SEPT 18

5: SEP 18

Assigned

• Epicurus, Letter and PD (9)
• McMahon C1, “Highest Good” (50-65)

In-class Segment

• Looking at writing from the practice exercise.

Some writing concepts - Review of first writing

• A general challenge of good writing -- Getting outside of your head -- looking at the writing as if you didn't write it.

• Here are a few good writing concepts to look for in the samples on the handout.

• Flow -- How well does one sentence follow another? Do you notice places where flow is interrupted?
• Good starts -- Without good introductions and signals of organization and thesis readers are disoriented and confused. Set context by framing the topic. Tell your readers where you are going to take them.
• Efficient writing -- Literally, how much you say with so many words. Awkward phrasing and limited word choice reduce efficiency.

• Review of writing samples.

• I haven't looked at all of the writing yet, but I will share some samples, mostly of good things you are doing. The samples will be drawn from the other section of Ethics. They all do many good things as writers, but there are some differences.

Hellenistic Hedonism: Epicurus -- Letter to Menoeceus and Principal Doctrine

• Key Idea: Pleasure is the Good ("Alpha and Omega of a happy life." - Letter)

• Fundamental distinction between Katastematic pleasures and kinetic pleasure.

• Accepts reality of gods, but thinks it's human error to think that the gods bestow blessings and punishments. They're not thinking about you.

• Death is nothing to us. Arguments: good and evil dep on awareness, no terror in ceasing to live. Assess: "The wise person.... Also PD2

• natural desires vs. groundless desires, of the natural, some necessary some only natural. Of the necessary, some for happiness, curing disease, surviving. Direct yourself toward satisfying the natural necessary desires.

• "For the end of all our actions is to be free from pain and fear, and when once we have attained all this, the tempest of the soul is laid to rest" (The desire for pleasure is also a kind of pain.)

• Epicurus is telling us that while we think pleasure is endless stimulation, it is really found in satisfaction, which is a state of non-desire (rather than lack of desire).

• "They have the sweetest enjoyment of luxury who stand least in need of it."

• "Plain fare gives as much pleasure as a costly diet." "When we say, then, that pleasure is the end and aim, we do not mean..."

• Small Group Discussion: Consider Epicurus' advice about pleasure in light of the hedonic treadmill, and the distinction between kinetic and katastematic pleasures. Should you literally accept that "water is as good as wine" and "plain fare gives as much pleasure as a costly diet" or, is Epicurus making a different point, or, should we just reinterpret him to allow for a few more kinetic pleasures?

• Tetra-pharmakos:

• 1. Don't fear gods.
• 2. Death is nothing. - note his arguments here (see above).
• 3. What is good is easy to get.
• 4. What is evil is easy to endure.

• PD 3: Limit of pleasure is removal of pain. Note how this could be true given a view of desire. (also, PD18.)

• PD 5: Relation of virtue to pleasure (wisdom to happiness!)

• PD 8: Pursuit of pleasure complicates your life.

• PD 18: close to adaptation. hedonic treadmill.

• PD 25: something akin to mindfulness.

• PD 27-8: priority of friendship. (This is a major type distinction for Epicurus. Does friendship habituate?)

2nd Thoughts on Epicurus

• As with Epictetus, Epicurus' advice on how to achieve sagehood regarding pleasure strikes us as extreme. And so it is. But what might be some enduring lessons from his thought?

• To be a good hedonist

1. Reason must be involved to evaluate pleasures and pleasure seeking behaviors. (Examples: food examples, affect forecasting failures are not limited to Hellenists!)

2. Simple pleasures savored can be superior to complex pleasures consumed without attention or at frequent intervals.

3. Negative mental states can ruin any pleasure. (For Epicurus: fear of the gods, for us: anxiety, stress.)

• Maybe some things that separate him from us:

1. Overgeneralizes the strategy of extinguishing desire. With control, connoisseurship is possible and desirable.

2. In a wealthy educated world, we might feel secure with higher levels of pleasurable activity.

3. We're not them.