Are we so masochistic as a species that we crave to live with irrational and passionate feelings over a life free of pain and fear? The idea that we could live in serenity, maintaining a connection to nature and to live with ataraxia, the freedom from fear, and aponia, the freedom from pain. Lucretius stressed detaching from the basic drives that makes us no more than animals and to live in “equilibrium.” In class, this argument struck me, forcing me to question why we choose to live with the extreme emotions that cause havoc in our lives in an effort to be “happy.”
Easy. We would lose meaning. To search only for pleasure, or the absence of pain, we would not have a function as a species. As humans, we are naturally looking for stimulation, testing boundaries and thinking rationally. We want to provide a purpose for our lives, not just standby as we avoid pain.
Although in Epicureanism, they highlight that they have clinamen, or free will; however, they put pleasure above all other aspects in life. We would reject a world revolving solely on pleasure without any stimulation to experience extreme emotion. Although that means we can experience pain which we would undoubtedly face, we would never be able to reach our full potential. I enjoyed the reference Sam made during class as he talked about the Matrix. The idea that humans will revolt against a perfect world accurately describes why living based fully on pleasure would not sit well for us.
Focused on reason, Epicureans believe that emotions will only cause pain in the future. To not blindly commit yourself, you can remain rational and level-headed. They see love as a trap that only entangles you in “bondage.” They agree that death does not need to be feared because we would not exist to care. Like the stoics, they try and remain almost apathetic to situations that produce a large amount of fear for people. While I do not support the philosophy of Epicureanism, I can understand the temptation to be free of all suffering that is inevitable in life.
First of all, thanks for the shout out Theresa! I think the reason it is so hard for us to grasp and/or agree with the Epicurean stance is because of their definition of pleasure. For them, pleasure is not about the highs in life; it is about the absence of lows, ataraxia and aponia.. Most things that we consider pleasurable do not fit into the epicurean concept. Even things as basic and universal as sexual pleasure is criticized by Lucretius as transient and ultimately insatiable. When I first was presented with the Epicurean school of hedonism, I thought that they were hippies who thought the purpose of life is self gratification. It turns out that they are more like hermits because the only way to avoid negatives experiences would be to avoid people all together.
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