Philosophy Exploration Assignment

Exploration: Epicurean Good Life

Words: 500ish The root cause of life’s troubles is ignorance of what is good and bad… [Wisdom] rids us of terror and desire and represents our surest guide to the goal of pleasure. For it is wisdom alone that drives misery from our hearts; wisdom alone that stops us trembling with fear… it is only the wise person, by pruning back all foolishness and error, who can live without misery and fear, happy with nature’s own limits (On Moral Ends 43-44).

The good life for the Epicurean is the life of maximal pleasure—that is, the life of lasting static pleasure, the life without any physical or mental pain at all. In this exploration, the task is to try that life out. It has three parts. Part 1 Choose a length of time (minimum of three days). For that time, more than anything else, prioritize achieving static pleasure. The main way is to avoid what causes you pain, including what causes you mental and emotional pain. And the main way to do that is to exercise wisdom as the Epicureans conceive of it—that is, to regulate your desires, eliminating all unnecessary desires, or, in any case, unnecessary desires that are difficult to satisfy. Recall that a desire is unnecessary if it is possible for a person not to satisfy it and not feel pain. Recall, too, that it seems as if all unnatural desires—desires that we have not simply in virtue of our being human animals, but rather in virtue of social pressures—are unnecessary. Of course, you may have many desires that, at this point in time, are not possible for you to go without satisfying without feeling pain, but nonetheless are possible for a human to go without satisfying without feeling pain, a human, e.g., who has done the required work to no longer care really about the objects of those desires. Rightly considered, these are unnecessary desires. Your task is to eliminate them—or, again, at least the ones that require unwelcome toil to satisfy. Note that this doesn’t necessarily require abstaining from certain activities. It is possible to welcome something when it happens to be there, all the while without desiring it, or, at least, without desiring it in the way that, if the desire goes unsatisfied, causes you pain. Part 2 It may be that you are simply unwilling right now to eliminate certain desires or activities that cause you pain, especially emotional or mental pain. If so, ask yourself whether, in those cases, you are acting in accordance with the method below.

the wise person will uphold the following method of selecting pleasures and pains: pleasures are rejected when this results in other greater pleasures; pains are selected when this avoids worse pains (On Moral Ends 33).

If you are acting in accordance with it, then there is nothing mistaken: you are choosing to endure some pain either to avoid greater pain or to achieve greater pleasure. But if you are not acting in accordance with it, then, according to the Epicureans, you are acting wrongly. In this case, ask yourself whether you agree with the Epicurean verdict. Is it worth undergoing some pain even if it won’t result in greater pain being avoided or greater pleasure being obtained? Part 3 Having attempted to live the Epicurean ideal, write me something that reflects upon your experience (or record me something, draw me something: as you please). How did it go for you? You can go about this really in whatever way you wish, but be sure to make your discussion specific, thoughtful, and interesting—nothing vague, nothing formulaic. Here are some things you might communicate: * Is it possible to eliminate all unnecessary desires? If so, should you? * What is the most effective way of eliminating unnecessary desires?

* Are there any unnecessary desires that are worth having? * Is there a way to have an unnecessary desire go unsatisfied and not feel pain? * Did this exercise make you feel more carefree? Did it have any effect?

* Are the Epicureans right that pleasure (properly conceived) is the good? * Do you want to live as an Epicurean? Should you live as an Epicurean? * Anything else that you think is cool, useful, interesting, annoying, etc.