Lucretius

If the ancient philosopher, Epicurus, gave the Sermon on the Mount, found in the New Testament, he would say: “Blessed are those who are untroubled and unperturbed, for they shall find serenity.” His enthusiastic follower, Lucretius, used his superb poetical gifts to draw his readers into the desire-reducing materialism of Epicureanism. He challenged others to live their lives by cultivating a balanced, peaceful way of being. Lucretius believed the attainment of this peace of mind was through a therapy of disenchantment from worldly desires, like wealth or fame, but in particular, the pursuit of love. In his famous work, De Rerum Natura, he calls the desires of lovers to be “storm-tossed” folly because it leads to terrible pains of longing…

Lucretius 's poem, On the Nature of Things, is one of the last remaining pieces of Epicurean literature that we can see some of Epicurus 's philosophy. Although it does not come from straight from Epicurus’s hand, it is assumed that Lucretius has a copy of Epicurus’s work Nature in front of him and commenting on it through this poem. When Lucretius talks about why one should not fear death he offers two arguments why one should fear death and then the counter argument. Of his two major…

debated amongst ancient philosophers such as Lucretius and Apuleius. Some say self is the innermost sense of a person, some say self represents one’s relationship with others and some say that the self is in fact and illusion. In the ancient Hellenistic period, self have been presented in the poem “De Rerum Natura” by Lucretius, as well as the novel “the Golden Ass” by Apuleius. Additionally, “nature or nurture”, the debate that have been going on for years discusses what the self is and where…

Patnaik Vikram Professor Wood LMC 3102 20 October 2014 Lucretius vs Sophocles: Contrasting theories for same problem Since ancient times, supernatural ideologies have been in constant clash with scientific ideologies to provide explanations for the creation of mankind and their behavior. While on one hand there exist theories where the earth and man were created in six days by God and the first woman was made from Adam’s rib, on the other hand science explains the creation of earth and mankind…

Death without question is inevitable, but is it bad for the person who dies? The shared account of Epicurus and Lucretius unravel this question, in the Philosophy and Death; there shared view is contrasted by the piece by Nagel. It is important to note that all three accounts are assuming the soul ceases to exist when the body perishes. Epicurus’ explanation is centered around death being nothing to humans because bad is centered around sense experience which death is the privation of ().…

Satre and Lucretius, as influential philosophers, present their arguments and ideas of how the world ought to be and how humans should exist within it. Both philosophers present their point of view, which directs and answers the questions humans face about the world, not in the sense or in the way that religion would answer certain questions, but in a way for people to understand their existence. Satre’s view of the world is different from the view of Lucretius on many levels. However, there are…

many years, philosophers have tried to distinguish the difference in having courage and having fear. Do the courageous have fear or do they just have a particular way of approaching fear? Death is an important factor that plays into courage because there are many courageous acts that one could take part in that could mean their ultimate demise. Can the courageous fear death or should they even fear death? Every day people are put into situations that can mean life or death. What does it truly…

a representative Epicurean philosopher, has provided an extensive description on human sexuality and a physiological interpretation of it. By offering a scientific explanation, Lucretius distinguishes between sexual pleasure and the purpose of human intercourse. He does not condemn sexual pleasure, but attempts to rationalize it as a way of releasing physical tensions without becoming obsessed with a single object of desire. Hence, appropriate manner of sex leads a life free of mental…

Death is life’s ending. While they may differ in views on death, both Lucretius and Aurelius have a similar idea that death shouldn’t be feared. Lucretius basically has the idea that the fear of death ruins everything in our lives or has the potential to do so. Marcus Aruelius believes that you should always live everyday as if it were your last day because death is natural. Lucretius views the world as a group of random atoms that were floating through space. On the contrary, Aurelius believes…

In his poem, On the Nature of Things, Lucretius aims to dispel our fear of death through the increased use of reason and knowledge rather than the authority we usually rely on to help make sense of death, which is ordinarily religion. However, rather than allay our fears about death, Lucretius argues that religion thrives off the fear of death and can even exacerbate that fear so that its followers believe that their own authority as the only possible answer. Lucretius’ poem offers a…