Abstract
This paper offers a discussion of the philosophy of Epicurus, Epicureanism, one that promotes happiness as the end goal through the prudent pursuit of pleasures and leading a simple lifestyle. What the values, doctrines and counsels of Epicureanism imply for alternate forms of management compared to conventional management is the main focus.

From the Paper
"Epicureanism is a belief or philosophical system that teaches the way to happiness is moderation of pleasure and living the simple life. Marcus Aurelius founded four schools of thought that included the school of Plato, Academic, the school of Aristotle, Peripatetic, the school of Zeno, Stoic, and the school of Epicurus, Epicureanism. Distinguished from the other schools by retaining its founder's name, Wallace notes that to the end of its career, the Epicurean sect clung reverently and lovingly to the person..."

Tags:pain, wealth, fame, honesty, self-management, integrity, profits, greed, ethics, responsibility, environment, stakeholders, leadership

Abstract
The paper examines the Epicurean view that death should not be feared and comparesit to Thomas Nagel's view that death is indeed something to dread. The paper argues that Epicurus' view is a more compelling one simply because death is an inevitability and Nagel expects human beings to assume a despondent, hopeless approach to human existence that pushes aside getting the most one can out of life. The paper concludes that while Nagel and Epicurus both share a love of human life and what it offers, Epicurus is unwilling to allow that existence to be shaped by gloomy thoughts.

From the Paper
"To begin with, Nagel starts by pointing out that death would be an indifferent affair if people were simply to expire after a long, coma-like state. For Nagel, life is fundamentally about being "alive", about being ambulatory and able to do certain things that lie within our power to do; in effect (although Nagel does not say so explicitly) life is - or can be - essentially an expression of human autonomy, efficacy, and self-actualization. In a real sense, Nagel posits that human beings lose something or have something taken from them when they die. To put it another way, while a dead corpse is but a corpse, the real tragedy lies in the fact that the experiences, sensations, thoughts and feelings of life have been stripped from a deceased person."

Tags:existence, human, control, mortality, life, sensation, enjoyment

Abstract
The paper looks at the Epicurean view that death should not be feared and compares it to the view of Thomas Nagel that death is indeed something to dread to the extent that it brings an unhappy and permanent close to our existence on Earth. The paper also considers Nagel's likely response to the Epicurean injunction that death should not be feared. The paper argues that Epicurus's view is a more compelling one, simply because death is an inevitability that all living beings must face, and thinking relentlessly upon the topic of death distracts people from the joys of living.

From the Paper
"It is hard to escape the conclusion that death is one of the things about which human beings think, if not constantly, than certainly frequently. With this in mind, the following paper will look at the Epicurean view that death should not be feared and compare it to the view of Thomas Nagel that death is indeed something to dread to the extent that it brings an unhappy and permanent close to our existence on Earth; the paper will also consider Nagel's likely response to the Epicurean injunction that death should not be feared. While both writers raise excellent points in defense..."

Tags:epicurus, nagel, death

Abstract
In this article, the writer compares and contrasts the idea of the "meaning of life" as implicit in Karl Marx's discussion of "alienation" with that in the work of Epicurus. The writer argues that while Marx's view effectively reduces the significance of human existence to being synonymous with labor activity, Epicurus argues for a broader conception of life.

From the Paper
The meaning of life from the perspective of a 19th century political/economic philosopher and a 4th-3rd century BCE Greek philosopher are likely to be, not surprisingly, different in many respects. This being said, this paper will compare and contrast the idea of the "meaning of life" as implicit in Karl Marx's discussion of "alienation" with that in the work of Epicurus. As will be argued, while Marx's view effectively reduces the significance of human existence to being synonymous with labor activity, Epicurus argues for a broader conception of life. In making a choice between the two, the key criterion - I would argue - is not so much which is the more "plausible" as which best explains human life in general: a view that favors Epicurus.

Tags:life

Abstract
The paper discusses Thomas Nagel's understanding of the significance of death as being bad in contrast to Epicurus who does not consider death as bad. The paper argues that Nagel's argument is the more sound of the two as he recognizes the fundamental asymmetry in our valuations of life and death. The paper attempts to show how Epicurus' argument is invalid in its basic premise given its limited conception of the meaning of death.

From the Paper
"Nagel's argument that death is bad is rendered particularly strong by his willingness to address opposing views from the outset, and thus carefully establish the boundaries of his argument. For example, Nagel decides to leave aside the complex debate over whether we are "immortal" in some fashion - immortality implying continuation of consciousness in one form or another - and define death as being the absence of any "conscious survival" (Nagel 31). Similarly, he is equally careful to restrict the valuation of life to one's subjectivity instead of viewing it in an objective sense. This removes complications that may come from an "objective" viewing of the valuation of life from the perspective of others (Nagel 31). Having thus carefully framed the boundaries of his argument, Nagel presents his key contention with regard to the "asymmetry" in our understanding of the significance of death versus life."

Tags:asymmetry, tragedy, fear, subjectivity, immortality, Lucretius

Abstract
This paper examines why, according to Epicurus and Lucretius, it is a mistake to fear death. The author analyzes the sentiments in Lucretius' didactic poem, "On the Nature of the Universe", and includes quotes from it to support her thesis.

Abstract
This paper offers an evaluation of Titus Carus Lucretius' "De Rerum Natura," comparing the poem to earlier works done. The paper also gives a brief background of Lucretius and other writers in the field, and outlines the thoughts of modern scholars on the matter. The paper explains that Lucretius was one of the most influential poets of late Republican Rome, and was heavily influenced by the teachings of a previous philosopher, Epicurus, the creator of Epicurean philosophy, who wrote on the subject of atomic theory in the third century B.C. The paper notes that when Lucretius wrote on atoms he developed several conclusions that were ahead of his time, and that one of his main reasons for writing was to cure men of the fear of death, a subject he believed to be of the utmost importance. The paper opines that whether viewed as a poem that compounds Epicurean philosophy, or a poem of truly original thought, "De Rerum Natura" is one of the boldest and most powerful books of all time. The paper concludes that "De Rerum Natura" has changed the face of literature since its publication, influencing authors such as Vergil, to Henri Bergson, and continues to remain one of the most fascinating pieces of literature that has ever been written.

From the Paper
"Epicurus, a philosopher who lived approximately 200 years before Lucretius, wrote on the subject of atomic theory. His teachings, which would later be called Epicureanism, were heavily influential upon the works of Lucretius taught that the laws of nature, not the gods, ruled the world. Epicurus wrote "Supernatural intervention is not needed to explain the phenomena of the world." Epicurus taught that although there were gods, they were ignorant of mankind, and thus not to be feared. He believed that because we are able to see only the material world, we cannot conclude that anything else exists. Although Epicurus was hardly a spiritualist he valued art, and other pleasures of the mind above more mundane pleasures. He taught that pleasure was good and pain was bad and that both pleasure and pain could not coexist, and that anxiety was one of the greatest causes of pain. Death being one of the major causes of anxiety in one's life, it also must be, according to Epicurus, the greatest hindrance for pleasure. And because he believed that only the material world exists, there is no life after death, and thus nothing to fear. In 306 B.C. he founded a school in Athens that survived long after his demise and would greatly influence the mind of young Lucretius."

Tags:Epicurus, Rome, Titus, Carus

Abstract
This paper explains that pleasure and the good is an important theme to philosophers. Various philosophers have differing ideas as to what the good life constitutes. The author points out that, in living a good life, it is important to maintain a balance regarding pleasurable activities while abstaining from extremes; however, completely abstaining from pleasure does not lead to the good life because we are not merely souls divorced from our bodies, we are whole entities. The paper analyzes the Calliclean, Aristotelian, Epicurean, and Stoicism philosophical approaches to the concept of pleasure and the good. The author concludes that the Aristotelian view on pleasure and the good seems to be the most plausible.

Table of Contents:
Theme: Pleasure and the Good
Callicles on Pleasure
Epicurus on Pleasure
Stoics on the Good
Aristotle on the Good
Analysis
Callicles on Pleasure and the Good
Epicurus on Pleasure and the Good
Aristotle on Pleasure and the Good
The Stoics on Pleasure and the Good
Conclusion

From the Paper
"According to Aristotle, happiness is activity in accordance with virtue over a complete lifetime and pleasure perfects our activities. Since life is an activity, pleasure is an important aspect of life. Although Aristotle thinks that pleasure is a good, he doesn't think it is the good. Since we are rational agents, a life purely devoted to pleasure is incomplete because it allows no essential role to rational activity and mere pleasure without rational activity is not the good for a rational agent."

Tags:balance nature goal externals, cradle argument

Abstract
The paper analyzes the Hellenistic era views of the Epicureans, Stoics, and Sceptics, who debated over the idea of truth and knowledge. More specifically, the paper clarifies, they argued over whether it was possible to attain knowledge and, if so, how and by what parameters was knowledge to be judged. The paper notes that, despite different approaches, the Epicureans and Stoics believed in the possibility of knowledge while the Sceptics deemed it impossible to decide if anything was indeed true or false - thus leading to their conclusion that nothing can be classified as knowledge and therefore we should suspend judgment on any issue. The paper concludes that Epicurus, however, did not follow this doctrine and came up with a philosophy that proved the existence of knowledge, and explained the definitions and parameters of knowledge.

From the Paper
"Using the somewhat anachronistic, photo analogy of Taylor we can conceive the predicament quite clearly. Using the image of a photo as evidence of what was actually there is only conceivable because we are able to understand the process of how the camera works. Therefore, we can only use the sense-impressions as viable evidence if we understand the process that brings them about. It is the physical theory of Epicurus that attempts to describe this process. If one were to reject this thesis, then the evidence of sense-impressions has nothing to stand up against. There would be no reason to accept them as truth and far less reason to support them as a possible criterion for truth. The plausibility of Epicurus' arguments on epistemology hinges on the strength of his physical theory of eidola and the entire atomistic world he believed in. To reject this physical theory will be to reject all of the Epicurean thought on knowledge and the criteria for accessing knowledge."

Tags:philosophy, sense-impressions

Abstract
The paper reveals the tenets of avoiding pain through Epicurean values, and shows how there are serious problems with a "good" society that does not ever have conflict and the resulting pain of change. The paper discusses how this results in stagnation and idle hedonism, and causes the society to fall into decay and disuse.

Tags:hedonism, epicurus, philosophy