EP'ICURVANIS1VI. The name applied, often very loosely, to the system of philosophy based more or less on the teachings of Epicurus (q.v.). The philosopher himself, although the majority of his writings referred to natural philosophy, was not, properly speaking, a physicist. He studied nature with a moral rather than with a .scientific design. According to him, the great evil that afflicted men—the incubus on human happiness—was fear; fear of the gods and fear of death. To get rid of these two fears was the ultimate aim of all his speculations on nature.
He regarded the universe as corporeal, as infi nite in extent, and as eternal in duration. He recognized two kinds of existence—that of bodies, and that of or space, or the intangible nature. Of his bodies, some are compounds, and some are atoms or indivisible elements, out of which the compounds are formed. The world as we now see it is produced by the collision and whirling together of these atoms, which possess only the attributes of shape, size, and weight. Of these atoms there is an infinite number of various sizes and shapes, but of equal specific gravity. These atoms naturally fall downward in the empty space, but the direction they take is not absoldtely uniform. Hence come clashes between them and combinations, which result in the universe as we know it. But beyond our known world, Epicurus held that there are in numerable others. He also held the doctrine of perception by images (Gk. er6wXa, cidola), which are incessantly streaming off from the surface of all bodies, and which are necessary to bring man into relation with the world without. In like manner, he believed that sounding bodies threw MT emanations, by which .human beings were brought into sympathy with them; and that per ception by smell took place in the same way. In psychology Epicurus was a decided materialist, holding, for various reasons, that the soul is a bodily substance, composed of subtle particles, disseminated through the whole frame, and having a great resemblance to spirit or breath with a mixture of heat. lt is interesting to note that Epicurus, following Empedoele-s (q.v.), antici pated the modern doctrine of natural selection in maintaining that natural causes gave rise to va rious differences in organic forms, but only those able to support themselves and to propagate their species have survived. Epicurus did not deny that there are gods; hut lie strenuously maintained that, as 'happy and imperishable beings,' they could have nothing to do with the affairs of the universe or of Diem Epicurus next proceeds to deal with the fear of death. Having proved in his psychology that the dissolution of the body involves that of the soul.
lie argues that the neon terrible of all evils, death, is nothing to us, since when u-c arr. death is >rot ; and when death is, ?•e are not. lt is noth ing, then, to the dead or the living; for to the one class it is not near, and the other class are no longer in existence. The insight shown by this remark has not been sufficiently appreciated.
The positive part of Epieurus's system may be noticed in a few words. Ile held that pleasure was the chief good, and it is from a misappre hension of the meaning of this word as used by Epicurus that the term Epicurean came to sig nify one who indulged his sensual appetites with .out stint or measure. At the same time, it is easy to see that the use of the word 'pleasure' was calculated to produce the mischievous results with which the later Epicureanism was charged. The whole question of ethics, then, conies to a calculation and balancing of pleasure and pains; in other words, the cardinal virtue is prudence. Epicurus rests justice on the same prudential basis as temperance. Denying any abstract and .eternal right and wrong, he affirms that injustice is an evil, because it exposes the individual to disquietude from other men; justice is a virtue, because it secures him from this disquietude. The duties of friendship and good-fellowship are inculcated on the same grounds of security to the individual. Epienrus is distinguished from his contemporaries by the fact that he taught the •doctrine of the freedom of the will.
Among the Romans, the system of Epicurus was adopted by many prominent men. Horace, Atticus, and Pliny the Younger were Epicureans; and the splendid poem of Lucretius must have recommended the system to many. In modern times, Epicureanism was resuseitated in France by Pierre Gassendi, who published an account of Epicurus's life and a defense of his character in 1647. Many eminent Frenehmen have professed his principles; among others, l'filoliere, Saint Evremond, the Comte de Grammont, the Due de la Roehefoueauld, Rousseau, Fontenelle, and Vol taire. Consult Lange, History of Materialism (Eng. trans., Boston, 1886) ; Watson, Herknis tie Theories (Glasgow, 1895) ; Wallace, Epi cureanism (London, 1880) ; Trezza, Epicuro e l'Epicureismo (Florence, l877) ; Zeller, Philos ophy of the Stoics, Epicureans, and Skeptics (Eng. trans.. London. 1880) ; Kreibig, Epicurus (Vienna, 1836) ; Goedeekemeyer, Epicurus' T'er kiiltnis zu. Demokrit in der Naturphilosophie (Strassburg, 1897) ; Gizycki, Ueber des Leben rrnd die Moralphilosophie des Epicurus (Halle, 1879) ; and the histories of philosophy by 'Schwegler. Ueher•eg, Windelband, and others.
See EPICURUS,