Search
Log in
  • Home

  • Categories

  • Audiobooks

  • E-books

  • For kids

  • Top lists

  • Help

  • Download app

  • Use campaign code

  • Redeem gift card

  • Try free now
  • Log in
  • Language

    🇦🇹 Österreich

    • AT
    • EN

    🇧🇪 Belgique

    • FR
    • EN

    🇩🇰 Danmark

    • DK
    • EN

    🇩🇪 Deutschland

    • DE
    • EN

    🇪🇸 España

    • ES
    • EN

    🇫🇷 France

    • FR
    • EN

    🇳🇱 Nederland

    • NL
    • EN

    🇳🇴 Norge

    • NO
    • EN

    🇨🇭 Schweiz

    • DE
    • EN

    🇫🇮 Suomi

    • FI
    • EN

    🇸🇪 Sverige

    • SE
    • EN
  1. Books
  2. Society and Social Sciences
  3. Philosophy

Read and listen for free for 14 days!

Cancel anytime

Try free now
0.0(0)

Epicurus in 60 Minutes : Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes

The philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BC) has been controversial since antiquity. His provocative key idea is of compelling simplicity. Every human being possesses, by nature, an internal compass. In order to be happy he must do what causes him pleasure and joy and avoid what causes him unpleasure and harm. He writes: "Pleasure is the starting point and goal of living blessedly [...] (It is) our first innate good, and [...] our starting point for every choice and avoidance." Already newborns follow this "pleasure principle". But this discovery, which might at first seem so obvious, struck Epicurus's contemporaries as a monstrous provocation. The notion that the highest goal of life is enjoying pleasure stands in stark contrast to the then-established teachings of Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics. These latter saw reason and a life lived by reason as the highest goal of Man. Because Epicurus accepted women into his school and even had a love affair with one of them, his contemporaries called him a "glutton" and "sex fiend". The Greek poet Timon described him as "doggish", the Stoic Epictetus as a "wastrel". Christian authors later even called him the Antichrist. But these critiques are fundamentally false, because beyond a superficial striving for pleasure, Epicurus's deeper concern was a lifelong, painstaking "care of the self". His questions, then, remain burningly relevant. What are the basic human needs whose satisfaction yields a happy life? Which needs are really necessary to life and which not? How, concretely, should we deal with these needs: for example with the need for food, drink, sexual intercourse and friendship? The book contains almost a hundred quotes from this charismatic ancient philosopher. It appears as part of the beloved series "Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes" which has now been translated worldwide into six languages.


Author:

  • Walther Ziegler

Format:

  • E-book

Duration:

  • 78 pages

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Society and Social Sciences
  • Philosophy

More by Walther Ziegler

Skip the list
  1. Kafka en 60 minutes

    Walther Ziegler

    book
  2. 10 philosophische Wege zum Glück in 60 Minuten

    Walther Ziegler

    book
  3. Arendt en 60 minutes

    Walther Ziegler

    book
  4. Arendt en 60 minutes

    Walther Ziegler

    book
  5. Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes - Volume 5

    Walther Ziegler

    book
  6. Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes - Volume 3 : Confucius, Buddha, Epicurus, Descartes, Hobbes

    Walther Ziegler

    book
  7. Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes - Volume 4 : Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Kafka, Arendt

    Walther Ziegler

    book
  8. 10 große Fragen der Philosophie in 60 Minuten

    Walther Ziegler

    book
  9. Schopenhauer en 60 minutes

    Walther Ziegler

    book
  10. Descartes in 60 Minutes : Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes

    Walther Ziegler

    book
  11. Kafka in 60 Minutes : Great Thinkers in 60 Minutes

    Walther Ziegler

    book

Help and contact


About us

  • Our story
  • Career
  • Press
  • Accessibility
  • Partner with us
  • Investor relations
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Explore

  • Categories
  • Audiobooks
  • E-books
  • Magazines
  • For kids
  • Top lists

Popular categories

  • Crime
  • Biographies and reportage
  • Fiction
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Personal development
  • Children's books
  • True stories
  • Sleep and relaxation

Nextory

Copyright © 2025 Nextory AB

Privacy Policy · Terms · Imprint ·
Excellent4.3 out of 5