Philosophy 02

8/7/2019 Philosophy 02

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Assignment 02

Hellenistic & Roman Philosophy

CLS823-9

Jean du Plessis 34890963

Explain the socio-historical determinants which gave rise to Epicureanism and

Stoicism. What were the existential questions to which these two systems sought to

provide answers, and how successfully did these philosophical constructs meet that

challenge? Pay attention to both physics, and more especially, to the ethics of these

two schools.

Epicureanism and Stoicism came into being during the Hellenistic era and in order for

us to understand the basic belief system, the physics and ethics of these philosophical

schools it is of the utmost importance that we have a basic knowledge of the

Hellenistic era out of which the two schools were born. Philosophy, along with art and

culture can only truly be understood in relation to its political and historical

environment.

At the death of Alexander the Great the dawn of a new era came into being, the

Hellenistic age. The diadochoi carved up his empire, stretching from Greece and

Macedonia to Egypt in the South and Persia in the East, among themselves exposing

these territories to Greek dominance and cultural influence. Soon the different

cultures were combined and the new Hellenistic culture came into existence and the

old polis-dominated era came to its end. With all these new lands linked by the

conquests of Alexander, the world scope and issues became much more important

than the political interests of the city-state or polis. Because of this, mans experience


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in the intellectual and political domain was no longer solely influenced by the limits

of the classical polis. While the citizen, during the classical polis dominated world,

could at least feel that he had an active role in the shaping of his city-states policy,

this all changed in the Hellenistic period. The new, much broader international

politics left the citizens very much in the dark, feeling helpless, isolated and

vulnerable. It took away in a sense their idea of purpose. The emotional and

intellectual support which the city-state provided died with it. People started to turn

their attention from public interest to private interest, where as during the classical

period public interest was the mainstream ideology. People now turned to

philosophers and intellectuals to fill this void left by the disappearance of the support

which the polis provided. They sought to find a new identity.

The polis sought to provide herself with patriotic and model citizens who sought to

place the state as their number one priority, through her value system, but in

contradiction to this the Hellenistic philosophers stressed the importance of

individualism. It was in oneself that one would find virtue and happiness which was

wholly independent of civic affairs.

We can thus see that the new philosophical teachings were a response to the new

political and historical atmosphere of the Hellenistic age. These new philosophies

were a reaction against the civic values which were embodied in the ideology of the

polis. It is out of these socio-historical circumstances which the Epicurean and Stoic

philosophies came to be born.


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Both the Epicurean and Stoic schools of philosophys existential aim were to find the

true source of happiness and virtue. The two schools were at complete opposite ends

to this existential question. The Epicurean school sought to find true happiness and

virtue through the bare necessities physical and mental pleasure while the Stoic school

used reason to obtain true happiness and virtue.

The Epicurean school identifies virtue with pleasure and so, pleasure was the ultimate

aim of those who follow the epicurean philosophy. It is pleasure that removes pain

and this source of pleasure is easily accessible to all, as long as ones desire is limited

to what one needs. It is very important to realise that the pleasure should not be seen

as physical indulgence but more in the line of the absence of pain. All that is needed

to obtain virtue and happiness is for on to not suffer pain. Thus one only need to have

the necessary amount of pleasure to obtain the absence of pain, anything more than

the bare necessity would be seen as indulgence which is not the epicurean ideal of

virtue.

The height of physical pleasure is the basic requirements of the body. If these are

satisfied one suffers no physical pain. An example would be; if one is thirsty one only

need to drink until ones thirst is quenched, drinking more would not increase

pleasure. One does not need a luxurious coat to keep one warm if a simple blanket

will do. It is thus just the bare necessities one needs to obtain physical pleasure.

True virtue is thus obtained from desires which are natural and necessary.

The most important pleasure to obtain in Epicurean philosophy would no be physical

pleasure but that of mental of intellectual pleasure. In order to obtain intellectual


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pleasure on needed answers for the fundamental concepts such as; punishment in the

afterlife, the existence of the gods, purpose of existence and fear of death. The

answers for these ethical questions were based on scientific answers created by

Epicurus who established a system of physics as intellectual basis. Thus physics were

used to support ethical constructs in philosophy.

The epicureans believed in the theory by Democritus that the universe was composed

of atoms and void. These atoms are in constant motion and all that is in existence

were created by different combinations of these atoms. All combinations of the atoms

happen by mere chance and there are no divine intervention or will in the creation of

the world. Thus the atomic theory served perfectly to eliminate all divine intervention

in human affairs, or any affairs whatsoever. Epicurus does not however deny the

existence of the gods but places them in a zone beyond that of the world of men

where they lead a serene existence and unconcerned with the affairs of man.

The atoms are indestructible but not the combinations and so even the soul is mortal

and thus no afterlife exists when one dies. The universe is thus purely physical and

materialistic. Through this physics system Epicurus attempted to liberate humanity

from the superstitious and irrational fears of the religion of the day. Only when one

stops fearing these superstitions, can one obtain intellectual virtue and pleasure. We

can clearly see the importance of the connection between ethics and physics in the

epicurean philosophy.

Thus a man who has his beliefs set in the ideology that there is neither afterlife nor

divine punishment has no concerns for these matters and thus can concentrate on the

present. Thus by having no fear achieves a state of calmness or more correctly


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ataraxia . It can however only be obtained from abstaining from civil affairs and

withdrawal from society. The desires and pleasure of Epicureans are focused on the

individual and has no concern with the affairs of the state and this makes Epicurean

school a true Hellenistic philosophical society.

In contrast the Stoic universe as a purposeful and intelligent organism is animated by

fiery vapours and wind currents and are influenced and guided by the divine. They

believed god was diffused throughout his creation and that human reason was part of

the all-pervasive reason. The universe was seen as interconnected and this gave rise to

the doctrine of sympathy; an action in one part of the universe would create another

reaction in another part of the universe. According to the cosmology of Stoic belief

the universe was created out of primordial fire which was differentiated into three

other elements and the combination of these elements created the world. The world

also has an end, it is returned to its original single element by Zeus every so often and

the creative process is recreated into an exact replica of its former self. This is a

continuous cycle of divine will. Thus physics and theology is combined in the

cosmology of Stoic ideology.

While the epicureans believed that pleasure was the path to true happiness and virtue,

the Stoics saw reason as the true way of obtaining virtue and happiness. To the stoic

reason was internalised, a mental state and thus no physical or external circumstances

can affects ones virtue. Poverty, disease, and even death should thus not have an

affect on ones virtue as all these are physical or external circumstances and irrelevant

to the spiritual condition which is the realm of happiness and virtue.


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This gave rise to the theory that external and physical circumstances, since it is not

related to virtue, can neither be good nor bad but indifferent. During the Middle Stoa

it was however realised that some of these indifferents are desirable. They may not

be necessary to obtain virtue or have an effect one ones virtue but one who strove to

obtain virtue would rather be healthy in his quest, than be unhealthy, or well off than

poor. It was also established that some of these indifferents were more sought after

than others and thus there was a hierarchy of these indifferents

Since the universe was an organism of which man was an integrate part of and

governed by divine reason, everything happened for a reason and had a specific

design and cause steered by this divine reason. Therefore there could be no intrinsic

moral evil. It is because of this that the stoic believed that a wise man should accepts

all that happens to him, even if it entails personal discomfort and tragedy, as it is part

of the design of the divine and part of the greater universal good. Misfortunes and

personal discomforts could be viewed as God, putting ones principles and virtue to

the test and even strengthening them through these hard times. The stoic would thus

accept all which happened to him and not let his emotions dominate him as they are

opposed to reason.

The greatest difference between the stoic and the epicureans is their outlooks on

social obligation. The epicureans believe that one needed to focus one the self and had

no need to involve one self with affairs of the state or other social obligations. The

stoic on the other hand ones social obligations and the affairs of the state were of

great importance. Since the universe was a cohesive and rational organism of which

man was an integrate part it would be important not only to concern himself with his


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own affairs but the interests and wellbeing of the whole. The interests of the greater

good held great importance to the stoic and it can be well understood why this

philosophy went well with roman patriotism and civic duty and why Stoicism was so

well accepted in Republican Rome. Secondly, reason creates a sense of self-

preservation. One would thus seek that which would advance ones wellbeing and

avoid that which would do it harm. Reason also extends the sense of wellbeing past

self-preservation to that of ones family and fellow citizens. This ideology without a

doubt strengthens social ties and the idea of civic duty.

This ideology of civic duty and social ties is well illustrated by the veneration of

Hercules. The mythic hero is a personification of the stoic ideology of civic duty

because of his service to mankind. He toiled and suffered for the greater good of man

and so becomes a perfect stoic idol.

By reviewing two of the most important philosophical schools, the stoic and

epicureans we find that they were created as an answer to the political and cultural

changes of their historical time. Both presenting completely opposite philosophies and

a way of life, to the same cultural and political circumstances.

Philosophy 02

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