EPICURUS

Greek philosopher; b. Samos, 341 b.c.; d. Athens, 271 or 270 b.c. His father, Neocles, was an Athenian schoolmaster who had settled in the island of Samos. Epicurus studied there under the Platonist Pamphilus, but at 18 he left the island to go to Athens. Later, when the Athenian settlers were expelled from Samos, Epicurus joined his father in Colophon. His years between 20 and 30 appear to have been formative of his philosophy. He studied for some time under the Democritean Nausiphanes, from whom he is said to have derived his Canon. Toward the end of this period, Epicurus underwent an important moral and psychological change; this accounts for

the widely divergent opinions of his moral character. His enemies and opponents stress the aggressive and ungrateful bent of his earlier years, while his disciples extol the gentle and considerate master who presided over his philosophical family (see De Witt, ch. 2). At the age of 32 he gathered disciples and founded schools in Mitylene and Lampsacus; five years later he established a school at Athens, where he lived until his death.

Epicurus wrote about 300 works in which he prides himself on never quoting another author. The list given by Diogenes Laertius enumerates many works on physics, including 37 on Nature, one on the Criterion or the Canon, many treatises on ethical matters, and books refuting or expounding other philosophies. The extant works and fragments of Epicurus have been collected and edited by Hermann Usener (Epicurea, Leipzig 1887). Diogenes Laertius in his life of Epicurus has preserved for posterity Epicurus's last will, three important letters on physical and ethical subjects, and the principal doctrines—a sort of Epicurean catechism made up of 40 propositions. For an analysis of his teachings and his influence, see epicureanism.

Bibliography: f. c. copleston History of Philosophy 1:401–412. g. m. pozzo, Enciclopedia Filosofica 1:1931–39. n. w. de witt, Epicurus and His Philosophy (Minneapolis 1954). a. m. j. festugiÈre, Epicurus and His Gods, tr. c. w. chilton (Cambridge, Mass. 1956).

[v. cauchy]