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The Greek philosopher Epicurus (Samos, 341 BC – Athens, 270 BC) was clear: “The pleasure sought must be good and valuable.” In Epicureanism the ideas focus on moral reflections that allow a happy life.
It consisted of knowing how to live as a human being, a member of a State without borders that is a changing, uncertain and threatening world. It was necessary to find individual values, since the collective ones had vanished, on which to build personal happiness.
Epicurus was the creator of the Epicurean school – The Garden, 306 BC. C in Athens -, in which men and women participated and sought a community life with serene and lasting peace. In Athens, he would remain until his death, to found his school of philosophy.
He bought a house and a small piece of land nearby, on the outskirts of Athens, on the way to Piraeus. The Garden offered a quiet place, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, where everything from talks and social gatherings to meals and celebrations took place.
It was, therefore, a place more intended for the intellectual retreat of a group of friends than a place for scientific research and higher paideia, unlike Plato’s Academy or Aristotle’s Lyceum.
People of all conditions and classes were admitted to the Garden. Also women and slaves, which at that time was an unusual fact for a philosophical school.
“The gathering is not a banal form of leisure, but one of the most profound forms, because only through gatherings, only through the exchange of possibilities and verbal realities, is it possible for us to realize that the human being is human to the extent that he is a communicating being”.
“Philosophy is the practical art of life whose purpose is the healing of the human soul.” He compares the therapeutic function of philosophy to medicine.
Philosophy aims to lead those who study and practice it to happiness, based on autonomy or autarky and tranquility of mind or ataraxia.
Since happiness is the goal of every human being, philosophy is of interest to any person, regardless of their characteristics (age, social status, etc.).
The comparison of philosophy with medicine reflects very well the utilitarian condition, of a science at the service of life, of the individual.
“Vain is the word of that philosopher who does not remedy any ailment of man. For, just as there is no benefit from medicine that does not expel diseases from the body, there is no benefit from philosophy if it does not expel ailments from the soul.”
The tetradrug is an Epicurean theory that tells us about human fears. To practice your hedonistic proposal, fears are a target to combat. It was an ancient Greek remedy, also used later by the Romans, made up of yellow wax, pine resin, rosin and mutton tallow.
These four substances were mixed to create one of the ointments that was deposited in open wounds, in order to facilitate the suppuration of substances harmful to the body.
Epicurus also used this concept to propose a “medicine for the soul.” For the philosopher of Samos, there were four types of fears that prevent people from achieving happiness.
The remedy, thus making philosophy a medicine for the soul, was summarized in four verses, each of which corresponded to an idea to achieve that happiness.