Skip to main content

Philosophy of Epicurus: Overview of Sources

Epicurus is said to have originally written over 300 works on various subjects, but the vast majority of these writings have been lost.

1) Diogenes Laertius - A major source for Epicurean doctrine is Diogenes Laertius, a Greek biographer (3rd century CE). Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers Book 10 contains three of Epicurus’ letters to his disciples: the "Letter to Herodotus" on physical theory, the "Letter to Menoeceus" on Epicurean ethics, and the "Letter to Pythocles" on astronomical and meteorological matters. Also contained in this book are the “Principal Doctrines” (Kuriai Doxai) in which Diogenes quotes a collection of short sayings excerpted from the writings of Epicurus. Diogenes also fills in topics not covered in the Letters, and provides a list of Epicurus’ writings and other biographical information.

https://monadnock.net/epicurus/principal-doctrines.html
https://monadnock.net/epicurus/letter.html

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D10%3Achapter%3D1

http://www.attalus.org/old/diogenes10c.html

2) Lucretius - wrote the philosophical Latin poem "On the Nature of Things" (De rerum natura) in six books of hexameter verse (first century BCE). This poem covers Epicurean physics and natural philosophy. 

http://classics.mit.edu/Carus/nature_things.html

3) Diogenes of Oenoanda - erected a large inscription on a stone wall in the city of Oenoanda (second century CE, in what is now modern day southwestern Turkey). The Greek inscription contains the basic tenets of Epicureanism, including a treatise on ethics. To this day it is only partially excavated, and the work to reconstruct stone fragments continues.

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

4) Herculaneum scrolls - Several works of Epicurus, including parts of his major treatise, On Nature have been recovered in damaged condition from the library of a villa in the town of Herculaneum. The papyri rolls were buried and preserved in the ash from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE.  They were rediscovered in 1752, but early attempts to read the scrolls proved difficult and unrolling destroyed the papyri. Scrolls are now being virtually read by newly created technology.

5) Philodemus - The Herculaneum library also held the writings of Philodemus, an Epicurean philosopher in the first century BCE. Philodemus' writings both preseved Epicurean philosophy and also dealt with ongoing developments within Epicurean communities. New editions and translations continue to come forward.

6) The "Vatican Sayings" - a collection of short sayings which partially overlap with those from Diogenes Laertius. Some of these maxims might not be attributable to Epicurus. This 14th century manuscript was rediscovered in 1888.

https://monadnock.net/epicurus/vatican-sayings.html
https://archive.org/details/EpicurusTheExtantRemainsBaileyOxford1926OptimizedForGreekOnLeft/page/n376/mode/1up

7) Cicero - presented and also criticized Epicurus’ ideas, especially concerning ethics, in several of his philosophical works, including "On Moral Ends" (De finibus) and the "Tusculan Disputations".

8) Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus, and the Greek commentators on Aristotle - these writings which contain short citations of Epicurus’ works, however they are often taken out of context or presented in a polemical and distorted fashion.

References:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epicurus/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucretius
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_rerum_natura
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Oenoanda
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum_papyri
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philodemus/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Epicurean Philosophy for the Sensitive Soul

   Each person varies as to their individual dispositions and sensitivities, and we are unique in how we experience sensations within our body. An Epicurean relies upon the feedback of the feelings of pleasure and pain to decide what to move toward and what to avoid. When choosing between various options, we applying reasoning based on past experience to answer the question: "What will happen if I do this, and what will happen if I do not", and there is an anticipation as to how the future result may unfold. 1. Embracing sensation - As Epicureans we can stop feeling guilty about enjoying sensation, and live life like a "happy leaping pig". Take the time to really notice how good a warm shower feels. See what else you can enjoy through-out your day. 2. Balancing the feelings -- Sometimes painful feelings crowd out the pleasurable ones, and you need to see what you can do to get back into a balanced state of well-being. Here are some of things which may throw

A Happy Life: the Emotional Feeling Tone of the Epicurean Lifestyle

    Does the Epicurean lifestyle lead to a happier life? I would like to present the idea that happiness is a practice that can be learned. So it is possible to enhance one's happiness by doing and thinking certain things. In several of the Epicurean verses we see indications of the feeling tone present in an Epicurean lifestyle: "One must laugh and seek wisdom and tend to one's home life and use one's other goods, and always recount the pronouncements of true philosophy." (VS 41) "Friendship dances around the world, announcing to each of us that we must awaken to happiness." (VS 52) "It is not the young man who is most happy, but the old man who has lived beautifully; for despite being at his very peak the young man stumbles around as if he were of many minds, whereas the old man has settled into old age as if in a harbor, secure in his gratitude for the good things he was once unsure of." (VS 17) Consider the feeling tone of your last three d

Inhabiting the World as an Epicurean

    In this post I take up point number 4, for both extroverts as well as the introvert "sensitive souls" among us. As Epicureans how do we see ourselves in relation to the world? And how do we feel our own self-presence? How do we move through the world? How do we inhabit the world? There is a Bible verse about "being in the world but not of it", but as Epicureans I would suggest that we take up the opposite idea -- of being in the world AND of it. We are not separate from the world and we aren't going somewhere better when we die. This is it. So how do we want to live this one life that we have? For the sensitive soul we may decide to create and spend some time in a nice nest or retreat (maybe a "man-cave"/"woman-cave" we've set up somewhere in our homes). This could be a place for creative activities and/or for meditation. Yet, fully inhabiting this world has so much to offer -- beauty, fun, and pleasurable new experiences. Making wi