Ryan Beale
Professor Jennifer Strickland
PHIL 1301
4 October 2017
Logic or Magic: What do you Believe? Throughout history, there have been many philosophical ways of life that were meant to enlighten their followers. From the Sophists, to Socrates, to Plato and his teachings, and to Aristotle’s teachings, philosophy advanced rapidly around the 6th century BCE. However, I will focus on the Epicurean and Stoic way of life. Although both ways of life have positives and negatives, though thorough research I have come to a realization that the Epicurean way of life is far superior to that of the Stoic way of life and hope to convince you the same way I too was convinced. The Stoic way of life is centered around finding happiness. To find it they, …show more content…
The main problem I have with the Stoic definition of pleasure that it doesn’t seem that pleasurable to me. The Stoics said to have happiness you must have wisdom and to have wisdom you must have apatheia, the absence of passion. For me personally, I view pleasure as going hand in hand with passion. To have pleasure in something means to be passionate about it or you wouldn’t find it pleasurable. My belief is almost the same as the Epicurean belief of pleasure, “…the absence of bodily pain and the gentle relaxation of the mind” (Boeree 105). Pleasure to me is relaxation of the mind and bodily pain isn’t pleasurable, so the Epicurean way of life is far superior when it comes to their view of what pleasure is. The other reason it is far superior to the Stoic way of life is their theory on creation. Stoics believe that the Universe had no beginning and has no end. They believe that the universe is simply always in flux with no end in sight. The Epicureans believe that the universe is made up of atoms that make up the four elements, earth, wind, water and fire, and once one of the elements becomes dominant is when the world will end. That way of creation is far superior because it is actually creation unlike the stoic belief that everything is just here by magic apparently and nothing dies. Any scholar would agree that Epicureanism is a far superior way of life because it is much more
Professor Jennifer Strickland
PHIL 1301
4 October 2017
Logic or Magic: What do you Believe? Throughout history, there have been many philosophical ways of life that were meant to enlighten their followers. From the Sophists, to Socrates, to Plato and his teachings, and to Aristotle’s teachings, philosophy advanced rapidly around the 6th century BCE. However, I will focus on the Epicurean and Stoic way of life. Although both ways of life have positives and negatives, though thorough research I have come to a realization that the Epicurean way of life is far superior to that of the Stoic way of life and hope to convince you the same way I too was convinced. The Stoic way of life is centered around finding happiness. To find it they, …show more content…
The main problem I have with the Stoic definition of pleasure that it doesn’t seem that pleasurable to me. The Stoics said to have happiness you must have wisdom and to have wisdom you must have apatheia, the absence of passion. For me personally, I view pleasure as going hand in hand with passion. To have pleasure in something means to be passionate about it or you wouldn’t find it pleasurable. My belief is almost the same as the Epicurean belief of pleasure, “…the absence of bodily pain and the gentle relaxation of the mind” (Boeree 105). Pleasure to me is relaxation of the mind and bodily pain isn’t pleasurable, so the Epicurean way of life is far superior when it comes to their view of what pleasure is. The other reason it is far superior to the Stoic way of life is their theory on creation. Stoics believe that the Universe had no beginning and has no end. They believe that the universe is simply always in flux with no end in sight. The Epicureans believe that the universe is made up of atoms that make up the four elements, earth, wind, water and fire, and once one of the elements becomes dominant is when the world will end. That way of creation is far superior because it is actually creation unlike the stoic belief that everything is just here by magic apparently and nothing dies. Any scholar would agree that Epicureanism is a far superior way of life because it is much more