Epicurus and Democritean Ethics
An Archaeology of Ataraxia

This 2002 book explores the origins of the Epicurean philosophical system in the fifth and fourth centuries BC.

James Warren (Author)

9780521813693, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 May 2002

256 pages, 2 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1.9 cm, 0.48 kg

'In this book Warren shows himself well equipped with the tools of philosophical archaeology, and admirably skilled in their use … guides the reader expertly … Warren imparts much fascinating information …' Journal of the Society for Greek Political Thought

The Epicurean philosophical system has enjoyed much scrutiny, but the question of its philosophical ancestry remains largely neglected. It has often been thought that Epicurus owed only his physical theory of atomism to the fifth-century BC philosopher Democritus, but this 2002 study finds that there is much in his ethical thought which can be traced to Democritus. It also finds important influences on Epicurus in Democritus' fourth-century followers such as Anaxarchus and Pyrrho, and in Epicurus' disagreements with his own Democritean teacher Nausiphanes. The result is not only a fascinating reconstruction of a lost tradition, but also an important contribution to the philosophical interpretation of Epicureanism, bearing especially on its ideal of tranquillity and on the relation of ethics to physics.

List of figures
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction: Epicurus, Democritus and ataraxia
1. Introducing the Democriteans
2. Democritus' ethics and atomist psychologies
3. Anaxarchus' moral stage
4. Pyrrho and Timon: inhuman indifference
5. Polystratus and Epicurean pigs
6. Hecataeus of Abdera's instructive ethnography
7. Nausiphanes' compelling rhetoric
Conclusion: Epicurus and Democriteanism: determinism, scepticism and ethics
Bibliography
Index locorum
General index.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA]