"伊比鳩魯主張哲學的目的是要達到以及幫助他人達到幸福(eudaimonic)、平靜的生活,這種生活的特點是擁有阿塔拉克西亞(ataraxia,內心的平和和無恐懼)和阿波尼亞(aponia,無痛苦)。他倡導人最好能通過過自給自足的生活並與朋友相伴來追求哲學。"
"Epicurus (/ˌɛpɪˈkjʊərəs/, EH-pih-KURE-əs; Greek: Ἐπίκουρος Epikouros; 341–270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. He was born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents. Influenced by Democritus, Aristippus, Pyrrho, and possibly the Cynics, he turned against the Platonism of his day and established his own school, known as "the Garden", in Athens. Epicurus and his followers were known for eating simple meals and discussing a wide range of philosophical subjects. He openly allowed women and slaves to join the school as a matter of policy. Of the over 300 works said to have been written by Epicurus about various subjects, the vast majority have been destroyed. Only three letters written by him—the letters to Menoeceus, Pythocles, and Herodotus—and two collections of quotes—the Principal Doctrines and the Vatican Sayings—have survived intact, along with a few fragments of his other writings. As a result of his work's destruction, most knowledge about his philosophy is due to later authors, particularly the biographer Diogenes Laërtius, the Epicurean Roman poet Lucretius and the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus, as well as the hostile but largely accurate accounts by the Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus, and the Academic Skeptic and statesman Cicero.
Epicurus asserted that philosophy's purpose is to attain as well as to help others attain happy (eudaimonic), tranquil lives characterized by ataraxia (peace and freedom from fear) and aponia (the absence of pain). He advocated that people were best able to pursue philosophy by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that the root of all human neuroses is denial of death and the tendency for human beings to assume that death will be horrific and painful, which he claimed causes unnecessary anxiety, selfish self-protective behaviors, and hypocrisy. According to Epicurus, death is the end of both the body and the soul and therefore should not be feared. Epicurus taught that although the gods exist, they have no involvement in human affairs. He taught that people should act ethically not because the gods punish or reward them for their actions but because, due to the power of guilt, amoral behavior would inevitably lead to remorse weighing on their consciences and as a result, they would be prevented from attaining ataraxia.
Epicurus derived much of his physics and cosmology from the earlier philosopher Democritus (c. 460–c. 370 BC). Like Democritus, Epicurus taught that the universe is infinite and eternal and that all matter is made up of extremely tiny, invisible particles known as atoms. All occurrences in the natural world are ultimately the result of atoms moving and interacting in empty space. Epicurus deviated from Democritus by proposing the idea of atomic "swerve", which holds that atoms may deviate from their expected course, thus permitting humans to possess free will in an otherwise deterministic universe."
伊比鳩魯(Epicurus,古希臘語:Ἐπίκουρος Epikouros;公元前341年-前270年)是一位古希臘的哲學家和智者,創立了極具影響力的伊比鳩魯學派。他出生於薩摩斯島上的雅典家庭。受到德謨克利特、阿裏斯蒂普斯、皮羅和可能是犬儒學派的影響,他反對當時的柏拉圖主義,並在雅典創立了自己的學派,名為“花園”。伊比鳩魯和他的追隨者以進食簡單的餐點和討論各種哲學主題而聞名。作為一項政策,他公開允許女性和奴隸加入學校。據說,伊比鳩魯寫過300多部關於各種主題的作品,但絕大多數都已遺失。只有他寫給米涅克斯、皮特克勒斯和赫羅多德的三封信件以及兩本語錄集《主要學說》和《梵蒂岡語錄》完整地保存了下來,還有少量其他著作的片段。由於他的作品大部分被毀,對他的哲學的了解主要來自後來的作者,特別是傳記作家狄奧根尼斯·拉爾提烏斯(Diogenes Laërtius)、伊比鳩魯學派的羅馬詩人盧克萊修(Lucretius)和哲學家斐洛德莫斯(Philodemus),以及持怀疑態度但大致準確的皮羅尼斯特學派哲學家色薩斯·恩庇里庫斯(Sextus Empiricus)和學院派懷疑主義者、政治家西塞羅。
伊比鳩魯主張哲學的目的是要達到以及幫助他人達到幸福(eudaimonic)、平靜的生活,這種生活的特點是擁有阿塔拉克西亞(ataraxia,內心的平和和無恐懼)和阿波尼亞(aponia,無痛苦)。他倡導人最好能通過過自給自足的生活並與朋友相伴來追求哲學。他教導說,所有人類神經質的根源是對死亡的否認以及人類認為死亡將會非常可怕和痛苦的傾向,他聲稱這會導致不必要的焦慮、自私的自我保護行為和偽善。據伊比鳩魯所說,死亡是身體和靈魂的終結,因此不應被恐懼。伊比鳩魯教導說,雖然神存在,但他們不參與人間事務。他教導說,人應該行為道德,不是因為神對他們的行為進行懲罰或獎賞,而是因為出於內疚感,不道德行為最終會導致他們的良心感到悔恨,從而阻止他們達到阿塔拉克西亞。
伊比鳩魯在很大程度上從早期哲學家德謨克利特(約公元前460年-前370年)那裡獲取了他的物理學和宇宙學觀點。像德謨克利特一樣,伊比鳩魯教導說宇宙是無限的、永恆的,所有物質都由非常微小、看不見的粒子組成,稱為原子。自然界中所有的發生最終都是原子在空虛空間中移動和相互作用的結果。伊比鳩魯與德謨克利特的不同之處在於他提出了原子“偏移”的概念,這一概念認為原子可能會偏離它們預期的路線,從而使人類在一個本質上是確定的宇宙中擁有自由意志。
1.
"Don't fear god,
Don't worry about death;
What is good is easy to get, and
What is terrible is easy to endure."
不畏神 ,不憂死;好的東西容易得到,壞的東西容易忍受。
2.
"Luxurious food and drinks, in no way protect you from harm. Wealth beyond what is natural, is no more use than an overflowing container. Real value is not generated by theaters, and baths, perfumes or ointments, but by philosophy."
奢侈的食物和飲料並不能保護你免受傷害。超出自然的財富,就像溢出的容器一樣沒有用處。真正的價值不是由劇院、浴室、香水或藥膏產生的,而是由哲學產生的。
3.
"Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. "
任何人不要在年輕時尋求智慧,也不要在年老時厭倦尋求智慧。對於健全的靈魂來說,任何年齡都不算太早或太晚。
4.
"Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not."
死亡,最可怕的罪惡,對我們來說卻算不了什麼,因為當我們存在時,死亡還沒有到來,而當死亡到來時,我們卻不存在。
5.
"He who is not satisfied with a little, is satisfied with nothing."
不滿足一點點的人,就什麼都不滿足。
6.
"Self-sufficiency is the greatest of all wealth."
自給自足是一切 財富中最大的。
7.
"No pleasure is in itself evil, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail annoyances many times greater than the pleasures themselves."
愉悅的根本並不是邪惡的,但產生某些愉悅的事物所帶來的令人反感會比愉悅本身大上許多倍。
8.
"The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity. "
自然所需的財富是有限的,而且容易取得;但虛榮的理想所需要的財富是無限的。
9.
"Of our desires some are natural and necessary, others are natural but not necessary; and others are neither natural nor necessary, but are due to groundless opinion. "
我們的慾望有些是自然的、必要的,有些則是自然的但不是必需的;還有一些既不是自然的,也不是必然的,而是出於毫無建設性的主張。
10.
"Natural justice is a symbol or expression of usefulness, to prevent one person from harming or being harmed by another."
自然正義是有用性的象徵或表達,旨在防止一個人傷害另一個人或被另一個人傷害。