Epicurus Was Not a Hedonist | Pleasure, Death and Fear for Sleep

Vote on what comes next: https://www.slphilosophyradio.com/voteAlmost everyone has Epicurus wrong. The word “epicurean” has come to mean indulgence, luxury, and fine dining, but the real philosophy of Epicurus is almost the opposite: a quiet life, simple food, trusted friends, and freedom from fear. Fall asleep to the complete philosophy of Epicurus.In this episode, we trace the full arc of Epicurus’s life and ideas, beginning with a displaced young man on the island of Samos and ending with a philosophical vision that twenty-three centuries of persecution could not destroy. We explore his radical atomism, the physics that made his ethics possible. We examine his argument that the gods do not care about human affairs, and his claim that death is nothing to us. We unpack the most misunderstood concept in the history of philosophy: Epicurean pleasure, which turns out to be not indulgence but tranquility, the state the Greeks called ataraxia. We walk through the tetrapharmakos, the four-part cure for the diseases of the human mind. We enter the Garden, the community that admitted women and slaves as philosophical equals. We follow the miraculous survival of his ideas through Lucretius’s poem On the Nature of Things and a manuscript rediscovered in a German monastery in 1417. And we ask the question Epicurus leaves behind: what would it actually look like to live without fear?Please listen only in safe, restful contexts.(0:00:00) The Garden(0:16:31) Atoms and the Void(0:33:06) The Gods Do Not Care(0:49:22) Death Is Nothing to Us(1:05:03) Pleasure Without Excess(1:21:11) The Tetrapharmakos(1:37:10) Friendship and the Garden(1:53:23) The Poem That Saved the Philosophy(2:09:05) Two Thousand Years of Enemies(2:25:49) The Philosophy That Keeps ReturningSUGGESTED READINGEpicurus, “The Art of Happiness” (translated by George Strodach, Penguin Classics): https://amzn.to/41zguEvLucretius, “On the Nature of Things” (translated by A.E. Stallings, Penguin Classics): https://amzn.to/4entswFStephen Greenblatt, “The Swerve: How the World Became Modern”: https://amzn.to/4szpOmWEmily Austin, “Living for Pleasure: An Epicurean Guide to Life”: https://amzn.to/4cIM74KCatherine Wilson, “How to Be an Epicurean: The Ancient Art of Living Well”: https://amzn.to/4cbpXrJDiogenes Laertius, “Lives of the Eminent Philosophers” (translated by Pamela Mensch): https://amzn.to/48BAuu3These are affiliate links. At no extra cost to you, I earn a small commission if you purchase through them.ABOUT THIS CHANNELSleepy Philosophy Radio creates long-form philosophy content designed for rest and reflection. New episodes weekly. Subscribe and turn on notifications to never miss an episode.All research and writing is done personally.Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Tracks used: Anguish, Blue Feather, Evening Fall (Harp), Gregorian Chant, Heartbreaking, Lightless Dawn, Lone Harvest, Magic Forest, Mesmerize, Mourning Song, Oppressive Gloom, Promising Relationship, Quinn's Song: A New Man, Relent, Smoother Move, Sunset at Glengorm, Trio for Piano Cello and Clarinet, Wounded