Impact of randomness on our lives

Letter to Menoeceus

Contra the Stoics, Epicurus is attuned to the ways in which randomness effects our lives.

"Some things happen by necessity, others as the result of chance; other things are subject to our control."

"In few instances does chance intrude upon the wise man, but reason has administered his greatest and most important affairs..."

- Epicurus

Bad things happen, but if you are living your life virtuously, then you'll be able to handle it.

Pleasantly, wisely, virtuously, justly

"Prudence teaches us how impossible it is to live pleasantly without living wisely, virtuously, and justly, just as we cannot live wisely, virtuously and justly without living pleasantly."

- Epicurus

Freedom from mental anguish

Letter to Menoeceus

"Genuine Pleasure

When we say that pleasure is the goal, we are not talking about the pleasure of profligates or that which lies in sensuality, as some ignorant persons think, or else those who do not agree with us or have followed our argument badly; rather it is freedom from bodily pain and mental anguish."

or

"The just man is most free of perturbation, while the unjust man is full of the greatest disturbance."

- Epicurus

Note "freedom from...mental anguish" as a primary goal of Epicurian philosophy. Why cultivate the virtues of prudence and justice? Because exercising these virtues produces freedom from mental anguish. We don't do it to please the gods. We do it so we can live with ourselves.

Tetrapharmakos

Don't fear god,
Don't worry about death;
What is good is easy to get, and
What is terrible is easy to endure.

What is terrible is easy to endure

Epicurus asserts that pain might be either intense or chronic, but is unlikely to be both. He says we have great ability to tolerate pain, for pain is almost always broken up by spells of pleasure (the absence of pain). And the worst part of pain is the anxiety that future pain will be unbearable (which it won't).

Death is nothing

Letter to Menoeceus

"Grow accustomed to the belief that death is nothing to us, since every good and evil lie in sensation. However, death is the deprivation of sensation. Therefore, correct understanding that death is nothing to us makes a mortal life enjoyable, not by adding an endless span of time but by taking away the longing for immortality."

- Epicurus

The gods just aren't really paying attention to us...

Epicurus has an attractive formulation about the gods - they probably exists, but they don't pay attention to the affairs of men or the operation of nature - and about natural science: that without an understanding of natural science, how nature actually works, one is condemned to a lifetime fear of the gods.

"It is impossible for anyone to dispel his fear over the most important matters, if he does not know what is the nature of the universe but instead suspects something that happens in myth. Therefore, it is impossible to obtain unmitigated pleasure without natural science."

- Epicurus