward others. epictetus practices stoicism in his ethical theory, and uses it as a foundation for his theory. for epictetus, human beings have the faculty to control his desires; will. this is essential in achieving happiness. he considers will as a faculty given by god, a faculty that is "superior to them all, which uses them, proves them, estimates the value of each." for epictetus, will is the most superior of all faculties, for he claims it to be "nothing beyond itself, only its own perversion."

the idea of will in epictetus' ethical theory is then significant, since he considers events to be of two different kinds; the first one being events that are within our power and the other one being those beyond our power. this stems from epictetus' belief that everyone has duties and functions toward others since god plays a significant role in life. there are some events that god lets us decide by ourself which course of action to take, but there are also events that are inevitable, and since they have been pre-arranged by god, there is nothing we can do to change the course of these events. an ethical person is then, according to epictetus, one with a disciplined mind (possibly practicing stoicism) that he is able to differentiate which events he has control of and which he has no control of, and is able to fully control the ones within his power, and able to act indifferent to the ones beyond his power.

while epicurus seems to be expressing the idea that happiness can be achieved if one is able to maximize pleasure and minimize pain, epictetus sees that happiness can only be achieved by a disciplined mind that can act indifferent to events that are beyond one's power. epictetus's ethical theory seems more influenced by his belief in god and his stoicism, while epicurus, though not denying divine existence, leaves out divine intervention out from his theory. for epictetus, as long as one understands god, no event can result in pain, so there is no need to minimize pain like what epicurus proposes in his theory.