Friday, February 12, 2010
Stoicism & Epicureanism
Although I admit I am still not totally sure I understand Stoic and Epicurean philosophies, what I believe to be the major difference between the two is the timeframe that each one focuses on. Stoics seem to focus more pleasure in the here and now, while Epicureans view happiness as a more long term process. While I try to live my life as more of a stoic, thinking about what would make me happy in that exact moment, i realize that a lot of things i do are a result of Epicurean thinking. I do consider the immediate effect and how i will feel directly after making a decision, I think a large part of the decision making process is considering what the long-term effect will be. For example, it's saturday and my friends call me to see if i want to hang out. I do, but i also know that i have a huge project due the following monday. Going out with my friends would make me happier in the moment, but i know that getting a good grade in the class would make me happier in the long run so i would probably opt for the project. For this reason i think that Epicureanism plays a larger role in society today, but stoic beliefs are not ignored.
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I think you have a point when yoou say Epicureanism plays a larger role in society today. But I wonder if it's because people don't truly understand Stoicism.
ReplyDeleteDon't confuse Stoicism with short term happiness. Stoics do not concern themselves with happiness.
A Stoic will always do his / her homework. Not doing so would suggest what happens in life is random and meaningless, not rational and for a good reason. Stoics firmly believe that whatever life throws at them is meant to be, so they accept it--period. If a Stoic's teacher assigns 200 pages of Pre-Cal work, he'd do his best to finish it. Whether it gets done or not, however, isn't too important. It's more about the attitude toward doing the work.
Stoics can and do have long term goals. However, they don't allow their happiness to be tied to the achievement of those goals. In fact, they don't hold a lot of stock in happiness at all--happiness comes and goes all of the time, and it always will. This is the critical difference. They take each day as it comes. Now, which philosophy makes more sense to you?