I will open a post about Epicurean happiness with the boilerplate statement about Epicureanism: It’s always been misunderstood. Throughout history, thinkers have slandered Epicureans as gluttons, and it’s the opposite of what Epicureans actually believed.
For the Epicurean, happiness isn’t just about pursuing pleasure, it’s also about reducing pain, which includes reducing anxiety. Pleasure can be experienced along two different dimensions: active or static and physical or mental.
Here are some examples of these pleasures:
Active-Physical: Drinking Alcohol, Eating Delicious Food.
Active-Mental: Having a Good Conversation, Completing a logic puzzle
Static-Physical: Not being hungry, Not being Cold
Static-Mental: Not being disturbed by anything
Epicureans are not gluttons. Epicureans believe the key to a good life is attaining a state of tranquility or contentment. Pleasure is the pathway to tranquility or contentment, but you don’t achieve those outcomes by constantly chasing active-physical pleasures to excess.
We all know this firsthand: active-physical pleasures often make the future more painful. If you drink too much, you’ll get hung over or develop a chemical dependence; if you eat too much, you’ll become obese. Both outcomes create future pain, anxiety, and anguish that undermines pleasure.
In response to this reality, the Epicureans believed in cultivating static pleasures and pleasures of the mind to live a happy life. Unlike physical, active pleasures, there is no hangover from not feeling hungry, having a good conversation with friends, or feeling peace after meditating.
In this way, Epicureanism is a prudentially hedonistic philosophy. To live a good life, you must pursue pleasure, but you must also practice wisdom in that pursuit. You must be strategic about the costs and benefits of pursuing pleasure. Sometimes that means enduring pain for greater pleasure, or denying short-term pleasure for greater long-term pleasure.
Through trial and error, Epicureans saw that static and mental pleasures were a more sustainable foundation of happiness than just physical, active pleasures, and so many of them lived simply, with minimal luxury and simple food and drink.
To understand why, I’ll talk about the Epicurean theory of needs in my next post. By having a clear understanding of Epicurean needs, we’ll have better judgment about what pleasures are worthy of pursuing. See you there!