Epicureans Vs Greek Essay

Epicureans believed Gods exist, however just because they exist didn’t mean they were to be worshipped this was because Gods did not create the world. Epicureans also believed that everything was nothing more than just matter, including Gods. Therefore if Gods were just matter one was to not fear their judgment of them in the afterlife. Basically, the Gods only purpose was to be an example of the ideally happy life one was to live, this was known as ataraxia. On the other hand Stoics thought that God was not a separate being who created the world, instead he was nature. Moreover, stoics firmly believed that God was an actual living organism and we humans were cells in a larger organism. Our purpose then was doing our part adequately, in the larger whole.
Both the Epicureans and the Stoics live by ataraxia, however Epicureans believed the highest human good contradicted from that of the stoics. Epicurus thought it was normal to seek pleasure and avoid pain in order to live in Eudemonia. While Stoicism’s thought happiness depended on how one was feeling towards life in that particular moment or place. One couldn’t suddenly get happier by having more time in their hands to be content. In Stoicism, self-preservation is a natural instinct, while pleasure plays this role for the Epicureans. Owing to both of these philosophies having such
Epicureans didn’t think eliminating pathos was important. This was because they believed it only took a few desires in order to achieve satisfaction and live a pleasant life. Bringing back the concept of ataraxia, Epicureans thought there wasn’t a need to defect one’s desires nor did they feel troubled by not being able to quench their desires. On the contrary, stoics had trouble when it came to this. Stoics became troubled by not being able to make their desires come true, being that unlike Epicureans, the Stoics had completely eliminated