Friday, February 12, 2010
Roman views of happiness
Epicurean's look for long term happiness, and a happy life as a whole, where Stoics look for short term happiness, or happiness from day to day. I feel that Epicurean's views of happiness are more of a way of life avoidance that that of the stoics. They do not look to enjoy life from day to day, and make many sacrifices in order to live an overall happy life. I feel that one should live each day to the happiest and best we can. Though I make sacrifices of happiness, such as putting time aside in my afternoon to do homework and going to school on Monday through Friday, I still try to put aside time to have fun with friends every day. The stoics look for pleasure every day, which I think makes them embrace life rather than avoid it.
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I agree with what you're saying and like the fact that you acknowledge the fact that you incorporate both philosophies into your daily life rather than just picking one side and arguing it.
ReplyDeleteI also liked how you pointed out that both philosophies are brought up throughout your daily life. I think more people today have found that medium between both philosophies.
ReplyDelete"The middle road" is often considered a philosophic ideal, however, I'm not sure you can take one here. You write: "I feel that one should live each day to the happiest and best we can" but you also write that you do your homework, etc. So, how is that living that particular day to the utmost if you're doing homework that you're not really excited about doing? To me, you sound 100% Epicurean. Remember, Epicureans can enjoy their everyday lives, but just not at the expense of long term happiness.
ReplyDeleteA Stoic, on the other hand, lives very differently. Stoics are not Hedonists, they do not concern themselves with immediate, personal happiness--merely longevity. They don't see winning the lottery as any better than a lightning storm wrecking their home.
Unlike Epicureans, Stoics don't calculate how to get the most pain free (or happiest) future--they simply believe that everything happens for a reason and try to live with it. Don't confuse the idea of living in the moment ("carpe diem") with the idea of short term pleasure. Carpe diem is a simple way of saying "No matter what life throws at me, I'm not going to let it bring me down. I’m going to survive.”
You're right that Epicureans look at the long term, but only in a narrow way. They look at how to minimize pain in their life. That is their only long term goal.
What I wanted to know is if Stoics have a point when they say that Epicureans make a mistake in trying to live a life free from as much pain as possible.