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Life in Epicurean Communities

“Epicurus, however, in a single household, and one of slender means at that, maintained a whole host of friends, united by a wonderful bond of affection. And this is still a feature of present day Epicureanism.” From Cicero’s On Ends

Epicurus and the Founders

Epicurus was born in an Athenian settlement in the island of Samos in the late 4th century BC. One ancient biography mentions he was of noble birth although it is also stated that he started out sustaining himself financially as a school teacher, which would indicate that he was of modest means in his early life. He started practicing philosophy at an early age, either 12 or 14, depending on the source. He and his family ended up leaving Samos and moving to different cities as a result of the chaos in the Greek world that followed the death of Alexander the Great. During his travels he would study philosophy under different teachers and would eventually build his own philosophical system inspired by the long dead founder of atomism, Democritus. Epicurus promoted the following worldview: the universe is made of atoms and void and subject to the laws of physics without divine intervention, the world can be understood through an empiricist epistemology, and pleasure, pursued intelligently and ethically, is the goal of life.

His first converts were of his own family: his three brothers and a slave named Mys. During his travels, he met other men who would play an enormous role in his life, most notably Metrodurus, Hermarchus and Polyaenus. Together, this group of friends would create the philosophical school that would become known as the Garden. Unlike what is often assumed, Epicurean philosophy is not just the work of a single man. While Epicurus was the founder of the school that bears his name, the writings of these co-founders would be considered foundational by Epicureans throughout the centuries.

By the time Epicurus with his friends settled in Athens, he had a strong enough network to start competing with the other major philosophical schools of Plato and Aristotle. As the Epicureans gained converts and financial support, they were able to purchase property, a garden, in the outskirts of Athens where the community would be able to live and practice their philosophy. This is where the name of the Epicurean school, the Garden, comes from.

Who Were the Epicureans?

The Garden welcomed people from all walks of life. Unlike other philosophers of the time, Epicurus encouraged the practice of philosophy at any age:

“Let no one delay the study of philosophy while young nor weary of it when old. For no one is either too young or too old for the health of the soul”

One major feature of the Garden was its acceptance of marginalized people. In the Epicurean community, slaves practiced philosophy along with legally free men. The ancient biographer Diogenes Laertius mentions Epicurus’ kindness toward his own slaves in his Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, and informs us that they studied philosophy with him.

It should be noted that in antiquity there was no concept of abolishing slavery. It was considered an inevitable part of a functioning economy, much like wage labor is today. However, within this context, the Epicureans were among those who most strongly called for slaves to be treated humanely. The doxography on the Epicurean wise man in Diogenes Laertius’ biography states the following:

“Nor will he punish his servants; instead he will pity them and pardon any who are of good character.”

Women were also accepted in the community and discussed philosophy along with men. This was unusual for this period where women enjoyed few rights. Among the Epicureans one could find married couples as well as a class of women called hetaerae. These hetaerae, a term often translated as “courtesans”, were considered in ancient Athens to be in a different category than married women or prostitutes. They enjoyed much more freedom in their interpersonal relationships than the average Greek married woman, who was subject to the extremely restrictive societal norms of the time. However, they were financially dependent on male providers, who often competed for their attention. They also tended to be well read and knowledgeable in subjects such as poetry, art or philosophy. One of them, Leontion, is known to have written a treatise defending Epicureanism. The relative freedom of women in the Garden was considered scandalous by traditionally minded intellectual elites. The Roman politician and writer Cicero expressed a mixture of admiration and shock at Leontion’s practice of philosophy:

“…even the courtesan Leontion ventured to write against Theophrastus? She did so, it is true, in a neat and Attic style, but still—. Such was the license assumed by the Garden of Epicurus…”

Epicurean communities had an open door policy and did not only welcome converts. According to the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus it was a common practice to welcome non members to their banquets.

By the time it reached Rome, Epicureanism became a strong presence among certain sectors of the Patricians, the Roman elites. However, the philosophy seems to have also become popular among the not so elite Plebeian classes if we are to believe the aristocratically minded Cicero who mocks the philosophy for appealing to what in his mind were the uneducated common people.

Moral Improvement 

How did a convert to Epicureanism practice philosophy in the Garden?  One important facet of being an Epicurean was learning the teachings of the school. What is the nature of the cosmos? How do we obtain reliable knowledge? What is the best way of life as a human being? These teachings were not just about learning philosophical theory for its own sake. Understanding the universe we live in and human nature was crucial to flourishing and living better lives. For example, learning that natural phenomena such as thunder and earthquakes have rational explanations is meant to protect us from fears caused by superstitions. Learning that we do not need to be rich or famous to be happy helps us overcome the longing for those unnecessary things which are out of our reach and be content with what we have. To this end, study and memorization were techniques used to better integrate these teachings. 

Another major objective of a student in Epicureanism was to become a more ethical and wiser person by cultivating virtues and overcoming vices. Much of the Epicurean literature focused on describing negative personality traits and developing therapeutic methods to overcome them. For example, among the surviving scrolls of Philodemus, we find titles such as On Anger, On Flattery and On Arrogance. This literature presents us with philosophical arguments as well as vivid images of people subject to these emotions, often considered irrational and harmful, in order to persuade readers to work on morally improving themselves.

This aim of achieving wisdom was also achieved by interacting with other members of the community in a practice called Frank Speech. Epicureans were expected to help each other in overcoming personality flaws and becoming better people. This encouraged not only a form of truth telling meant to improve one another’s behavior, but the admission of one’s own flaws in a way that reminds us of Catholic confession. The bonds of friendship encouraged in the Garden required trust and honesty while giving out criticism or praise. This was a difficult balancing act. For example, the two extremes of arrogance and a lack of self-confidence were to be overcome. One had to be careful to express honest criticism without being mean spirited. It was also important to take into account everyone’s unique personality. For instance, you will not talk to someone who is of gentle disposition in the same way you would someone who has a more aggressive personality. Philodemus elaborates on questions such as these in his treatise, On Frank Speech.

Within the Epicurean communities there was a hierarchy between teachers, more advanced in wisdom, and students in philosophy. This hierarchy was not based on social class, which sometimes led to tensions when the student was of a higher social status than the teacher.  A teacher was seen as a sort of doctor of the soul whose role it was to cure students and occasionally other teachers of their vices by mastering different techniques of Frank Speech. This required experience and a capacity to lead by example and inspire trust, as such a position was never a given and had to be earned. This also necessitated, on occasion, the recognition of one’s own faults and shortcomings, as even the sage is still human.

Feasts and Friendship

Epicureans had a strong sense of community and for them this was absolutely central to living a good life. The Garden was not just a place for serious philosophical meditation and moral self improvement. It was also a community that encouraged its followers to enjoy life and find comfort in friendship. The welcoming nature of the Garden was exemplified by the motto inscribed at its entrance. The Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca describes what it is like to be welcomed there:

“When you arrive to Epicurus’ Garden and see what is written there – HERE, GUEST, WILL YOU BE ENTERTAINED: HERE PLEASURE IS THE HIGHEST GOOD – then the keeper of the house will be ready to receive you and, being hospitable and kind, will serve you a plate of porridge and a generous goblet of water and say to you ‘Is this not a fine welcome?’ ‘These gardens,’ he will say, ‘do not stimulate appetite; they appease it. They do not give drinks that make one thirstier, but quench thirst with its natural remedy, which comes free of charge. This is the pleasure in which I have lived to old age’”

This quote emphasizes the spirit of moderation and contentment within the community.  This is not to say that luxury was excluded from the good life; rather that it is something that we must learn to live without and is to be appreciated on occasion. As Epicurus writes in his Letter to Menoeceus:

“Therefore, becoming accustomed to simple, not extravagant, ways of life makes one completely healthy, makes man unhesitant in the face of life’s necessary duties, puts us in a better condition for times of extravagance which occasionally come along, and makes us fearless in the face of chance”

It was an Epicurean tradition to organize feasts and celebrations meant to strengthen the bonds of friendship, the most famous of which is the celebration of the 20th of the month in honor of Epicurus and his close friend and co-founder of the Garden, Metrodorus. This feast and others like it were occasions for celebration and the expression of the sense of brotherhood that existed within the different Garden communities that had spread across the Mediterranean. Seneca quotes Epicurus:

“Look to your dinner companions rather than your dinner, for feeding without a friend is the life of a lion or a wolf”

The different celebrations commemorating the founders of the Epicurean school and members of the early community could be considered of religious significance. A hero worship of a sacred nature became an institutionalized practice among members of the Garden, not unlike the worship of religious founders such as Jesus or the Buddha. In a sense, Epicureans aspired to godhood, not literally becoming immortal after death, as was the belief of some ancient Greek and Roman Mystery religions, but by aspiring to match the wisdom and happiness of the Gods in this lifetime to the degree that is possible in our mortal condition. For this reason, the gods, who according to the teachings of the school were wise and happy beings devoid of the cruelty and destructive passions portrayed in the myths, were worshipped as role models. Epicurus encouraged the worship of the gods not only in the private setting of the Epicurean community, but also in the public sphere. Philodemus quotes Epicurus in his treatise On Piety:

“Again: ‘let us sacrifice to the gods’, he says, ‘piously and well, as is appropriate, and let us do everything well according to the laws, but let us do so not disturbing them at all with our opinions on the topic of those who are best and most majestic’”

Other than the founders of the school and the gods, friendship itself could be considered an object of worship within the Garden. Epicurus referred to friendship as an immortal good and the expression of feelings towards friends could sometimes resemble the deference one might show to a divinity. Epicurus describes a mutual display of affection in one of his letters to his disciple Colotes:

“For as if you had adored what we were then saying, you were suddenly taken with a desire, proceeding not from any natural cause, to come to us, prostrate yourself on the ground, embrace our knees, and use all those gestures to us which are ordinarily practiced by those who adore and pray to the Gods. So that you made us also, reciprocally sanctify and adore you.”

Friendship was celebrated both in life and in death. The passing of a friend was an occasion for mourning and grief but also for festivities and celebration of the deceased person’s memory. Epicurus, in the following quote, encourages us to be grateful towards those who impacted our lives and are no longer with us :

“Sweet is the memory of a dead friend.”

A Community of Support

More than a space where people could get together to practice philosophy, cultivate virtue and celebrate life, the Garden was there to help its members in times of need. Epicureans took friendship seriously and could count on each other for support in a hostile world. Those suffering from illness were cared for. On one occasion, while Athens was subject to starvation caused by siege warfare, the Garden assured the well being of its members. According to the ancient historian Plutarch:

“At this time also, we are told, the philosopher Epicurus sustained the lives of his associates with beans, which he counted out and distributed among them.”

Support could also be political. According to Plutarch, Metrodorus once travelled far to advocate for the safety of a friend who had been arrested while serving as a courtier. It should be noted that in general, it was recommended that the followers of Epicurus avoid politics. However, this recommendation was not a prohibition and circumstances could lead one to pursue a political career. Philodemus wrote a treatise titled On the Good King According to Homer, to Piso, his Roman patron and father-in-law of Julius Caesar, where he gives advice on how to be a good ruler. It was not unheard of for Epicureans to hold positions in politics, though this was the exception rather than the rule.

The central role played by friendship in Epicurus’ philosophy also had an economic element. Epicureans with access to financial means were expected to look out for their friends in need, and be generous with their wealth and cultivate a spirit of philanthropy. In his treatise On Property Management, Philodemus lays out what kind of attitude a philosopher should have towards wealth. Regarding one’s personal finances, a wise man should reject both the extremes of asceticism and greed. He must be neither a beggar nor a miser. It is important to secure your own long-term financial security but beyond that have a detached attitude towards wealth. Epicurus sums up this attitude in one of his Vatican Sayings:

“It is impious to love money unjustly, and shameful to do so justly; for it is unfitting to be sordidly stingy even if one is just”

Rather than save excessive riches beyond one’s needs, an Epicurean should share his wealth with his friends, even after his death in the form of inheritance if he is without children. If he finds himself in financial difficulties, he will make sure that any cuts in his expenses will affect him rather than his friends. Epicurus expresses this approach in another Vatican Saying:

“When the wise man is brought face to face with the necessities of life, he knows how to give rather than receive – such a treasure of self-sufficiency has he found.”

Of course one had to be careful with all sorts of opportunists, flatterers and parasites who would feign friendship in order to take advantage of someone’s generosity. Philodemus wrote a work called On Flattery dealing with this subject.

In regards to what are the best sources of income for an Epicurean philosopher, this comes in the form of gifts in compensation for teaching philosophy. It should be noted however, that he will not sell his ideas and ask for money, but rather accept tokens of gratitude from those who appreciate him. There are other acceptable sources of income, but the most inhumane ones, such as warfare or prostitution, are excluded. In an unfortunate passage however, Philodemus does justify slavery arguing that manual labor is not fitting for a philosopher. While we should remember that Philodemus’ target audience were members of the Roman ruling elites such as his patron Piso and that he does call for the humane treatment of slaves in other passages, this is a troubling statement.

Not all Epicureans, however, were opposed to manual labor as part of a philosophical life. Diogenes of Oinoanda imagines a utopian society in which everyone adopts Epicurean values:

“But if we assume it to be possible, then truly the life of the gods will pass to men. For everything will be full of justice and mutual love, and there will come to be no need of fortifications or laws and all the things which we contrive on account of one another. As for the necessities derived from agriculture, since we shall have no slaves at that time (for indeed [we ourselves shall plough] and dig and tend [the plants] and [divert] rivers and watch over [the crops) (…) such activities, [in accordance with what is] needful, will interrupt the continuity of the [shared] study of philosophy; for [the] farming operations [will provide what our] nature wants.”

Spreading the Epicurean Gospel

Already during the lifetime of Epicurus, the Athenian Garden was not the only Epicurean community to exist and its members were constantly in contact with each other. Throughout the centuries, Epicurean communities appeared in the three continents surrounding the Mediterranean and later became, along with Stoicism, one of the main philosophies adopted within the Roman Empire. 

They used multiple methods to spread their ideas. In an era where no printing technology existed, the only method to preserve the teachings of the school, other than memorization, was copying Epicurean treatises by hand. A surviving papyrus written by the Epicurean Demetrius Lacon informs us of techniques used to avoid errors while copying treatises which could lead to distortions in the understanding of essential doctrines.

Another method used to spread the ideas of the Garden was to write short summaries of the key doctrines in the form of letters and collections of maxims in order to make them accessible to those whose lives were too busy to read the longer writings of the school. It also served as memory-aids to help remember essential teachings.

Travelling and networking with powerful people to gain support among the elites was another approach. For example, Philodemus moved to Italy and befriended Piso. This led to a patron-client relationship which helped establish an Epicurean community in Naples and supported the Epicurean library in Herculaneum which housed many papyrus scrolls, some of which have been partially preserved until this day.

Philodemus and other Epicureans in Italy started writing texts intended for a Roman audience and adapted to this new cultural context. For example, the first philosophical treatises written in Latin were from the Epicureans Amafinius and Rabririus. However, the most successful of them all was the epic poem written by Lucretius. Lucretius explains why he thought poetry was a good way to spread these ideas:

“Since this philosophy of ours often appears somewhat off-putting to those who have not experienced it, and most people recoil back from it, I have preferred to expound it to you in harmonious Pierian poetry and, so to speak, coat it with sweet honey from the Muses.”

Another way to publicize the Garden was visually, for example with statues of the founders. A character in one of Cicero’s dialogues states the following in regards to Epicurean memorabilia:

“Still, I could hardly forget Epicurus, even if I wanted to. The members of our Epicurean family have his likeness not only in paintings, but even engraved on their cups and rings.”

Of all the Ancient Mediterranean philosophical schools, the Garden is the one that left behind the most archeological evidence, including statues of the founders, epitaphs, papyri and a wall with inscriptions found in modern Turkey. This wall, which was built in the city of Oinoanda in the 2nd century AD and displayed in the public square for everyone to see, contains what remains of an Epicurean treatise written by a local philosopher named Diogenes of Oinoanda.

Conclusion

Epicureanism has often been considered a precursor to modern Secular Humanist and Atheist movements, but one can wonder if Epicureanism could not be considered a religion, with its founding fathers, its icons, and its community of life. Many practices of its adherents such as feasts, worship and confessions remind us of Christianity. 

Although in many ways Epicureanism can be seen as a salvation religion, promising happiness to those who join, in others, it subverted established religious traditions. The Epicurean gods did not interfere in human affairs and common features of religion such as miracles and a belief in an afterlife were very forcibly rejected. While pondering this question, it is important to remember that during pagan Antiquity there was no notion of a strict separation between the religious and the secular as there is today. These were, after all, men and women of their times.

It is unclear whether Epicurus himself imagined his teachings reaching beyond the cultural context of Ancient Greece, but by the time of the Roman Empire, Diogenes of Oinoanda expressed universalist aspirations:

“For, while the various segments of the earth give different people a different country, the whole compass of this world gives all people a single country, the entire earth, and a single home, the world.”

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Sources:

The Epicurus Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia (Hackett Classics)

Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers (Oxford University Press)

Cicero, On Ends (Cambridge University Press)

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (Hackett Classics)

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Letters on Ethics (The University of Chicago Press)

The Epicurean Inscription (Bibliopolis)

https://www.english.enoanda.cat/the_inscription.html 

Catherine Wilson, Epicureanism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press)

Voula Tsouna, The Ethics of Philodemus (Oxford University Press)

Les Epicuriens (La Pleiade)

Renée Koch Piettre, Comment Peut-on Etre Dieu?: La Secte d’Epicure (Belin)

Ciciero, On the Nature of the Gods 

https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/cicero-on-the-nature-of-the-gods

Plutarch, Against Colotes 

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0397%3Asection%3D17

 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0397%3Asection%3D33

Plutarch, Life of Demetrius

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Demetrius*.html 

Tending the Epicurean Garden, by Hiram Crespo

The following is the English-language translation of the Spanish-language review of the book Tending the Epicurean Garden, in its first Spanish edition, which was originally written by Alan Furth for the Las Indias Blog (the link of which is no longer live, unfortunately).

Following the publication of the English translation of David’ post on Epicurus (“Fraternity, subversion, pigs and asparagus“), we contacted Hiram Crespo, with whom we have since maintained an enriching conversation about the role that Epicurean philosophy can play in the revival of the ancient therapeutic function of philosophy, a role that is becoming increasingly necessary in a world in accelerated decomposition.

Hiram is the founder of the Society of Friends of Epicurus and has just published a book that I had the pleasure of reading over the past two weeks.

The book is a condensed but comprehensive introduction to the basic principles and practice of Epicurean philosophy. But it also provides an interesting interpretation of the teachings of Epicurus from the point of view of positive psychology, neuroscience and other scientific disciplines that today corroborate much of the legacy of the master. Given the prominence of Epicurus as one of the first philosophers to defend the need to study science to get rid of our irrational fears, this aspect of the book is itself a tribute to his memory. One can not help thinking that, were he alive today, he would have expanded the focus of his teachings to address these issues.

The Road to Ataraxia

epicurusThroughout the book, Hiram breaks down the elements that Epicurus regarded as indispensable to achieve ataraxia, that state of imperturbability and serenity that would allow his disciples to live a genuinely pleasant life.

The road to ataraxia that Epicurus invites us to tread is fundamentally minimalist: although we are not called to give up the “kinetic” pleasures–those pleasures we enjoy as a result of achieving a more or less structured plan of action, like playing, engaging in sports, eating, drinking, or having sex–, those are considered secondary and potentially dangerous for their ability to cause restlessness, addictions, and generally to divert us away from ataraxia, particularly if they degenerate into a pursuit of the more destructive unnatural and unnecessary desires, like the lust for power, fame, glory and other delusions.

By contrast, Epicurus considers the “katastematic” or stable (abiding) pleasures to be essential. These are defined as those that nurture a state of inner harmony through the absence of pain of body and soul–a “soul” that is defined here in a strictly naturalistic sense, understood as the and neurological or nervous system, as everything that today we refer to as the psyche of an individual. And to eliminate the pain of the soul, Epicurus proposed several basic remedies, among which are philosophical reflection and cultivation of friendship, of true community.

The Analyzed Life 

For Epicurus, philosophical reflection was primarily aimed at freeing us from prejudices and irrational beliefs that become a source of anxiety and fears of all kinds. Perhaps the best known example is his argument against the fear of death, but the general idea is that irrational passions–from excessive appetite for food and sex to irascibility and arrogance–generally are based on irrational beliefs, and that if we clarify the contradictions inherent in these beliefs, we will be liberated from the tyranny of the passions which support them.

Hiram also reminds us that much of this capacity to analyze our lives has to do with the simple–but not always easy–task of learning to focus our attention and direct it so that we may become aware of our habits and automatic forms of behavior: the analysed life is not necessarily only based on an advanced development of the faculties of reflection beyond the proper control of attention. This is perhaps one of the reasons why contemporary movements, like existential minimalism, are largely dedicated to the cultivation of mindfulness in a hyper-connected world that is increasingly full of banal distractions. But while in the blogosphere of existential minimalism, metaphors and meditation exercises inspired by Zen Buddhism abound, Hiram’s book reminds us that there is no need to go beyond our own very rich tradition of Western thought to find inspiration in this regard.

Attention is the tool used by our minds to give us a model of reality: if we misuse it and let our minds dissipate in every direction like a running river, we’ll get lost in the cracks of inertia and habit. By living according to our firm resolve to create pleasant lives and by paying attention, we make sure that is it we who captain the boat of the mind, and not the pirates of our unconscious tendencies.

The purest happiness requires full attention and is a way of being, not a way of thinking or seeking. At the moment that we make the observation that we are happy, we are moving away … from our experience through the act of observing it, and if we were, for example, entranced dancing and listening to music … now the experience is less ecstatic. The bubble breaks.

The calculated and rational hedonistic theory of philosophy is vehemently opposed to the hedonism of instant gratification commonly practiced today, which is not Epicurean at all. It requires a preliminary process of introspection, to distinguish between necessary and unnecessary desires.

Friendship

David (de Ugarte) reminded us in his post that, above all else, what made Epicurus truly subversive was his strong sense of communal fraternity:

Like the Mithraics, who seem to have been influenced (by Epicurus) to a lesser extent than the Stoics, the Epicureans seem to intuit Dunbar‘s number. Not only are they preaching the apolitical stance, but they divide their communities so as to not be so many that fraternity can not be enjoyed, which in practice seems to be as important as freedom for the pursuit of happiness.

The fact that Hiram is committed to the growth of the Society of Friends of Epicurus already speaks for itself, but also in his book he makes it clear that he could not agree more with David regarding the prominence of fraternity as a fundamental value of Epicurean philosophy:

It is one thing to read and learn these lessons from a book, but quite another to learn them from close friends who wish us well, who express this affection, and remind us that death is nothing to us. This wholesome friendship makes all the difference. The experience of the teachings of philosophy is much more comforting when it’s acquired in the context of affiliation.

That is why Epicurean therapy only can be lived fully and concisely within a community of like-minded friends, and the task of building and nurturing a network of such friends should be seen as one of the most important long-term projects for every Epicurean philosopher.

Synthetic Happiness

One of the reflections that I like the most about Hiram’s book is the way in which he rescues the concept of “synthetic happiness” as posed by Daniel Gilbert in his book Stumbling on Happiness, in light of Epicurean philosophy.

In his book, Gilbert demonstrates an enormous amount of empirical evidence–experimental and otherwise–according to which the human being has a kind of psychological immune system that allows us to maintain a stable level of psychic well-being regardless of external circumstances. For example, Gilbert refers to a study that analyzed data measuring the levels of psychological well-being of people who have won millions in the lottery and comparing them with those of people left paraplegic.

Surprisingly, the study concludes that differences in welfare levels of both groups are not significant after a year of winning the lottery or losing a limb. That’s why Gilbert tells us that happiness is synthetic: our psyche has the ability to manufacture it regardless of external events, and the quality of that manufactured happiness is as genuine as that obtained when one stumbles upon a lucky event in life. Happiness is not something we have to strive to find: it is the natural state of a truly healthy psyche.

This TED talk transmits a clearer picture of what Gilbert wants to convey in his book, and illustrates other interesting experiments that support his theory.

One of the fundamental conclusions that Gilbert arrives at in his book, is that the fact that we are surprised to learn that paraplegics are as happy as the lucky winners of a million dollar lottery, says a lot about how likely we are to have a strong irrational bias that prevents us from predicting the factors that contribute genuinely to our happiness.

As a corollary of this conclusion, one might then ask about the socio-cultural factors that reinforce this irrational bias which, ultimately, prevent us from seeing what Epicurus has been telling us for centuries, and which is right under our noses: that pleasure is easy to obtain and suffering is easy to bear.

And it almost irresistibly evident that among the socio-cultural factors that reinforce this bias are the artificially inflated production scales which are predominant in crony capitalism. Or as Gilbert puts it in his TED talk:

Natural happiness is what we get when we get what we want, and synthetic happiness is what we manufacture when we do not get what we want. And in our society, we have a strong bias to believe that synthetic happiness is of an inferior quality. And why do we have that belief? Well, it’s very simple. What kind of economic engine would work if we believed that not getting what you want can make us as happy as getting it?

It is an extremely interesting question. And our attempts to answer it will surely continue to generate discussions that will enrich the discourse on what it means to live an interesting life: a pleasant life like the one that Epicurus invites us to live.

Originally written by Alan Furth for the Las Indias Blog.

Further Reading from the Las Indias collective:

The Book of Community (SoFE Review here)

Tending the Epicurean Garden
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