Three late Hellenic philosophies competed as "therapies" of the time, Epicureans, Stoics and Sceptics. Your view?

Three late Hellenic philosophies competed as "therapies" of the time, Epicureans, Stoics and Sceptics. Your view? Which appeals to you?

Epicurianism advocated "freedom from distress", fending off pain, anxiety and deprivation insofar as possible to live the life of reason and traquility. John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham might be viewed as more modern adherents of this general view. For the Stoics the general view was "Do not seek to have everything happen as you wish, but wish for everything to happen as it does happen.

Embrace fate and your life will be serene. " There are strong echoes of this in Christianity. The way to handle fate is to travel light and regard anything you have as more or less gone already."Withdraw into yourself" says Marcus Aurelius.

Duty, discipline and self-control are the watchwords. Sceptics called every belief into question, urged suspending judgements and "living without opinions". Sextus Empiricus characterized sceptics as searchers or inquirers who did not need to arrive at a conclusion but opposed all dogmatists.

The road to traquility is in the journey. Asked by edfoug 46 months ago Similar questions: late Hellenic philosophies competed therapies time Epicureans Stoics Sceptics view Society > Philosophy.

Similar questions: late Hellenic philosophies competed therapies time Epicureans Stoics Sceptics view.

In works of a fine Spanish poet, Antonio Machado (1875-1939), you find spurs of 'skepticism'. I doubt if he was skeptic. A.

Epicureans The philosophy of Epicurus - who suffered his whole life from severe illnesses- is not my kettle of fish if I have to choose between the three schools of philosophy. In fact, Epicurus’ work was an answer on the personal situation he had to live with. He became known as the man who stimulated people to enjoy life as much as possible.

The ’Epicureans’ followed their master - or ’guru’ as it is expressed nowadays - and that made his philosophy famous When he brought his pupils and followers together - not only in Greece but also in Rome - he was well-known for his brilliant and always peaceful sermons and writings. B. Stoics The view of life of the Stoics is found back indeed in the philosophy of not only early Christianism but of certain forms of nowadays Christianism.

I mention Calvinism and Roman Catholicism as these forms are the ones I know best from my studies and from the many years I lived in my native Holland. C. Sceptics The best example I can give about the way of thinking of the ’Skeptics’ is a fine and famous little ’poem`of Antonio Machado who - with Federico Garcia Lorca - belongs to my favorite poets in the Spanish language You can find it in ’Proverbios and cantares’, (Proverbs and songs) as nº.

XXIX (29). It forms part if his great work titled ’Campos de Castilla (’Landscapes of Castille’) (195 jan3). I first give the original text of Machado’s fine and famous poem and after that a translation only to the meaning into English........................................................................................................................................... Caminante, son tus huellas el camino, y nada más; caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.Al andar se hace camino, y al volver la vista atrás se ve la senda que nunca se ha de volver a pisar.

Caminante, no hay camino, sino estelas en la mar............................................................................................................................................... (My translation to the meaning into English) Walker, these are you footprints the way, and nothing more; walker, there is no way, the way is made while you walk. While you walk, you make a way and when you look back you see the track that you never have to walk all over again. Walker, there is no way there are only wakes on the sea.

******************************************************************************* I myself feel most towards ’Iietsism’, a Dutch way of living live. Translated into English that concept would become a ’Somethingist’. Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (1875-1939) Epicurus, Greek philosopher (342-270 BC) Sources: My studies and my opinion and choice janosj's Recommendations The Epicurus Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia (HPC Classics) Amazon List Price: $7.95 Used from: $0.80 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 2 reviews) Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics, Second edition Amazon List Price: $25 jan3 Used from: $5 jan3 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 1 reviews) Letters and Sayings of Epicurus Library of Essential Reading Series Used from: $3.85 janosj's Recommendations Campos de Castilla Amazon List Price: $5 jan7 Used from: $5 jan3 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 1 reviews) Border of a Dream: Selected Poems of Antonio Machado Amazon List Price: $25 jan7 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 3 reviews) Poesias Completas/ Complete Poetry (Coleccion Austral) Amazon List Price: $15 jan3 Used from: $5 jan3 Antología poética Amazon List Price: $5 jan7 Used from: $5 jan7 Philosophy is 'a mer a boire' as the French use to say.

But also now, it makes the grass of your knowledge and interests certainly grow. Many philosophers were also poets...and the other way around. The selection I made is limited.

If you are studying Spanish, try to find a book of poetry in the original version with a translation of the meaning of the poems included. Poetry-as-such is not (or with a lot of difficulties) translatable in an acceptable form..

I'm inclined to go with the Stoics, although the other two approaches have their appealing qualities. The Epicurean approach would only be practical for someone wealthy and/or powerful enough to have major control over one’s own life. Very few people ever have that degree of control over their own existence to be able to free them selves from distress, pain, anxiety and deprivation.

Further, some people are born with temperaments that react more strongly to outside stimuli and events than others. For these sensitive people, the Epicurean goal would be unattainable in any case. What I’ve always found troubling about this approach is that defines happiness as a negative condition which is dependent upon outside conditions.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism The Sceptics remind me of college professors (No offense, Ed. ) who attack, belittle and criticize all ideas, while believing in very little of their own. People who go through life without opinions or emotional attachments to things are living only half a life, since to reach that stage, they must totally suppress the input of their right brains.

What has always bothered me about this approach to life is that it reduces its adherents to people going down a road who only see the highway and never the beauties around them. If the road to tranquility is a journey, what happens when it is reached? What else is there to live for?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skepticism My preference of the three schools is clearly towards the Stoic approach because it doesn’t condition happiness upon outside events, rather, it is a condition of one’s inner being. The Stoic plays the cards dealt and does the best that he or she can under the circumstances. This is the mark of a truly virtuous person.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism Several people from history that I greatly admire acted as Stoics. The great Socrates could have escaped from his death sentence by fleeing Athens, but stayed to meet his end out of loyalty to Athens, its laws and customs. He accepted the unjust condemnation to death as being better than a just condemnation to death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedo St. Thomas More, a.k.a. , Sir Thomas More accepted death rather than violate this beliefs. In his portrayal by Paul Scofield in the film, "A Man for All Seasons," which appears to have been very historically accurate, More accepted his fate with equanimity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_More He was so calm that during his imprisonment that he was even able to write a meditation, Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17075 I submit that anyone who could write a dialogue of any coherence while facing a crime that would that would lead to his death by possible drawing and quartering, had mastered stoicism very well.

For those who are unfamiliar with the punishment for treason in England at that time it was: Until 1814, the full punishment for the crime of treason was to be hanged, drawn and quartered in that the condemned prisoner would be: Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution.(This is one possible meaning of drawn.) Hanged by the neck for a short time or until almost dead.(hanged).

Disembowelled and emasculated and the genitalia and entrails burned before the condemned’s eyes (This is another meaning of drawn — see the reference to the Oxford English Dictionary below. )2 Beheaded and the body divided into four parts (quartered). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_drawn_and_quartered

My third Stoic favorite is Viktor Frankl.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism0 Although caught in the maw of the Nazi extermination system--first at Theresienstadt, then Auschwitz and then finally at Tuerkheim, he kept his wits about himself. He continued to do what doctors do, which is to look out for their patients.Dr. Frankl also kept his scientifically trained mind working and observed the phenomenae around him. After his rescue by Third Army under Gen Patton, Dr. Frankl had a long and rich career and managed to write thirty two books, most based on what he had observed in the concentration camps.

If Dr. Frankl wasn’t a true stoic, one never lived. Of the three approaches, Stoicism is the only one that makes sense to me, because it alone is not dependent upon outside matters, nor does it require us to question everything and know nothing. The Stoic approach relied on acceptance one’s fate and doing the best one can do under the circumstances.

Not everyone is born to make do heroic deeds or called upon to make wise, significant decisions. Most people go through life doing the best that they can. I find the Stoic approach the best way to approach life and to heal one’s psyche and body.

Sources: personal thought and cited above Snow_Leopard's Recommendations I Love Marcus Aurelius T-Shirt Meditations (Penguin Classics) Amazon List Price: $10.00 Used from: $10.00 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 100 reviews) The Emperor's Handbook: A New Translation of The Meditations Amazon List Price: $20.00 Used from: $10.00 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 20 reviews) The Essential Marcus Aurelius (Tarcher Cornerstone Editions) Amazon List Price: $10.00 Used from: $3.95 I Love Socrates Mug I drank what? -Socrates Bumper Sticker The Trial and Death of Socrates Amazon List Price: $4.95 Used from: $0.75 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 12 reviews) The Journeys of Socrates: An Adventure Amazon List Price: $13.95 Used from: $6.49 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 44 reviews) I Love Sir Thomas More Mug A Man for All Seasons Amazon List Price: $110.00 Used from: $1.95 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 181 reviews) A Man For All Seasons (A Play By Robert Bolt) Used from: $0. 21 Man's Search for Meaning Amazon List Price: $10.00 Used from: $10.00 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 51 reviews) Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Viktor Frankl's Principles for Discovering Meaning in Life and Work Amazon List Price: $14.95 Used from: $10.00 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 74 reviews) The Doctor and the Soul: From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy Amazon List Price: $13.95 Used from: $4.95 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 5 reviews) Recollections: An Autobiography Amazon List Price: $110.00 Used from: $4.95 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 5 reviews) .

I'm a skeptic. I often do eventually arrive at an opinion, but I’m open to not having an opinion until I have done the searching and have good reasons for my opinions --or at least a working opinion. I’m open to changing my mind when a better reason actually does present itself.

I always find the idea of embracing fate without knowing what it is is funny. Is it your fate to resist your fate? Doing something -anything- even resigning yourself to your fate would be acting on your world and not resigned to a fate.

What if I thought my fate was to be a skeptic? I also think I have a good reason to fend off pain. It's pain.

But that can't be all to what you're talking about. Is fending off pain somehow counter to being a skeptic? It would seem that all of these could coexist in some sense.

Cheers! Cyndy .

1 Epicurianism appeals to me. I like the life of reason and tranquility when I can get it. The Stoics seem to take the safe, easy, low resistance path.

Although there may be wisdom in traveling light and regarding your stuff as already gone, the "withdraw into yourself" is gay and cliche'. Sceptics seem like the paranoids, the crazies. They don't go with the flow or swim towards some goal.

If you are not going to believe in anything and have no opinions then your journey is already over. Folks that search and inquire but can't come up with an answer seem lame to me. But I do need to look up this Sextus Empiricus.

That sounds like a good name for a boat.

Epicurianism appeals to me. I like the life of reason and tranquility when I can get it. The Stoics seem to take the safe, easy, low resistance path.

Although there may be wisdom in traveling light and regarding your stuff as already gone, the "withdraw into yourself" is gay and cliche'. Sceptics seem like the paranoids, the crazies. They don't go with the flow or swim towards some goal.

If you are not going to believe in anything and have no opinions then your journey is already over. Folks that search and inquire but can't come up with an answer seem lame to me. But I do need to look up this Sextus Empiricus.

That sounds like a good name for a boat.

2 But the boat might not ever get anywhere! .

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.