Epicurus and Democritean Ethics

The Epicurean philosophical system has enjoyed much scrutiny, but the question of its philosophical ancestry remains largely neglected. It has often been thought that Epicurus owed only his physical theory of atomism to the fifth-century BC philosopher Democritus, but this study finds that there is much in his ethical thought which can be traced to Democritus. It also finds important influences on Epicurus in Democritus’ fourth-century followers such as Anaxarchus and Pyrrho, and in Epicurus’ disagreements with his own Democritean teacher Nausiphanes. The result is not only a fascinating reconstruction of a lost tradition, but also an important contribution to the philosophical interpretation of Epicureanism, bearing especially on its ideal of tranquillity and on the relation of ethics to physics.

• The first study of an important ancient philosophical tradition • Sheds light on the origins of Western ethics • Uncovers the background to Epicureanism and Pyrrhonian scepticism

List of figures; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction: Epicurus, Democritus and ataraxia; 1. Introducing the Democriteans; 2. Democritus’ ethics and atomist psychologies; 3. Anaxarchus’ moral stage; 4. Pyrrho and Timon: inhuman indifference; 5. Polystratus and Epicurean pigs; 6. Hecataeus of Abdera’s instructive ethnography; 7. Nausiphanes’ compelling rhetoric; Conclusion: Epicurus and Democriteanism: determinism, scepticism and ethics; Bibliography; Index locorum; General index.