Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Cynicism: Ancient Schools

Ancient Philosophical Schools

• The Stoa: Led to Stoicism, initiated by Zeno of Citium.
• The Garden: Created by Epicurus, representing Epicureanism.
• Cynicism: Initiated by Antisthenes.

Stoicism

The founder of this school was Zeno of Citium (c. 334 – 262 BC). Other prominent representatives include Marcus Aurelius, Seneca of Cordoba, and Epictetus. Stoic ethics sets the goal of existence as happiness. Happiness is achieved by living according to nature, that is, living in harmony with the Logos. One must align their individual Logos with the universal Logos to understand everything that occurs in nature. Stoicism posits an active Logos (fire) and a passive Logos (matter), which need each other to exist and generate relationships of sympathy between things and beings.

• Individual reason can help us understand the universal Logos.
• Nothing happens by chance; everything has an explanation.

Epicureanism: The Garden

Epicurus (341-270 BC), born in Mytilene (Lesbos), founded his own school in Athens called "The Garden" around 306 BC. This school allowed the entry of women and slaves, which was a significant departure for the time. Friendship was highly valued in this school, which led to various rumors and its eventual closure. Epicurean philosophy is based on two principles:

• Nothing is born of non-being.
• Everything is composed of atoms and void, and is infinite.

For Epicurus, everything is composed of atoms that join together through a downward movement. Atoms collide with each other, creating clusters that give rise to the forms of nature. This downward movement is governed by chance. The Epicureans, therefore, are contrary to the Stoic notion of necessity. Human beings consist of atoms; both the body and the soul are mortal and finite. For Epicurus, only the atoms are infinite; at death, the body's atoms become part of other bodies, and the soul's atoms disperse. Human life is thus interpreted as brief and fleeting, and the main objective of a human should be happiness. To achieve this, one must flee from fear and seek pleasure. Epicurus' atomistic philosophy aims to break down fear through three concepts:

• Mechanism: This dispels the fear of the gods. We realize that we are formed only by atoms, and therefore no one is watching us. The motion of atoms is mechanical but lacks inherent direction.
• Indeterminism: According to Epicurus, a deterministic view of life is not accurate, since atoms can change direction by chance or accident. Epicurus advocates for chance and the absence of any predetermined forces.
• Materialism: This argues that it is absurd to fear death because we will never experience it. Once dead, we cease to exist and therefore will not feel anything. Death is not something to be feared.

For Epicurus, fear is what keeps us from happiness. Through mechanism, we eradicate the fear of the gods; through indeterminism, we understand that chance rules the world, and therefore there is no fixed destination (fear of fate). Finally, materialism breaks the fear of death. Ataraxia (a state of imperturbability) is approached when we are not overly affected by suffering. The state of Ataraxia means following a steady path and not being emotionally swayed too much by events, whether good or bad. Hedonism: Humans should focus on what gives them pleasure. According to Epicurus, happiness is both the beginning and the end. To reach happiness, he proposed four principles:

• We must accept present pleasure.
• We must reject present pleasure when reason tells us that it will lead to future pain.
• We must reject present pain.
• We must accept present pain when reason tells us that it will lead to future pleasure.

From these principles and atomistic philosophy, one reaches a state of "Ataraxia" – imperturbability – in which neither good nor bad things affect us excessively. Epicurus also distinguishes between various types of pleasures:

• Natural and necessary pleasures: These make prudent people happy and lead them to reject other (purely physical) pleasures.
• Natural but not necessary pleasures.
• Pleasures that are neither natural nor necessary.