Can You Provide A Simplified Outline of The Most Important Principles Of The Epicurean System?

    This thread is for discussion of the FAQ entry here.

    Can You Provide A Simplified Outline of The Most Important Principles Of The Epicurean System?

    1. The Universe Operates on Natural Principles And There Are No Supernatural Gods
      1. Gods Are Never Observed to Create Something From Nothing Or Destroy Anything to Nothing
      2. The Universe Operates Through Natural Processes Based On Combinations Of Matter And Void
      3. The Universe As A Whole Is Eternal And Was Never Created From Nothing
      4. The Universe Is Infinite In Size And There Are No "Gods" Outside Of it
      5. True Gods Would Be Self-Sufficient And Would Not Meddle In the Affairs Of Men
    2. There Is No Life After Death
      1. All Things In The Universe Which Come Together Eventually Break Apart
      2. The Soul Is Born With The Body And Cannot Survive Without It
      3. Death Is The End of All Sensation, And There Is No Consciousness Without Sensation
      4. There Is After Death No Heaven or Hell For Reward or Punishment
      5. Life Is Short And Therefore Our Time Is Too Precious To Waste
    3. The Standards of Truth Are the Senses, The Anticipations, and the Feelings, Assisted By Reason
      1. He Who Argues That Nothing Can Be Known Contradicts His Own Argument
      2. Reasoning Is Based On The Senses And Is Not Valid Without Them
      3. The Sensations Are Without Reason, Incapable of Memory, And Do Not Inject Error Through Opinion
      4. The Reality Of Separate Sensations Is the Guarantee of The Truth Of Our Senses
      5. Not Only Reason, But Life Itself, Fails Unless We Have the Courage To Trust The Senses
    4. The Guide of Life is Pleasure
      1. Pleasure, Along With Pain, Is A Feeling, One Of The Three Standards Of Truth
      2. Pleasure and Pain Include All Types of Physical And Mental Experiences
      3. The Mental Pleasures And Pains Are Frequently More Intense Than The Physical
      4. Feelings Of Pleasure Are Desirable And Serve As The Guide of Life
      5. Pain Is To Be Avoided But Is Accepted For The Sake of Greater Pleasure Or Lesser Pain
    5. The Goal of Life Is Happiness -
      1. Happiness Is a Life In Which Pleasure Predominates Over Pain
      2. If We Have Happiness We Have All We Need; If We Lack Happiness We Do Everything To Gain It
      3. There Is No Absolute Virtue, Piety, Reason, Or Justice To Serve As the Goal of Life
      4. Virtue, Piety, Reason and Justice Are Valuable Only Insofar As They Bring Happiness
      5. All Actions Are To Be Judged According To Whether They Bring Happiness

  • Cassius December 9, 2018 at 10:58 AM

    Changed the title of the thread from “Can You Provide A Simplified Outline of The Most Important Principles Of The Entire Epicurean System?” to “Can You Provide A Simplified Outline of The Most Important Principles Of The Epicurean System?”.

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