The Epicurean Guide to Happiness
Being happy is simple. There’s even a surefire method for it.
What makes us happy?
People have varying answers to that question. Often, we try to answer that question (and most other questions) with our own logic, hypothesizing our own answers and believing them to be unique.
But our predecessors have questioned these same things before us, and they provide some valid answers, which include the question of happiness. Ancient answers for modern problems.
While almost all schools of philosophy focus on “how to be good,” there is one that, instead, focuses more on “how to be happy.”
It’s called Epicureanism, a philosophical system based on the teachings of Epicurus.
While it is a form of hedonism, insofar as having a focus on “seeking pleasure and avoiding pain,” Epicureanism proposes an elementary distinction: It advocates a far more prudent approach.
Epicurean Philosophy In a Nutshell
Epicurus categorizes pleasure into two groups: physical and mental. These two groups are further categorized into kinetic and katastematic pleasure, which are defined as:
- Kinetic: Involving action or change (e.g. eating good food, listening to…
