Faith of Epicurus

by Benjamin Farrington

In this text, Benjamin Farrington carries out a clarifying task of Epicurean philosophy, in its physical and ethical aspects, and underlines the influences it has had on other systems such as materialism and Christianity. Epicurus says: "Death, the most fearsome of all evils, means nothing to us; while we live there is no death, and when it comes to look for us, we are no more." And Farrington synthesizes: "We would not gain anything by living forever, but we gain everything by living righteously. What matters is the kind of life we ​​lead, not its duration".

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Scholar and professor of Classics, teaching in Ireland (1916–1920), South Africa (1920–1935), and Great Britain (1935–1956). Although his academic career spanned several disciplines, he is most well known for his contributions to the history of Greek science. Moreover, within the development of the discipline his books were some of the first written in the English language that focused specifically on Greek science. In addition to his professional academic career he was also active in socialist politics, using his intellectual capabilities to speak and write on it. While beginning his academic career in South Africa in 1920 he became heavily involved in the Irish Republican Association of South Africa. In the process he wrote several articles for local South African newspapers about the need for Ireland to separate from England. In addition he was instrumental in forming the Irish Peace Conference in Paris in 1922. Such political commitments inevitably influenced his teaching style, giving him the reputation in South Africa of being an intellectual Marxist. However, from the perspective of some critics, his Marxist commitments overshadowed his scholarly work, heavily tainting his work. One of his better known pamphlets on socialism, written in 1940, is The Challenge of Socialism.

Reviews

[Searchingthemeaningoflife Greece · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ο Λουκρήτιος, στον τελευταίο του πανηγυρικό για τον Επίκουρο, συνδέει τη φήμη του με τη γενέτειρά του. Η Αθήνα, λέει, έχει σώσει τρείς φορές την ανθρωπότητα. Πρώτα, απο την πείνα διδάσκοντας τη γνώση της γεωργίας , μετά, απο την αναρχία εγκαθιδρύοντας τη βασιλεία του νόμου και, ύστερα, γενώντας τον Επίκουρο, διδαξε στους ανθρώπους πώς να ζούνε. Γιατί, όταν οι άνθρωποι είδαν ότι, αν και είχαν αρκετά για να ικανοποιήσουν τις υλικές ανάγκες τους και παρ' όλη την κυριαρχία του νόμου, ήσαν ακόμη ανήμποροι να ζήσουν αρμονικά με τους ίδιους τους εαυτούς τους μέσα στο ίδιο το σπίτι τους, εκείνος κατάλβε ότι ο άνθρωπος είναι ένα χαλασμένο δοχείο, που σκορπίζει τα αγαθά που περιέχει. "Αυτός καθάρισε τις καρδιές των ανθρώπων με ιαματικές αλήθειες, έβαλε όρια στο φόβο και την απληστία και έδειξε το ίσιο και στενό μονοπάτι, που οδηγεί τον άνθρωπο στην Ευτυχία"(VI,1-28).

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not an analysis of Epicurean philosophy, but is rather a look at Epicurean philosophy in the historical context in which it was developed. I learned a lot about the development of the schools of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Epicurus and how they related to how Greece was changing politically at the time (and in the preceding decades/century). It helped me better understand why Plato thought this, or Aristotle thought that. I really got a lot out of this book.