As far as ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus would have been concerned, we have a real misunderstanding of pleasure.
Dictionary.com provides the following definition for pleasure:
Enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one’s liking; gratification; delight.
Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com provides examples of enjoying food, watching funny shows, having sex, enjoying the company of friends, and more to show how to use “pleasure” in a sentence. Most of these examples involve partaking in an activity that leads to having your senses stimulated in an enjoyable way. In everyday use, “pleasure” usually implies an interaction between our senses and something outside us.
This conception of pleasure is not necessarily wrong, but it is different from how Epicurus thought of it. This leads to some confusion around Epicurus’ beliefs.
Epicureanism
Epicurus (341-271 B.C.) was the founder of a school of philosophy known as Epicureanism. His teachings covered many topics, but his thoughts on happiness and the good life are what he is most famous for.
This post mainly draws from The Art of Happiness for information on Epicurus. This book contains many writings from Epicurus, a foreword from Daniel Klein, and an introduction and additional commentary from George K. Strodach. I would absolutely recommend reading this book if the subject of this post interests you.
An idea called Hedonism is central to Epicurean philosophy. Simply put, hedonism is the belief that pleasure is good and pain is evil. Therefore, understanding the right choice in each situation requires an assessment of how much pleasure and pain it will bring. In Epicureanism, this pleasure and pain assessment pertains to the individual performing the action.
For example, if a person is trying to decide whether they will go out drinking or get to bed early, hedonism suggests thinking about the consequences of these two actions. If going out drinking resulted in having a fun night while avoiding any pains or troubles the next day, it would be advisable to attend. But if going out drinking caused a hangover and missing an important obligation the next morning, then attending would not be advisable.
Misconceptions About Epicurus
Given that Epicurus prioritized pleasure, people often imagine he lived a certain type of lifestyle. These misconceptions are sometimes the result of genuine misunderstanding, and other times they are from intentional lies.
Members of rival philosophical schools sometimes engaged in the latter. One example of such behavior comes from Diotimus the Stoic. Diogenes Laertius, a biographer of many Greek philosophers, says that Diotimus the Stoic published fifty fake letters in Epicurus’ name. These letters were overtly sexual, and they were meant to damage Epicurus’ reputation.
Criticism of Epicurus often takes advantage of associations people have with the word “pleasure.” We often associate pleasure with things like food, wine, and sex. So, critics have tried to paint Epicurus as someone who overindulges in these things. For example, Diogenes Laertius also tells us that a critic of Epicurus accused him of having to vomit twice each day because of a gluttonous lifestyle.
These criticisms are, according to Diogenes Laertius, simply wrong. But criticisms of these sort have succeeded at their goal to some extent. People often associate hedonism and epicureanism with overindulgence in luxury and sensual pleasure.
With these criticisms, it is important to remember that both hedonism and epicureanism do not suggest overindulgence. In fact, they are radically against it. The hedonistic principle of epicureanism calls for an evaluation of how much pleasure and pain an action will bring. Overindulgence, by definition, brings more harm than good. So, Epicurus would absolutely advise against eating to the point of sickness or drinking to the point of hangover.
Epicurus’ Lifestyle
Even with a fair and genuine understanding of what it means to be a hedonist, Epicurus can still be misunderstood. Such an understanding may lead us to believe that Epicurus lived a life where he frequently enjoyed fancy food and parties but did not overdo it.
This understanding is more nuanced, but it is still inaccurate. In reality, Epicurus lived what we may consider a minimalistic life today. On page 62 of The Art of Happiness, George K. Strodach tells us Epicurus lived in a walled garden with a group of close friends while eating a simple diet, avoiding political life, and focusing on philosophical writing, teaching, and conversation.
The good life for the Epicurean involves disciplining of the appetites, curtailment of desires and needs to the absolute minimum necessary for healthy living, detachment from most of the goals and values that are most highly regarded, and withdrawal from active participation in the life of the community, in the company of a few select friends – in a word, plain living and high thinking.
George K. Strodach
Epicurus was not overindulging in luxuries, food, or sex. In fact, he avoided the latter altogether. His view of the good life was far different than what we may initially expect from a person who considers pleasure as the greatest good and pain as the greatest evil.
View of Pleasure
Epicurus’ lifestyle makes perfect sense when considering what he meant by “pleasure.” When Epicurus spoke of pleasure, what he really meant was the absence of pain – both physical and mental. Once this conception of pleasure is understood, it becomes clear that Epicurus was following his own advice very carefully.
Epicurus was not concerned with what he could add to his life to feel more sensual pleasure, he was concerned with what he could remove to feel less pain. He found, through his own evaluation of what brought pain, that avoiding pursuits of money, power, luxury, and sex was the best decision for a happy life. In his view, these things caused more trouble than they were worth.
Further, he found that it is often worthwhile to avoid pleasure or endure pain for a time if it makes for less pain in the long run. An example of this would be his avoidance of fancy foods. In theory, he could have eaten fancy food occasionally and still embodied his philosophy, assuming doing so did not make him sick or unhealthy.
But Epicurus advised against eating fancy foods because doing so often results in attachment to them. This attachment is painful if the diet is unsustainable, and people fear losing such a luxury. He advised eating a simple diet to avoid such attachment and fear, while also learning to enjoy and savor a simple and easily attainable diet.
Alleviating Mental Pain – The Gods
Avoiding attachment to things like wealth, fancy food, and wine was very important to Epicurus in experiencing a life free from pain. But it is well worth mentioning that to alleviate mental pain, there were certain common fears he thought people needed to rid themselves of.
In his Letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus explains that there are two preconditions for happiness – not fearing the gods and not fearing death.
Epicurus argued for a different conception of the gods than what was popular at his time. According to him, the gods existed because they are clearly perceived. But these gods were perfect beings existing far away from Earth in a state of unbothered contemplation. In his view, Greek mythology problematically ascribed human traits to the gods. This was both inaccurate and destructive. People often feared the wrath and meddling of such gods.
Believing in the Epicurean gods provided people with an ideal they could aspire to while also eliminating fears that came with Greek mythology. Such a belief was very important to being happy, according to Epicurus.
Alleviating Mental Pain – Death
Eliminating the fear of death was a rather simple task for Epicurus. Perhaps it was not easy, but it was simple.
Not fearing death is the logical conclusion of a hedonistic philosophy that does not believe in an afterlife, and Epicureanism is precisely that. If all that is good comes from pleasurable sensation and all that is evil comes from painful sensation, then death is not to be feared, since there is no sensation in death. Further, nobody experiences being dead since one needs their senses to experience anything.
Epicurus explains this concisely on page 157 of The Art of Happiness:
[S]o long as we are existent death is not present and whenever it is present we are non-existent.
Epicurus
Or put more bluntly on GoodReads:
Death is nothing to us. When we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are not.
Epicurus
Live a Life of Pleasure
So, according to Epicurus, a life of pleasure looks much different than we may initially expect. It is not partying every day, eating too much, and failing to take care of yourself. It is also not a life of luxury, fine dining, and just a few glasses of wine a day.
The life of pleasure to Epicurus is a life without fears of the gods and death, without clinging to power or luxury, and without overindulging in food, wine, and sex.
Removing these things from his life, Epicurus made room for what he valued most. The pleasurable life to him and his followers was one of privacy, simplicity, contemplation, and conversation with good friends.