Epicurus Answers Seven Big Questions Of Life

I am working on another audio presentation with this list of questions and answers as the final slide. Probably some people will question the description of "the goal" and the "best life," because all they have heard in other places is "ataraxia." The answers given here are taken directly from the most detailed presentation of Epicurean ethics left to us from the ancient world - the Epicurean speaker "Torquatus" in Cicero's On Ends.

Note:

Here's an example of how easy it can be to get confused by categories: In items 6 and 7 above, I have taken the language almost exactly from Torquatus' narrative discussion, where it is all part of a single flowing description of the best life.

By dividing it up, however, and calling the second part "What Must We Do To Live the Best Life Possible," I think it is tempting to look at 7 in isolation and say "If I do these things I am living the best life possible."

But that would not be correct, because the premise of the entire discussion is that the best live involves "continuous enjoyment of numerous and vivid pleasures alike of body and mind..."

Why do I bring this up? Because I think that is what happens in most discussions of "ataraxia" and "absence of pain." Yes those are descriptions of the attributes that go along with experiencing "numerous and vivid pleasures alike of body and of mind," but if you carve those attributes out and focus on them separately, they can seem to take on a life of their own and consume the entire discussion.

That would be no more correct than to take "having no dread of any supernatural power" and considering that to be a full discussion of all that it takes to live the best life. Sure that's part of it, but if you think it's the whole, you're WAY off base!

I will reword Question 7 to try to minimize this problem and change it to: "What Attitudes Are Needed To Sustain the Best Life Possible?"