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4th–3rd century BCE

Epicurus — Desire, sufficiency, and friendship

Does treating pleasure as good mean pursuing more of every pleasure?

EpicurusLetter to MenoeceusPrincipal Doctrines

Evidence-backed account

Book X of Diogenes Laertius preserves three letters of Epicurus and the Principal Doctrines, while the Letter to Menoeceus offers a concise ethical outline.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Epicurus

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: Section 1

    Open source

  • Letter to Menoeceus

    Epicurus · Robert Drew Hicks historical English translation; MIT Internet Classics Archive

    Locator: Sections 122–135

    Open source

  • Principal Doctrines

    Epicurus · Robert Drew Hicks historical English translation; MIT Internet Classics Archive

    Locator: Collection structure

    Open source

Letter to Menoeceus 127–128 distinguishes groundless, natural, and necessary desires in deciding what to pursue.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Letter to Menoeceus

    Epicurus · Robert Drew Hicks historical English translation; MIT Internet Classics Archive

    Locator: Sections 127–128

    Open source

  • Epicurus

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: Section 4

    Open source

Section 129 explains that one should not choose every pleasure or avoid every pain, but consider their longer consequences.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Letter to Menoeceus

    Epicurus · Robert Drew Hicks historical English translation; MIT Internet Classics Archive

    Locator: Section 129

    Open source

  • Principal Doctrines

    Epicurus · Robert Drew Hicks historical English translation; MIT Internet Classics Archive

    Locator: Doctrines 8–10

    Open source

The end of living well is connected with reducing bodily pain and mental disturbance, not with accumulating unlimited consumption or intense stimulation.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Letter to Menoeceus

    Epicurus · Robert Drew Hicks historical English translation; MIT Internet Classics Archive

    Locator: Sections 128–131

    Open source

  • Principal Doctrines

    Epicurus · Robert Drew Hicks historical English translation; MIT Internet Classics Archive

    Locator: Doctrines 3, 15, and 18–20

    Open source

A pleasant life and a prudent, honorable, and just life are presented as inseparable.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Letter to Menoeceus

    Epicurus · Robert Drew Hicks historical English translation; MIT Internet Classics Archive

    Locator: Section 132

    Open source

  • Principal Doctrines

    Epicurus · Robert Drew Hicks historical English translation; MIT Internet Classics Archive

    Locator: Doctrines 5 and 17

    Open source

Epicurus valued friendship and developed the school known as the Garden in Athens in 307/306 BCE, but this is not recast as a perfected modern community model.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Epicurus

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: Sections 2 and 6

    Open source

  • The Athenian Garden

    Diskin Clay · The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism, chapter 1

    Locator: Athens, 307/306 BCE

    Open source
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