This poetic doctrine was handed down by an anonymous Epicurean who summed up Epicurus ' philosophy on happiness in four simple lines:

Epicurus ’ basic doctrine is that a life of virtue is the life which generates the most amount of pleasure, and it is for this reason that we ought to be virtuous.

Many hedonists, in accordance with Epicurus and contrarily to popular perception of his doctrine, advocate that we should first seek to avoid suffering and that the greatest pleasure lies in a robust state of profound tranquility ( ataraxia ) that is free from the worrisome pursuit or the unwelcome consequences of ephemeral pleasures.

In ancient Greece, this can be found in the writings of Herodotus, Thucidides, Hippocrates, Epicurus, Protagoras, Polus, Plato and Aristotle.

In The Consolations of Philosophy, de Botton attempts to demonstrate how the teachings of philosophers such as Epicurus, Montaigne, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Seneca, and Socrates can be applied to modern everyday woes such as unpopularity, feelings of inadequacy, financial worries, broken hearts, and the general problem of suffering.

Epicurus would often deny this influence, denounce other philosophers as confused, and claim to be " self-taught ".

Epicurus is a key figure in the development of science and the scientific method because of his insistence that nothing should be believed, except that which was tested through direct observation and logical deduction.

In An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume uses Epicurus as a character for explaining the impossibility of our knowing God to be any greater or better than his creation proves him to be.

The only surviving complete works by Epicurus are three letters, which are to be found in book X of Diogenes Laertius ' Lives of Eminent Philosophers, and two groups of quotes: the Principal Doctrines, reported as well in Diogenes ' book X, and the Vatican Sayings, preserved in a manuscript from the Vatican Library.

The originator of the problem of evil is often cited as the Greek philosopher Epicurus, and his argument may be schematized as follows:

A further principle of conservation was stated by Epicurus ( 341 – 270 BCE ) who, describing the nature of the universe, wrote that " the totality of things was always such as it is now, and always will be ".

To some extent these philosophers were all trying to meet the challenge laid down by Epicureanism, and the success of Epicurus was in developing a system of philosophy which would prove to be more comprehensive and sophisticated than its rivals.

Epicurus maintained that the unhappiness and degradation of humankind arose largely from the dread which they entertained of the power of the gods, from terror of their wrath, which was supposed to be displayed by the misfortunes inflicted in this life, and by the everlasting tortures which were the lot of the guilty in a future state, or where these feelings were not strongly developed, from a vague dread of gloom and misery after death.

Epicurus argued that these swerves would allow us to be more responsible for our actions, something impossible if every action was deterministically caused.

For Epicurus, the occasional interventions of arbitrary gods would be preferable to strict determinism.

Although traditionally ascribed to Epicurus, it has been suggested that it may actually be the work of an early skeptic writer, possibly Carneades.

" As for Otanes, he wished neither to rule nor to be ruled — the exact opposite of Aristotle's notion of true civic liberty ... ideal remains isolated and, until Epicurus, undeveloped ... the notion had not explicitly emerged ".

He left behind him a son named Epicurus, and a daughter, whom Epicurus, in his will, entrusted to the guardianship of Amynomachus and Timocrates of Potamus, to be brought up under the joint care of themselves and Hermarchus, and provided for out of the property which he left behind him.

He was of the opinion of Epicurus, that the soul dies with the body, and maintained that human happiness consisted in temporal pleasures ; but he did not follow these in the way that Epicurus did, that is by making long fasts to have afterwards pleasure in eating dry bread ; but was fond of good and delicate viands, and ate them without waiting to be hungry ; and for this sin he is damned as a Heretic in this place.

Marx's doctoral thesis concerned the atomism of Epicurus and Democritus, which ( along with stoicism ) is considered the foundation of materialist philosophy.

Nevertheless, the century had a number of writers who were considered " libertine "; these authors ( like Théophile de Viau ( 1590 – 1626 ) and Charles de Saint-Evremond ( 1610 – 1703 )), inspired by Epicurus and the publication of Petronius, professed doubts of religious or moral matters during a period of increasingly reactionary religious fervor.

Metrodorus on the other hand soon became the most distinguished of the disciples of Epicurus, with whom he lived on terms of the closest friendship, and whom he later followed to Athens, never having left him since he became acquainted with him, except for six months on one occasion, when he paid a visit to his home.

And even Epicurus who argues that the eudaimon life is the life of pleasure maintains that the life of pleasure coincides with the life of virtue.

For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by ataraxia — peace and freedom from fear — and aponia — the absence of pain — and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends.

This triad, as well as the egalitarianism of Epicurus, was carried forward into the American freedom movement and Declaration of Independence, by the American founding father, Thomas Jefferson, as " all men are created equal " and endowed with certain " inalienable rights ," such as " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Cudworth criticizes two main forms of materialistic atheism, the atomic, adopted by Democritus, Epicurus and Hobbes ; and the hylozoic, attributed to Strato of Lampsacus, which explains everything by the supposition of an inward self-organizing life in matter.

Viewing marriage and what attends it as a threat to one's peace of mind, Epicurus lived a celibate life but did not impose this restriction on his followers.

Epicurus laid great emphasis on developing friendships as the basis of a satisfying life.

In fact Epicurus referred to life as a " bitter gift ".

Tetrapharmakos, or " The four-part cure ", is Epicurus ' basic guideline as to how to live the happiest possible life.

Epicurus identified eudaimonia with the life of pleasure.

Epicurus identifies the eudaimon life with the life of pleasure.

Timocrates, however, soon fell out with both his brother and Epicurus and devoted the rest of his life to spreading malicious slander about them.

Epicurus " presented a sustained argument that pleasure, correctly understood, will coincide with virtue ".

Epicurus ' philosophy is based on the theory that all good and bad derive from the sensations of pleasure and pain.

Although Epicurus has been commonly misunderstood to advocate the rampant pursuit of pleasure, he was actually after the absence of pain ( both physical and mental, i. e., suffering )-a state of satiation and tranquility that was free of the fear of death and the retribution of the gods.

For Epicurus the sovereign good was pleasure, and Descartes says that in fact this is not in contradiction with Zeno's teaching, because virtue produces a spiritual pleasure, that is better than bodily pleasure.

Following Aristippus — about whom very little is known — Epicurus believed that pleasure is the greatest good.

Epicurus ' materialist theories that the gods were physical beings composed of atoms who were unconcerned with human affairs and had not created the universe, and his general teaching that one's own pleasure, rather than service to God, was the greatest good were essentially irreconcilable with Christian teachings.

Hence, Epicurus advocated living in such a way as to derive the greatest amount of pleasure possible during one's lifetime, yet doing so moderately in order to avoid the suffering incurred by overindulgence in such pleasure.

* Epicurus, Greek philosopher, author of an ethical philosophy of simple pleasure, friendship, and retirement ( b. 341 BC )

Plethon derides Aristotle for discussing unimportant matters such as shellfish and embryos while failing to credit God with creating the universe, for believing the heavens are composed of a fifth element, and for his view that contemplation was the greatest pleasure ; the latter aligned him with Epicurus, Plethon argued, and he attributed this same pleasure-seeking to monks, whom he accused of laziness.

Epicurus and his followers defined the highest pleasure as the absence of suffering and pleasure itself as " freedom from pain in the body and freedom from turmoil in the soul ".

According to Cicero ( or rather his character Torquatus ) Epicurus also believed that pleasure was the chief good and pain the chief evil.

But it is important to notice that Epicurus does not advocate that one pursue any and every pleasure.

So whereas Aristotle would not say that one ought to aim for virtue in order to attain pleasure, Epicurus would endorse this claim.

Specifically, Epicurus pointed out that troubles entailed by maintaining an extravagant lifestyle tend to outweigh the pleasure of partaking in it.