• This section is under construction. For a much better formatted version of this document with working hyperlinks, see www.NewEpicurean.com.

  • This version of Gassendi’s Life and Doctrine of Epicurus comes from Volume III of Thomas Stanley’s 1660 History of Philosophy .” Please note that this version contains numerous typos, and should be checked against the PDF of the original herePDF of the original here . [Note re the PDF version: In Gassendi's day the Herculaneaum busts of Epicurus had not been recovered, and apparently Stanley – or his publisher – was not aware of Epicurus’ true appearance. The etching of Epicurus at the beginning of this book is not an accurate depiction of Epicurus.]

It should also be remembered when reading Gassendi’s commentary that he was a priest, and his statements and interpretations should be treated with caution necessarily associated with such a point of origin. Gassendi is attempting to put as “christianized” a face as possible on Epicurus. As stated on Wikipedia, “His best known intellectual project attempted to reconcile Epicurean atomism with Christianity.”

Beginning in 1645, Gassendi was chair of mathematics at the Royal College in Paris, and his position almost certainly was subject to scrutiny by the church. Wikipedia also cites the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy for the proposition that “There remains some controversy as to the extent to which Gassendi subscribed to the so-called libertinage érudit, the learned free-thinking that characterised the Tétrade, the Parisian circle to which he belonged, along with Gabriel Naudé and two others (Élie Diodati and François de La Mothe Le Vayer). Gassendi, at least, belonged to the fideist wing of the sceptics, arguing that the absence of certain knowledge implied the room for faith.”

It is in epistemology, however, rather than ethics, that Norman DeWitt’s “Epicurus and His Philosophy” contains an important criticism of Gassendi:

“It is an even worse mistake to have confused the tests of truth with the content of truth, that is, the tools of precision with the stones of the wall. This was the blunder of Pierre Gassendi, who revived the study of Epicurus in the seventeenth century. It was his finding “that there is nothing in the intellect which has not been in the senses.” From this position John Locke, in turn, set out as the founder of modern empiricism. Thus a misunderstanding of Epicurus underlies a main trend of modern philosophy. This astonishing fact begets an even greater concern for a correct interpretation, which may cause Locke to appear slightly naive.” … The mistake of Gassendi, to which Locke fell a prey, was in confusing the test of knowledge with the source of knowledge. Epicurus based his Ethics upon his Physics and as a basis of his Physics he laid down the Twelve Elementary Principles, derived chiefly from his predecessors, the truth of which he made no pretence of deriving from sensation. Moreover, the test of the truth of all inferential conclusions was not single but triple, Sensations, Anticipations (innate ideas), and Feelings. The mind of the newborn infant, so far from seeming to him a blank tablet, was thought to have dimly inscribed upon it, as the venous system is outlined in the embryo, the patterns of the thoughts of the mature man. Locke’s theory of cognition, compared to that of Epicurus, is naive.”

As further evidence of this caution, it is useful to compare Gassendi’s statements regarding Epicurean ethics with those presdented in the letter of Cosma Raimondi. Raimondi, even though writing two hundred years before Gassendi, is much more direct in describing how Epicurean philosophy contradicts Stoic and Platonic and Aristotelian positions, a conflict which is only implicit in the material that follows.

Tremendous thanks are owed to Ilkka V. for shouldering the great weight of getting the transcription to its current state.

TOP LEVEL TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. The Life of Epicurus

  2. The Doctrine of Epicurus

    • In General
    • The First Part of Philosophy, Canonick, of the Criteries
    • The Second Part of Philosophy, Physick, or, of Nature
    • The Third Part of Philosophy, Ethick, or Morals

COMPLETE TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Life of Epicurus

  • Chap 1. Epicurus – His Country, Parents, Brethren
  • Chap 2. The Time of His Birth
  • Chap 3. Where He Lived In His Younger Time
  • Chap 4. His Masters
  • Chap 5. When, and upon what occasion, he addicted himself to Philosophy, and instituted a Sect
  • Chap 6. His School
  • Chap 7. How He Lived With His Friends
  • Chap 8. His Friends And Disciples
  • Chap 9. How Much He Wrote
  • Chap 10. What Writings of His Are, Particularly, Mentioned By Authors
  • Chap 11. His Will
  • Chap 12. The Manner of His Death
  • Chap 13. The Time of His Death
  • Chap 14. How Dear His Memory Was To His Followers
  • Chap 15. With What Constancy, And Unanimity, the Succession of His School Flourished
  • Chap 16. The Successors and Followers of Epicurus
  • Chap 17. Laertius, His Vindication of Epicurus

The First Part of Philosophy — Canonick, of the Criteries

  • Chap 1. Of Truth and Its Criteries
  • Chap 2. Canons of Sense – The First Criteria
    • Canon 1 – Sense is Never Deceived, and therefore every sensation, and every perception of an appearance, is true.
    • Canon 2 – Opinion Follows Upon Sense, and is Superadded to Sensation, and Capable of Truth or Falsehood.
    • Canon 3 – All Opinion Attested, or not contradicted by the evidence of sense, is true
    • Canon 4 – An Opinion, Contradicted or Not Attested by Evidence of Sense, is False
  • Chap 3. Canons of Praenotion or anticipation, the Second Criteria
    • Canon 1 – All Anticipation or Praenotion which is in the mind depends on the senses, either by Incursion, or Proportion, or Similitude, or Composition
    • Canon 2 – Anticipation is the very notion, and (as it were) definition of the thing, without which, we cannot enquire, doubt, think, nor so much as name any thing
    • Canon 3 – Anticipation is the principle in all discourse, as being that to which we have regard, when we infer that one is the same or divers, conjoyned or disjoyned from another
    • Canon 4 – That which is unmanifest ought to be demonstrated out of the anticipation of a thing manifest
  • Chap 4. Canons of Affection of Passion; the Third Criteria
    • Canon 1 – All Pleasure which hath no pain joined with it is to be embraced
    • Canon 2 – All Pain, which hath no pleasure joined with it, is to be shunned
    • Canon 3 – All Pleasure, which either hindreth a greater Pleasure, or Procureth a Greater Pain, is to be Shunned
    • Canon 4 – All Pain, which either putteth away a greater pain, or procureth a greater Pleasure, is to be embraced
  • Chap 5. Canons Concerning the Use of Words
    • Canon 1 – When thou speakest, make use of words common and perspicuous, lest either thy meaning not be known, or thou unnecessarily waste time in explication
    • Canon 2 – When thou hearest, endeavor to comprehend the power and meaning of the words, lest either their obscurity keep thee in ignorance, or their ambiguity lead thee into error

The Second Part of Philosophy -– Physick , or, of Nature

  • Sect. 1 – Of the Universe, or the Nature of Things
    • Chap 1 – That the Universe Consists of Body and Vacuum, or Place
    • Chap 2 – That the Universe is Infinite, Immoveable, and Immutable
    • Chap 3 – Of the Divine Nature in the Universe.
    • Chap 4 – Of First Matter, Or, Of the Principles of Compound Things in the Universe
    • Chap 5 – That there are Atoms in Nature, Which are the Principles of Compound Bodies
    • Chap 6 – Of the Properties of Atoms; And First, of their Magnitudes
    • Chap 7 – Of the Figure of Atoms
    • Chap 8 – Of the Gravity (or Weight) and Manifold Motions of Atoms
    • Chap 9 – That Atomes (Not the Vulgar Elements or Homoiomera’s) Are the First Principles of Things
    • Chap 10 – Of the First, And Radicall Cause of Compounds, That Is, Of the Agent, Or Efficient
    • Chap 11 – Of Motion, Which is the Same With Action, Or Effection; And of Fortune, Fate, End, and Sympathetical and Antipathetical Causes
    • Chap 12 – Of the Qualities of Compound Things In Generall
    • Chap 13 – Qualities from Atoms Considered, According to their Substance, and Interception of Vacuum
    • Chap 14 – Qualities Springing from Atoms, Considered According to the Properties Peculiar to Each
    • Chap 15 – Qualities from Atoms, Considered According to their Properties, Taken Together
    • Chap 16 – Of Those Qualities Which Are Esteemed the Accidents of Things; and Particularly, of Time
    • Chap 17 – Of the Generation and Corruption of Compounds
    • Chap 18 – Whence it Comes, That A Generated Body Is in a Certain Kind of Things, And Distinguished From Other Things
  • Sect. 2 – Of the World
    • Chap 1 – Of the Form and Figure of the World
    • Chap 2 – Of the Late Beginning of the World
    • Chap 3 – Of the Cause of the World
    • Chap 4 – Of the Generation of the World
    • Chap 5 – Of the Vicissitudes In the World
    • Chap 6 – A Digression, Concerning Genii or Daemons
    • Chap 7 – Of the End or Corruption of the World
    • Chap 8 – Of Infinite Worlds
  • Sect. 3 – Of Inferiour Terrestriall Things
    • Chap 1 – Of the Earth Scituate In The Midle of the World
    • Chap 2 – Of Earth-quakes, and the Flames of Aetna
    • Chap 3 – Of the Sea, Rivers, Fountains, and the Over-flowing of the Nilus
    • Chap 4 – Of the Properties of Some Waters, and of Ice
    • Chap 5 – Of things Terrestriall Inanimate
    • Chap 6 – Of the Loadstone in Particular
    • Chap 7 – Of the Generation of Animals
    • Chap 8 – Of The Use of Parts In Animals
    • Chap 9 – Of the Soul, The Intrinsecall Form of Animals
    • Chap 10 – Of Sense in Generall, Which is the Soul (as it were) of the Soul
    • Chap 11 – Of Sight, And of the Images Which Glide Into It
    • Chap 12 – That Seeing is Perform’d By Means of Those Images
    • Chap 13 – Of Hearing
    • Chap 14 – Of Smelling
    • Chap 15 – Of Tasting
    • Chap 16 – Of Touching
    • Chap 17 – Of the Intellect, Mind, or Reason, and its Seat
    • Chap 18 – That the Soul Thinketh By Images, Which Glide Into It
    • Chap 19 – Of the Affections or Passions of the Soul
    • Chap 20 – Of Voluntary Motion, and Particularly, of speaking, and imposition of names
    • Chap 21 – Of Sleep and Dreams
    • Chap 22 – Of Death
  • Section 4 – Of Superiour Things, As Well Celestiall, As Aeriall
    • Chap 1 – Of the Substance and Variety of the Stars
    • Chap 2 – Of the Magnitude and Figure of the Stars
    • Chap 3 – How the Stars Move, Out-Run one Another, and Are Turned round
    • Chap 4 – Of the Rising and Setting of the Stars, and of the Alternate length of Dayes and Nights
    • Chap 5 -Of the Light of the Stars, and of the Changes and Spots in the Moon
    • Chap 6 – Of the Eclipses of the Stars, and Their Set Periods
    • Chap 7 – Of the Presignifications of the Stars
    • Chap 8 – Of Comets, And those which are called Falling Starrs
    • Chap 9 – Of Clouds
    • Chap 10 – Of the Wind And of Presters
    • Chap 11 – Of Thunder
    • Chap 12 – Of Lightning and Thunder-Claps
    • Chap 13 – Of Rain and Dew
    • Chap 14 – Of Hail, Snow, and Frost
    • Chap 15 – Of the Rain-bow, and Halos
    • Chap 16 – Of Avernall Places
    • Chap 17 – Of Pestilence

The Third Part of Philosophy – Ethick or Morals

  • Chap 1 – Of Felicity, Or the End of Good as Farre As Man Is Capable of It
  • Chap 2 – That Pleasure, Without Which there is no notion of Felicity, Is in Its Own Nature Good
  • Chap 3 – That Felicity Consists Generally in Pleasure
  • Chap 4 – That the Pleasure, Wherein Consists Felicity, Is Indolence of Body, and Tranquility of Mind
  • Chap 5 – Of the Means To Procure this Felicity; and of Virtues the Chiefe
  • Chap 6 – Of Right-Reason and Free-Will, From Which The Vertues Have All Their Praise
  • Chap 7 – Of the Vertues In General
  • Chap 8 – Of Prudence in General
  • Chap 9 – Private Prudence
  • Chap 10 – Domestick Prudence
  • Chap 11 – Civill Prudence
  • Chap 12 – Of Temperance in Generall
  • Chap 13 – Of Sobriety Opposite to Gluttony
  • Chap 14 – Of Continence, Opposite to Lust
  • Chap 15 – Of Meeknesse, Opposite to Anger
  • Chap 16 – Of Modesty, Opposite to Ambition
  • Chap 17 – Of Moderation, Opposite to Avarice
  • Chap 18 – Of Mediocrity, Betwixt Hope and Despair of the Future
  • Chap 19 – Of Fortitude In Generall
  • Chap 20 – Of Fortitude, As To Fear Of the Gods
  • Chap 21 – Of Fortitude, As to Fear of Death
  • Chap 22 – Of Fortitude Against Corporeall Pain
  • Chap 23 – Of Fortitude, Against Discontent of Mind
  • Chap 24 – Of Justice In Generall
  • Chap 25 – Of Jus (Right) or Just, Whence Justice Is Denominated
  • Chap 26 – Of The Originall of Right And Just
  • Chap 27 – Between Whom, Right And Justice Is To Be Exercised
  • Chap 28 – With What Right Justice Is To Be Exercised
  • Chap 29 – Of Beneficence, Gratitude, Piety, Observance
  • Chap 30 – Of Friendship
  • Chap 31 – Wherein Epicurus, Asserting Pleasure To Be The Ultimate Good, Differs From The Cyrenaicks

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