The Epistemological And Physical Foundation Of Epicurean Hedonism

There are usually two popular but uncensored opinions about Epicurus'philosophy.One is that Epicurus' philosophical system is divided into three part:Canonics,Physics,and Ethics,but this claim itself is ambiguous.In fact,in the existing ancient literature,Epicurean philosophy is not only regarded as a "two-fold"system,but also as a "three-fold" system.How to explain the classification of Epicurean philosophy is a problem that has not yet been solved in the History of Philosophy.Even,it has not received much attention.Another opinion is about the relationship among the different parts of Epicurus' system.Scholars believe that Canonics is the foundation of Physics,and that Canonics and Physics constitute the basis of Ethics,however,the meaning of this "foundation" or "basis" has never been systematically clarified and elucidated,and thus lacks support of ancient text.These two vague and prevailing opinions have always cast a veil of ecstasy on the philosophy of Epicurus.This situation directly or indirectly leads to the two theoretical consequences,that is,we cannot look at the Epicurean philosophy from a holistic perspective,nor can we give a coherent and systematic interpretation of the relationship among the "three parts".Therefore,according to the traditional interpretation,it is almost impossible to give due explanation to the special status of Epicurean philosophy in the History of PhilosophyIn order to solve these two problems in the history of Greek Philosophy,I will try to give an original interpretation of Epicurus' system.This is also the problem to be solved in Chapter ?.I will first examine the relevant texts on the classification of Epicurus' philosophy,and then explain that it is not justified for the previous history of philosophy to distinguish Epicurus from the later Epicureans on the issue of philosophical classification,as their position is the same.Then,I will argue that for ancient authors,the "three-fold" classification of Epicurus' system was based on Plato-Stoic standard of division,because they separately listed logic and dialectics as a part of philosophy,and they regard Epicurus" Canonics as a kind of logic.However,Epicurus' own rejection of logic led to a "two-fold" classification according to the Plato-Stoic standard of division.Interestingly,however,Epicurus distinguishes the three stages of philosophical inquiry,which correspond to the three philosophical theories,and thus,in the sense of classification rather than division,his philosophy can also be seen as "three-fold." We can find evidence in ancient literature that the Hellenistic philosophers were very clear about the distinction between "classification"and "division".It is division and classification as two standards of dividing that have led to conflicting statements about the Epicurean system.Finally,through this interpretation,the ancient literature on the classification of Epicurean philosophy can be well integrated.Based on my interpretation of the Epicurean system,I will explain the significance of Epicurus'juxtaposition of Canonics and Physics in Chapter III.I will proceed from the grand background of Greek epistemology.In the first section,it is argued that Epicurus' juxtaposition of Canonics and Physics is aimed at the scepticism contained in Democritus' atomism.To this end,I will examine Democritus' views on epistemology,trying to show that Democritus' theory leads to either a complete skepticism of sensations or a skepticism of sensations' reliability,and both of these views are what Epicurus tried to avoid.Moreover,Epicurus not only raised the issue of standards and elements(this was influenced by Democritus),but he also proposed twelve basic principles.Epicurus's natural philosophy is based entirely on his twelve basic principles.It's important to note that Epicurus and the later Epicureans speak highly of Democritus,even though they criticize Democritus' epistemology.In addition,in the second section,I will discuss the relationship between the basic principles and the solid knowledge,and explain that the understanding,interpretation and application of the basic principles are a unified dynamic process.The third section is about elements.Although Epicurus and Democritus both have discussed this,I will prove the difference between Epicurus and his predecessor,Democritus:Epicurus" statements about elements are entirely inferred from his basic principles,and the justifications of his basic principles are closely related to the standards of truth.;the elements of Democritus are more like a response to the Eleatics'metaphysical statements about "one" and "many".Through the relevant discourse,the sense of juxtaposition of Canonics and physics has been confirmed from the different atomism schools and from the philosophy of Epicurus.In Chapter ?,I will talk about the fundamental role of Epicurus' epistemology and physics with regard to his Ethics.Through the study of the history of Greek philosophy,we will find that this ground-breaking role is quite possibly the original creation of Epicurus,which we have not seen in previous Atomists or Hedonists.In the first section,I will explain that Democritus' epistemology or physics is basically not related to his ethics.On the one hand,there is a irreconcilable tension between Democritus' physics and his ethics,on the other hand,Democritus' epistemology(for example,his standard of action)can not lead to his ethical end;in the second section,I will explain the denial of the basic role of epistemology and physics in the Cyrenaic School;In the third section,I will explain the four pillar problems to be solved in the Epicurean Ethics and their solutions are totally based on the Epistemology and Physics of Epicurus,in which I reconstruct Epicurus' argument for happiness as the purpose of Human beings and point out that our inner primitive desires are the keys in this argument.In fact,whether the concept of the gods or the limits of desire,their clarification is inseparable from the ancient Greek notions of Nature.