Lucretius

spending a few weeks in a Benedictine monastery hunting around the dusty shelves of its great library when difficulty note makes one of the great discoveries of the whole Renée sauce he comes across what still remains the only surviving manuscript Lucretius the river mature on the nature of things…

of the dead person, they believe that we only have one life and once we die all that is left in the world is the makeup of our bodies, there can be no further existence and the only way to remember them is through the memories shared with them (Lucretius (c95-55 BCE) On the Nature of the Universe) . For humanists the world exists…

Introduction What is Naturalism? Naturalism is a philosophical approach that considers just the presence of nature, consequently things that are heavenly, similar to phantoms, divine beings and spirits, are non-existent. It supports the idea that the most ideal way to prove something to be factual is through the scientific method. Scientific methods are used in order to discover and find answers to problems and issues of the society. The steps to be considered are the following.…

What, in life, is the ultimate good that humans should strive for? Is it happiness? If so, what is happiness? Is happiness synonymous with pleasure, or does happiness refer to something else? The answers to these questions lie at the heart of a debate within Greek moral philosophy, where a particular school of thought—Hedonism—holds that the ultimate good is happiness, and that happiness is itself synonymous with pleasure. We will examine the doctrine of Hedonism, highlighting its key tenets and…

Alfred Tennyson’s attitude towards nature and human life Tennyson’s poetry can be seen in his treatment of and approach to Nature. Like Shelley, he presents the various aspects of Nature with a scientific accuracy and precision of detail. Influenced by the evolutionary theory, he discards the traditional idea of a benevolent and motherly Nature, and brings out her fiercer aspects as well. He also finds Nature ‘red in tooth and claw’, and shows the cruelty perpetrated in the form of the…

In the first century of the common era, ancient Rome witnessed the emergence of the new major philosophy of Stoicism. Founded by Zeno in Athens, the tenets of Stoicism focused on the eradication of emotion, and particularly fear, which would lead to a life committed to self-betterment. Seneca and his contemporaries took these ideas and expanding on them, marking a shift from the Epicurean philosophy studied a generation previously. While Seneca lead an active life as tutor to Emperor Nero and…

For this reason, Morrie seeks comfort in religion to blind his anxiety. In fact, the Epicurean philosopher Lucretius proposes that: “...it is the uncertainties and perils of mortal life that lead us to believe that the gods control the natural world.” (Jong) Thus, the quote further supports that humans’ innate fear prevents one from directly facing mortality, and…

The Early Middle Ages, from the fifth to the tenth century, is often referred to as the “Dark Ages.” In comparison to the flourishing Roman Empire, many did not believe the Middle Ages to be a time of flourishing literacy and culture. However, learned men during this period were interested in the lost texts of the ancients, especially after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Etymologiae (the Etymologies in English, and also known as “Origins”), by Isidore of Seville, is a compilation of…

but inevitably will. Works Cited The Panchatantra. Translated by Arthur W. Ryder, University of Chicago Press, 1925. Epicurus. “Epicurus to Menoeceus.” The Stoic and Epicurean Philosophers: The Complete Extant Writings of Epicurus, Epictetus, Lucretius, Marcus Aurelius. Edited by Whitney J. Oates and translated by Cyril Bailey, Random House, 1940, 30-33. Apuleius. The Transformations of Lucius, Otherwise Known as The Golden Ass. Translated by Robert Graves, Farrar, Straus and Giroux,…

In discussions of death, a controversial issue has been whether death is bad for the person that dies. According to Epicurus and Rosenbaum, humans should not fear death because they are unaware of their death and therefore death cannot be bad for them. According to Nagel, however, says death is bad for the person who dies because it deprives that person of all the good that life can bring them. Therefore, they disagree on whether death is implicitly bad for the person that dies. Epicurus…