biography
pronunciation:
[epikyoorus]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (c.341–270 BC)
|
| biography:
| Greek philosopher, born in Samos, Greece. He visited Athens when he was 18, then opened a school at Mitylene (310 BC), and taught there and at Lampsacus. In 305 BC he returned to Athens, where he established a successful school of philosophy, leading a life of great temperance and simplicity. He divided philosophy into three parts: logic; physics, where he developed the atomistic ideas of Democritus; and ethics, where he held that pleasure is the chief good, by which he meant freedom from pain and anxiety, not (as the term epicurean has since come to mean) one who indulges sensual pleasures without stint. He is said to have written 300 volumes on many subjects, but only a few letters and other fragments have survived. |
|
|
