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

Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus and Leucippus.

Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus.

In the Modern Age, scientists adopted atomist theories, while materialist philosophers embraced Epicurus ' hedonist ethics and restated his objections to natural teleology.

Epicurus emphasized the senses in his epistemology, and his Principle of Multiple Explanations (" if several theories are consistent with the observed data, retain them all ") is an early contribution to the philosophy of science.

With many propagators including Democritus, Epicurus, Aristotle and their followers, this theory seems to have some contact with modern theories of what vision really is, but it remained only speculation lacking any experimental foundation.

In 1685, the English diplomat and writer Sir William Temple wrote an essay Upon the garden of Epicurus ( published in 1692 ), which contrasted European theories of symmetrical gardens with asymmetrical compositions from China.

His ideas were likely partly derived from the atomic theories of Democritus and Epicurus.

In 1685, the English diplomat and writer Sir William Temple wrote an essay Upon the garden of Epicurus ( published in 1692 ), which contrasted European theories of symmetrical gardens with asymmetrical compositions from China.

Epicurus participated in the activities of traditional Greek religion, but taught that one should avoid holding false opinions about the gods.

The gods are immortal and blessed and men who ascribe any additional qualities that are alien to immortality and blessedness are, according to Epicurus, impious.

The opinion of the crowd is, Epicurus claims, that the gods " send great evils to the wicked and great blessings to the righteous who model themselves after the gods ," whereas Epicurus believes the gods, in reality, do not concern themselves at all with human beings.

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.

Epicurus didn ’ t deny the existence of gods.

The Riddle of Epicurus, or Problem of evil, is a famous argument against the existence of an all-powerful and providential God or gods.

Epicurus ' view was that there were gods, but that they were neither willing nor able to prevent evil.

Epicurus conceived the gods as blissful and immortal yet material beings made of atoms inhabiting the metakosmia: empty spaces between worlds in the vastness of infinite space.

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.

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

Lucretius, like Epicurus, felt that religion was born of fear and ignorance, and that understanding the natural world would free people of its shackles ; however, he did believe in gods.

Pleasure and pain were ultimately, for Epicurus, the basis for the moral distinction between good and evil.

Epicurus ' teachings were introduced into medical philosophy and practice by the Epicurean doctor Asclepiades of Bithynia, who was the first physician who introduced Greek medicine in Rome.

The atomic poems ( such as ' All Things are Governed by Atoms ') and natural philosophy of Margaret Cavendish were influenced by Epicurus.

In 1584 Giordano Bruno suggested that the stars were like the Sun, and may have other planets, possibly even Earth-like, in orbit around them, an idea that had been suggested earlier by the ancient Greek philosophers, Democritus and Epicurus, and by medieval Islamic cosmologists such as Fakhr al-Din al-Razi.

Forms of hedonism were put forward by Aristippus and Epicurus ; Aristotle argued that eudaimonia is the highest human good and Augustine wrote that " all men agree in desiring the last end, which is happiness.

Several of these Herculaneum papyri which are unrolled and deciphered were found to contain a large number of works by Philodemus, a late Hellenistic Epicurean, and Epicurus himself, attesting to the school's enduring popularity.

Outstanding in the Hellenistic period were Epicurus, the philosopher of moderation ; Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism ; and Diogenes of Sinope, the famous Cynic.

It appears from Cicero that he possessed an estate on which were the ruins of Epicurus ' house, and that he had determined to build on the site a house for himself.

After the time of the younger Aristippus, the school broke up into different factions, represented by Anniceris, Hegesias, and Theodorus, who all developed rival interpretations of Cyrenaic doctrines, many of which were responses to the new system of hedonistic philosophy laid down by Epicurus.

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.

One generation after Aristotle, Epicurus argued that as atoms moved through the void, there were occasions when they would " swerve " from their otherwise determined paths, thus initiating new causal chains.

With these fellow citizens he moved to Athens, where they founded a school of philosophy with Epicurus as head, or hegemon, while Polyaenus, Hermarchus and Metrodorus were kathegemones.

A group of Lampsacenes were in the circle of Epicurus ; they included Polyaenus of Lampsacus ( c. 340 – 278 BC ) a mathematician, the philosophers Idomeneus of Lampsacus, Colotes the satirist and Leonteus of Lampsacus ; Batis of Lampsacus the wife of Idomeneus, was the sister of Metrodorus of Lampsacus ( the younger ), whose elder brother, also a friend of Epicurus, was Timocrates of Lampsacus.

Other declamations, only known from the excerpts in Photius, were imaginary orations put into the mouth of famous persons -- Demosthenes advocating the recall of Aeschines from banishment, Hypereides supporting the policy of Demosthenes, Themistocles inveighing against the king of Persia, an orator unnamed attacking Epicurus for atheism before Julian at Constantinople.

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.

Precursors to the libertine writers were Théophile de Viau ( 1590-1626 ) and Charles de Saint-Evremond ( 1610-1703 ), who were inspired by Epicurus and the publication of Petronius.

Nietzsche was attracted to, among other things, Epicurus ' ability to maintain a cheerful philosophical outlook in the face of painful physical ailments.

Epicurus ' philosophy of the physical world is found in his Letter to Herodotus: Diogenes Laertius 10. 34-83.

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 was first to assert human freedom as coming from a fundamental indeterminism in the motion of atoms.

For Epicurus, the chance " swerve " ( or clinamen ) of the atoms simply defeated determinism to leave room for autonomous agency.

Epicurus proposed the idea of ' the space between worlds ' ( metakosmia ) the relatively empty spaces in the infinite void where worlds had not been formed by the joining together of the atoms through their endless motion.

Epicurus taught that the soul was simply atoms which dissolved at death, so there was no existence after death.

He was writing just a few years after the discovery of quantum mechanics and indeterminacy, and also makes passing mention of the ancient " swerve " of the atoms espoused by Epicurus: