The Stoics and the Epicureans

There were a number of schools of thought that emerged in the period following Aristotle and preceeding St. Augustine. For convenience we shall call them the "Late Classical" philosophers- the Stoics, the Epicureans, the Skeptics and the Neoplatonists. All these philosophers were, thanks-to Socrates, concerned with ethics and personal happiness.

Epicurus (341-220 BC) accepted Democritus' theory that everything is made of- atoms. Those atoms bump together and form the things in the world--including people. There is no purposeful order, then, and the world is ruled purely by chance. So the best a person can do is to seek pleasure. But by pleasure Epicurus meant merely the absence of pain--not luxury, profligacy and gluttony.

The Stoics believed that happiness could be found only by the acceptance of one's fate. Epictetus (AD 60-117 ) pointed out that we cannot control events, which are totally determined by providence, but we can conrol our attitude toward them. According to Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180 ) we are chosen by God to play a role and we must play it without complaint. Interestingly, Epictetus was a Greek slave of the Romans, and Marcus Aurelius was an emperor of Rome (one who persecuted the early Christian zealots). The Stoics and the Epicureans are mentioned by St. Paul in the New Testament.

The skeptikoi, or Skeptics, among whom were Pyrrho (361-270 BC) and Sextus Empiricus (c. 200-? BC), were doubters. There were, according to the Skeptics, three main types of thinkers: those who believe they have found the truth, those who assert that truth cannot be found, and those who have not yet found the truth but who continue to search. The Skeptic, Sextus said, keeps on searching.

The greatest of the Neoplatonists was Plotinus (204-270 AD), an Egyptian, who restated Plato's philosophy in a new and peculiar way. To Plato's speculative system he added a religious doctrine of salvation and an obscure theory of what he called "emanation." St. Augustine said about Plotinus that he could have been a Christian just by changing a few words in his writings. Plotinus was the bridge between ancient philosophy and the Christianity of the Middle Ages.

When we say that the goal is pleasure, we do not mean profligacy or physical enjoyment-as some people believe who misunderstand and misinterpret our teachings. But by pleasure we mean a body free from pain and a mind free from worry. Drinking, dancing, eating fish, sexual love-- these do not bring about the pleasant life-- rather, it is produced by a sober reason that examines every motive for action and drives away all those opinions that trouble the mind.

- Epicurus, Letters (paraphrase of Russel M. Geer translation)