Welcome to Unit 3, where we begin our study of the Hellenistic period of Greco-Roman philosophy! In this first part of Lecture 7, we consider what was distinctive about Hellenistic philosophy in comparison with the philosophy of the Classical period. We then discuss the Greek philosopher Epicurus and the school he founded, which lasted almost 500 years. Our focus in this video will be on the fundamental principles of Epicureanism, particularly in metaphysics and epistemology, found in Epicurus’ Letter to Herodotus, where he argues for a materialist understanding of reality.
This video, the second part of Lecture 7, continues our study of Epicureanism in Unit 3. Following up on the last video and our discussion of Epicurus’ views in metaphysics and epistemology, we turn in this lecture to Epicurean psychology. After examining Epicurus’ views on the nature of the human soul, we discuss two of the cornerstone principles of the tetrapharmakon or “fourfold remedy” that Epicureanism prescribes for living well: that we have nothing to fear with respect to the gods and nothing to fear with respect to death.
We continue our study of Epicureanism in this video, focusing in this first part of Lecture 8 on Epicurean ethics. After recapping Epicurus’ views on the gods and death, we investigate the details of his hedonistic conception of eudaimonia in his Letter to Menoeceus and the Principal Doctrines, where pleasure (viewed as the absence of pain) is the goal of the good life. Instead of a license for self-indulgence, this is best seen as an enlightened form of hedonism: an ethics of frugality and tranquility that focuses on “static” rather than “kinetic” pleasures. This video concludes by discussing the Epicureans’ views on the role of friendship in human well-being.
This video, the second part of Lecture 8, concludes our study of Epicureanism. We consider here the influence of a later Epicurean thinker in the Hellenistic period, the Roman philosopher and poet Lucretius, who puts Epicurean philosophy into verse in his monumental poem De Rerum Natura. After that, we address the relationship between virtue and pleasure in Epicureanism, and explore some possible problems for the school’s approach to the good life.
