Ideas of Epicureanism. Philosophy of Epicure

The idea was to teach a person a happy life, because everything else is unimportant.

Epicurus' Theory of Knowledge - Briefly

IN theories of knowledge Epicurus called for trusting sensory perceptions, since we still have no other criterion of truth. He believed that the criticism of sensationalism by skeptics has a purely theoretical interest, but in practice it is completely fruitless. The main conclusion to which Epicurus leads the listener with these arguments is: there is nothing supersensible. Even if it existed, we would not be able to perceive it, since we are given nothing but feelings. This conclusion is very important for the theory of Epicurus: it is from here that its materialism and atheism follow.

Physics of Epicurus, his atomism - briefly

In physics, Epicurus is an ardent supporter of Democritus's idea of ​​atoms. In his opinion, it is entirely confirmed by sensory experience, for the mixing of different media that constantly occurs before our eyes cannot be explained without the assumption that they consist of the smallest particles. At the same time, atoms cannot be divisible indefinitely (Democritus’s term “atom” literally means “indivisible”), because then matter would dissipate in emptiness, and there would be no bodies at all.

Roman follower of Epicurus Titus Lucretius Carus

The popularity of Epicurus was unusually great in Rome. A majestic exposition of his philosophy was given by Titus Lucretius Carus in his poem “On the Nature of Things.” During the period of the decline of the empire, the societies of the followers of Epicurus seemed to be quiet refuges from political storms. Under Hadrian, during the Antonine dynasty, the number of Epicureans increased. But from the middle of the 4th century AD, the influence of Epicurus’ philosophy declined: it died along with the entire ancient world, without surviving the triumph of Christianity.

Outstanding representatives of Epicureanism are Epicurus (341 - 270 BC) and Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 99-55 BC). This philosophical direction belongs to the border between the old and new eras. The Epicureans were interested in questions of structure and personal comfort in the complex historical context of that time.

Epicurus developed ideas of atomism. According to Epicurus, only bodies located in space exist in the Universe. They are directly perceived by the senses, and the presence of empty space between bodies follows from the fact that otherwise movement would be impossible. Epicurus put forward an idea that differed sharply from Democritus's interpretation of atoms. This is the idea of ​​the "bending" of atoms, where the atoms move in a "coherent flow". Epicurus endows atoms with the ability of spontaneous deflection, which he considers by analogy with the internal volitional act of man. It turns out that atoms are characterized by “free will,” which determines “inevitable deviation.” Therefore, atoms are able to describe different curves, begin to touch and touch each other, intertwine and unravel, as a result of which the world arises. This idea made it possible for Epicurus to avoid the idea of ​​fatalism. Plutarch notes that the spontaneity of atomic deflection is what happens. From this Epicurus draws the following conclusion: “There is no need for necessity!” Thus, Epicurus, for the first time in the history of philosophical thought, put forward the idea of objectivity of chance.

According to Epicurus, life and death are equally not terrible for the sage: “As long as we exist, there is no death; when there is death, there is no more death.” Life is the greatest pleasure. Such as it is, with a beginning and an end. Characterizing the spiritual world of man, Epicurus recognized the presence of a soul. He characterized it this way: there is nothing subtler or more reliable than this essence (soul), and it consists of the smallest and smoothest elements. The soul was thought by Epicurus as the principle of the integrity of individual elements of the spiritual world of the individual: feelings, sensations, thoughts and will, as the principle of eternal and indestructible existence.

Knowledge, according to Epicurus, begins with sensory experience, but the science of knowledge begins primarily with the analysis of words and the establishment of precise terminology, i.e. sensory experience; acquired by a person must be comprehended and processed in the form of certain terminologically fixed semantic structures. In itself, a sensory sensation, not raised to the level of thought, is not yet genuine knowledge. Without this, only sensory impressions will flash before us in a continuous stream, and this is simply continuous fluidity.

The basic principle Epicurean ethics is pleasure - principle hedonism(from Greek hedone - pleasure). At the same time, the pleasures preached by the Epicureans are distinguished by an extremely noble, calm, balanced and often contemplative character.

The pursuit of pleasure is the original principle of choice or avoidance. According to Epicurus, if a person’s senses are taken away, there will be nothing left. Unlike those who preached the principle of “enjoying the moment”, and “what will be, will be!”, Epicurus wants constant, even and undecaying bliss. The sage’s pleasure “splashes in his soul like a calm sea on the solid shores” of reliability. The limit of pleasure and bliss is to get rid of suffering! According to Epicurus, one cannot live pleasantly without living rationally, morally and justly, and, conversely, one cannot live rationally, morally and fairly without living pleasantly!

Epicurus preached piety and worship of God: “a wise man must kneel before the gods.” He wrote: “God is an immortal and blissful being, as the general idea of ​​​​God was outlined (in the mind of man), and does not ascribe to him anything alien to his immortality or inconsistent with his bliss; but imagines everything about God that can preserve his bliss, combined with immortality. Yes, gods exist: knowing them is an obvious fact. But they are not what the crowd imagines them to be, because the crowd does not always retain its idea of ​​them.”

The Roman poet, philosopher and educator, one of the outstanding Epicureans, Titus Lucretius Carus, like Epicurus, does not deny the existence of gods consisting of the finest atoms and residing in the interworld spaces in blissful peace. In his poem “On the Nature of Things,” Lucretius elegantly, in poetic form, depicts a light and subtle, always moving picture of the influence that atoms have on our consciousness through the outflow of special eidols, as a result of which sensations and all states of consciousness arise. It is very interesting that atoms in Lucretius are not exactly the same as in Epicurus: they are not the limit of divisibility, but a kind of creative principles from which a specific thing is created with its entire structure, i.e. atoms are the material for nature, which presupposes some kind of creative principle located outside them. There are no hints of spontaneous activity of matter in the poem. Lucretius sees this creative principle either in the progenitor-Venus, or in the artificer-Earth, or in the creative nature - nature. A.F. Losev writes: “If we are talking about the natural philosophical mythology of Lucretius and call it a kind of religion, then let the reader not be confused here in three pines: the natural philosophical mythology of Lucretius ... has absolutely nothing in common with the traditional mythology that Lucretius refutes ".

According to Losev, the independence of Lucretius as a philosopher is deeply revealed in an episode in the history of human culture, which constitutes the main content of the fifth book of the poem. Taking from the Epicurean tradition a negative assessment of those improvements in the material environment of life, which, without ultimately increasing the amount of pleasure people receive, serve as a new object of acquisition, Lucretius ends the fifth book not with the Epicurean morality of self-restraint, but with praise to the human mind, mastering the heights of knowledge and art.

Education Committee of the Volgograd Region "Volgograd College of Restaurant Service and Trade"

Discipline message:

"FUNDAMENTALS OF PHILOSOPHY"

On the topic: “Epicurus. Biography. Basic Ideas"

Completed by: group student

O-19 Bakhmutova E.V.

Checked by: Gerasimova L.Yu.

Volgograd 2009

Epicurus was born in 341 BC. on the island of Samos. His father Neocles was a school teacher. Epicurus began studying philosophy at the age of 14. In 311 BC. he moved to the island of Lesvos, and there he founded his first philosophical school. Another 5 years later, Epicurus moved to Athens, where he taught a school of philosophy known as the Garden of Epicurus until his death in 271 BC.

During his life, Epicurus wrote about 300 philosophical works. None of them has reached us in full; only fragments and retellings of his views by other authors have survived. Often these retellings are very inaccurate, and some authors even attribute their own fabrications to Epicurus, which contradict the statements of the Greek philosopher that have survived to this day.

Thus, it is generally accepted that Epicurus considered bodily pleasure the only meaning of life. In reality, Epicurus' views on pleasure are not so simple. By pleasure he understood primarily the absence of displeasure, and emphasized the need to take into account the consequences of pleasure and pain:

“Since pleasure is the first and innate good for us, therefore we do not choose every pleasure, but sometimes we bypass many pleasures when they are followed by great trouble for us. We also consider many sufferings better than pleasure when greater pleasure comes for us, after how we endure suffering over a long period of time. Thus, all pleasure is good, but not all pleasure is to be chosen, just as all pain is evil, but not all pain is to be avoided."

Therefore, according to the teachings of Epicurus, bodily pleasures must be controlled by the mind: “It is impossible to live pleasantly without living wisely and justly, and it is also impossible to live wisely and justly without living pleasantly.”

And living wisely, according to Epicurus, means not striving for wealth and power as an end in itself, being satisfied with the minimum necessary in order to be satisfied with life: “The voice of the flesh is not to starve, not to thirst, not to be cold. Whoever has this, and who hopes to have it in the future, can argue with Zeus himself about happiness... The wealth required by nature is limited and easily obtained, and wealth demanded by empty opinions extends to infinity."

Epicurus divided human needs into 3 classes:
1) natural and necessary - food, clothing, shelter;
2) natural, but not necessary - sexual satisfaction;
3) unnatural - power, wealth, entertainment, etc.
The easiest way is to satisfy needs (1), somewhat more difficult - (2), and needs (3) cannot be completely satisfied, but, according to Epicurus, it is not necessary.

Epicurus believed that “pleasure is achievable only when the fears of the mind are dispelled”, and expressed the main idea of ​​his philosophy with the following phrase: "The gods are not feared, death is not feared, pleasure is easily attained, pain is easily endured."

Contrary to the accusations leveled against him during his lifetime, Epicurus was not an atheist. He recognized the existence of the gods of the ancient Greek pantheon, but had his own opinion about them, which differed from the views that prevailed in the ancient Greek society of his time.

According to Epicurus, there are many inhabited planets similar to Earth. The gods live in the space between them, where they live their own lives and do not interfere in the lives of people. Epicurus proved this as follows:

"Let us assume that the suffering of the world is of interest to the gods. The gods may or may not, want or do not want to destroy suffering in the world. If they cannot, then they are not gods. If they can, but do not want, then they are imperfect, which is also not befitting of gods And if they can and want to, then why haven’t they done it yet?”

Another famous saying of Epicurus on this topic: “If the gods listened to the prayers of people, then soon all people would die, constantly praying a lot of evil to each other.”

At the same time, Epicurus criticized atheism, believing that gods are necessary to be a model of perfection for humans.

But in Greek mythology, the gods are far from perfect: human character traits and human weaknesses are attributed to them. This is why Epicurus was opposed to traditional ancient Greek religion: “It is not the wicked who rejects the gods of the crowd, but the one who applies the ideas of the crowd to the gods.”

Epicurus denied any divine creation of the world. In his opinion, many worlds are constantly born as a result of the attraction of atoms to each other, and worlds that have existed for a certain period also disintegrate into atoms. This is quite consistent with ancient cosmogony, which asserts the origin of the world from Chaos. But, according to Epicurus, this process occurs spontaneously and without the intervention of any higher powers.

Epicurus developed the doctrine of Democritus about the structure of the world from atoms, and at the same time put forward assumptions that were confirmed by science only many centuries later. Thus, he stated that different atoms differ in mass, and, therefore, in properties. Unlike Democritus, who believed that atoms move along strictly defined trajectories, and therefore everything in the world is predetermined in advance, Epicurus believed that the movement of atoms is largely random, and, therefore, different scenarios are always possible.

Based on the randomness of the movement of atoms, Epicurus rejected the idea of ​​fate and predestination. “There is no purpose in what is happening, because a lot of things are not happening the way they should have happened.”

But, if the gods are not interested in the affairs of people, and there is no predetermined fate, then, according to Epicurus, there is no need to be afraid of both. One who does not know fear cannot instill fear. The gods know no fear because they are perfect. Epicurus was the first in history to state that people's fear of the gods is caused by the fear of natural phenomena that are attributed to the gods. Therefore, he considered it important to study nature and find out the real causes of natural phenomena - in order to free man from the false fear of the gods. All this is consistent with the position about pleasure as the main thing in life: fear is suffering, pleasure is the absence of suffering, knowledge allows you to get rid of fear, therefore without knowledge there can be no pleasure- one of the key conclusions of the philosophy of Epicurus.

During the time of Epicurus, one of the main topics for discussion among philosophers was death and the fate of the soul after death. Epicurus considered debates on this topic pointless: “Death has nothing to do with us, because while we exist, death is absent, but when death comes, we no longer exist.”

According to Epicurus, people are afraid not so much of death itself as of the death throes: “We are afraid to suffer from illness, to be struck by a sword, torn by the teeth of animals, reduced to dust by fire - not because all this causes death, but because it brings suffering. Of all evils, the greatest is suffering, not death.” He believed that the human soul is material and dies with the body.

Epicurus can be called the most consistent materialist of all philosophers. In his opinion, everything in the world is material, and spirit as some kind of entity separate from matter does not exist at all.

Epicurus considers direct sensations, and not judgments of the mind, to be the basis of knowledge. In his opinion, everything we experience is true; sensations never deceive us. Misconceptions and errors arise only when we add something to our perceptions, i.e. the source of error is the mind.

Perceptions arise due to the penetration of images of things into us. These images are separated from the surface of things and move with the speed of thought. If they enter the sense organs, they give real sensory perception, but if they penetrate the pores of the body, they give fantastic perception, including illusions and hallucinations.

In general, Epicurus was against abstract theorizing that was not related to facts. In his opinion, philosophy should have a direct practical application - to help a person avoid suffering and life mistakes: “Just as medicine is of no use if it does not banish the suffering of the body, so philosophy is of no use if it does not banish the suffering of the soul.”

The most important part of Epicurus' philosophy is his ethics. However, Epicurus’s teaching about the best way of life for a person can hardly be called ethics in the modern sense of the word. The question of adjusting the individual to social attitudes, as well as all other interests of society and the state, occupied Epicurus least of all. His philosophy is individualistic and aimed at enjoying life regardless of political and social conditions.

Epicurus denied the existence of universal morality and universal concepts of goodness and justice, given to humanity from somewhere above. He taught that all these concepts are created by people themselves: “Justice is not something in itself, it is some agreement between people not to harm and not to suffer harm.”.

Epicurus gave friendship a major role in relationships between people, contrasting it with political relations as something that brings pleasure in itself. Politics is the satisfaction of the need for power, which, according to Epicurus, can never be fully satisfied, and therefore cannot bring true pleasure. Epicurus argued with the followers of Plato, who put friendship at the service of politics, considering it as a means of building an ideal society.

In general, Epicurus does not set any great goals or ideals for man. We can say that the goal of life, according to Epicurus, is life itself in all its manifestations, and knowledge and philosophy are the path to obtaining the greatest pleasure from life.

Humanity has always been prone to extremes. While some people greedily strive for pleasure as an end in itself and cannot get enough of it all the time, others torment themselves with asceticism, hoping to gain some kind of mystical knowledge and enlightenment. Epicurus proved that both were wrong, that enjoying life and learning about life are interconnected. The philosophy and biography of Epicurus is an example of a harmonious approach to life in all its manifestations. However, Epicurus himself said it best: “Always have a new book in your library, a full bottle of wine in your cellar, a fresh flower in your garden.”

Epicurus was born in 341 BC. in the family of Neocles and Chaerestrates. A few years before the boy was born, his father moved to the Athenian settlement on the island of Samos in the Aegean Sea. Epicurus was raised there. For four years he studied philosophy under the guidance of Pamphilius, a follower of the teachings of Plato. After this, at the age of eighteen, Epicurus went to Athens, where he would undergo military service for two years. After the death of Alexander the Great, his successor Perdiccas resettles the Athenians from the island of Samos to the city of Colophon, located in modern Turkey. Epicurus goes there after completing his service. He studies with Nosiphanes, who revealed to him the teachings of Democritus. Between 311 and 310 BC. Epicurus teaches in Mytilene, but after some disagreements arose with the local authorities, he left this city. From there he goes to Lampsak, where he establishes his own school. In 306 BC. Epicurus returns to Athens, where he will remain until his death in 270 BC. In this city, the philosopher acquired a plot of land, where he founded a school called the “Garden of Epicurus.”

This name was given to the school because classes took place in the garden located near the philosopher’s house. His very first students were Hermarch, Idomeneo, Leonteus and his wife Themista, the author of satirical philosophical works Kolot, Polyaenus of Lampsacus and Metrodorus of Lampsacus. The Garden of Epicurus was the first Greek school to admit women to teaching. Epicurus always proclaimed friendship to be a very important element on the path to a happy life, and therefore his school in every possible way contributed to the formation of friendly companies. Despite the fact that the formation of the philosophy of the school was influenced by the teachings of his predecessors, and Democritus in particular, Epicurus later renounced them. Of all the written sources, only three letters have survived to this day, included in the X volume of “Lives of Eminent Philosophers” by Diogenes Laertius. Here we find two cycles of quotations known as the “Principal Doctrines” of Epicurus. Some fragments of this work, which once consisted of XXXVII volumes and was called “Treatise on Nature,” were found in the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum.

The teachings of Epicurus

Epicurus played a significant role in the development of science and scientific methods, advocating that conclusions be based on direct observation and deductive reasoning. His ideas in many ways anticipate the most important scientific theories of our time. Epicurus's teachings and egalitarian views made him a prominent figure in the Axial Age, which lasted from 800 to 200 CE. BC. It was Epicurus, with his theory of “mutual benefit,” who laid the foundations of the ancient Greek concept of ethics as such. His teachings take their origins from various theories of ancient Greek thinkers, but to a greater extent intersect with the principles of the teachings of Democritus. Like Democritus, Epicurus is an atomist and firmly believes that the world consists of invisible material particles moving through space. According to his teaching, everything that happens in the world happens due to the collision, mutual repulsion and interaction of atoms, the actions of which have no laws or goals. Epicurus's theory of atomism diverged from the earlier theory of Democritus, arguing that atoms do not always move in a straight line, but often spontaneously deviate from their own path. This statement provided strong evidence for the existence of free will. Epicurus was the first to overcome the fear of the gods and break the existing traditions of worshiping them. In addition, he actively took part in the religious life of society.

According to the teachings of Epicurus, religious activity is an integral element of thinking about God, setting a pattern for a happy life. He rejected the generally accepted assertion that God punishes the wicked and rewards the good. On the contrary, according to Epicurus, God does not care at all about human beings. The philosopher proclaims that everything good that happens to people originates from pleasure or pain. Everything that causes pain is bad, just as everything that brings pleasure is good. His teaching also states that there are cases where pain preferred to pleasure subsequently leads to bliss. His calls to seek bliss with all his might were misunderstood by many, but the true meaning of these words is that, having gotten rid of pain, a person is freed from fear and heavenly punishment. From this Epicurus concludes that, without feeling pain, a person no longer needs pleasure, and therefore achieves the highest peace of mind. He strongly warns against excess, as it invariably leads to pain. This law applies to everything, including love. Epicurus calls friendship the surest path to happiness. He also refutes the fear of death, asserting that “death is nothing to us.” The philosopher develops this idea, adding that all feeling, consciousness and sensation disappears with death, after which neither pain nor pleasure remains.

Death

Epicurus suffered from urolithiasis, which in 270 BC. prevails over him, leading to death. The philosopher died at the age of 72. During his life he never married, and therefore left no heirs.

The Philosopher's Legacy

Many thinkers and ideological movements throughout the history of Western philosophical thought have taken the theories of Epicurean doctrine as their basis. Her influence is clearly visible in atomistic poems such as “The Atom Rules All the World”, as well as in the natural philosophy of Margaret Cavendish. During the French Revolution, Epicurus’s theory of “mutual benefit” would be adopted by the ideologists of the coup d’état. His egalitarian views would form the basis of the American Liberation Movement and the American Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson called himself an Epicurean and declared that “all men are created equal.” The influence of these teachings on Western philosophical thought is confirmed by the fact that Karl Marx received his doctorate for his work on the topic “The difference between the philosophies of nature of Democritus and Epicurus.” The teachings of Epicurus became a source of inspiration for the works of many philosophers, including Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche. The similarity of the latter's philosophy with the ideology of Epicureanism is obvious in his works “The Gay Science”, “Beyond Good and Evil”, as well as in personal correspondence with Peter Gast.

Surely you have already read our last article, which was absolutely informational and aimed to interest the reader in extracurricular reading of something worthwhile with a subsequent change in his worldview in the stoic direction. This week we thought carefully and decided to continue the topic of philosophy, remembering another excellent classical school of philosophers - the Epicureans.

Who came up with this

Epicureanism is named after its creator, Epicurus, an ancient Athenian thinker who founded his philosophy as a grounded and realistic response to all the pointless abstract discussions of the time, so beloved by local philosophers. While thinkers debated whether the tortoise could outrun Achilles, Epicurus argued that we should simply enjoy food, wine, good company, fresh air and all the pleasures that life has to offer us. Philosophy itself, it seems, died with the Romans, or rather with the widespread spread of Christianity. This happened because the Epicureans denied the creation of the world, were confident in the atomic structure of everything in the world, called not to fear the gods and assured everyone that the universe had always existed and was not created by anyone. Of course, all this ran counter to the Christian picture of the world. However, interest in their philosophy arose again during the Renaissance, thanks to which it came to us.

"The Fourfold Cure"

"Don't fear God,
Don't worry about death
The good is easily achievable, and
the terrible is easy to bear.”

These simple words easily explain the essence of this approach to life. The principle of "Tetrapharmakos" - or "Fourfold Medicine" - was an absolutely strange answer to all other traditional schools of thinkers. Philosophers of that time were obsessed with fate, the meaning of life and divine intervention, while the Epicureans argued that all life is an accident, there is no fate or evil fate, and if there is something supernatural, then it does not dictate anything to us. Just like the Stoics, the Epicureans were sure that the whole world is a multitude of factors that cannot be controlled. Instead of preaching pessimism and nihilism, the Epicureans responded to all the dangers of the world around them simply and banally: “Why bother?” If there are no gods in the traditional sense, there is no traditional afterlife, therefore there is no need to constantly prepare for what does not exist. It makes sense to enjoy the time that chance or divine intervention has given us.

Incorrect interpretation

The term “epicurean” is usually used to describe a generous person who is prone to excessive hedonism. For this we should thank the Roman Empire. There were enough followers of Epicurus in the last years of the Roman Empire, one could say that they were the ones who staged the drunken, depraved orgies that we usually associate with this philosophy.

What Epicurus (and the vast majority of true Epicureans) actually taught was not the pursuit of eternal pleasures, but the attempt to avoid pain and suffering at all costs. They called this concept “analgia,” literally this concept can be translated as insensitivity to pain. Everything negative that you have ever done will definitely come back to you and make you regret. And it makes no difference whether it’s drinking beer after work for a long time or being rude to a loved one. Moderation in everything is the meaning of the real teaching of the Epicureans: “Freedom is the greatest fruit of limiting the desires of freedom.”

Not by teaching alone

The Stoics called on commoners and even women to actively explore the world, study, comprehend various sciences, so that through them and diligence they could come to philosophy. The approach of Epicurus and his students differed from the followers of Zeno. The creator of Epicureanism, by the way, was often reproached for ignorance and illiteracy, but he didn’t care. Epicurus in every possible way rejected any teaching if it did not help get rid of suffering or get closer to bliss. On the one hand, this is a frankly bad idea: sciences and disciplines are definitely bright things in the life of humanity. But if you look at it from the other side, you can interpret Epicurus’s point of view something like this: “Do you like doing this? Are you happy about this? Well, get busy!”

The denial of sciences and arts was aimed at transforming life itself and the art of “living” it into a form of art. However, it is worth noting that Epicurus advised not to get too carried away with these things, because there is a threat of forgetting about life itself and simple pleasures. One can and should argue with these dubious words.

Friendship

Friendship was the most important part of the recipe for a good life for the Epicureans. The simplest pleasures are much better in good company, and the worst of difficulties are made a little sweeter when their burden is shared with friends. Life with all its chaos requires from us the reliable shoulder of a comrade. You can survive without it, but it’s much easier with it.

Some of the Epicureans believed that friendship should be sincere and living. And in order to be sincere and alive, you need not be ashamed to admit to yourself that you find joy in the simplest and most despised entertainments by society: playing World of tanks or visiting a bathhouse. While other philosophers emphasized individualism, the Epicureans did not confront society with hostility, realizing that they were as much a part of it as everyone else. “Don’t do something to someone else that you don’t want to do to yourself” - the concept of a “social contract” perfectly reflected the attitude of these thinkers to life.

How to apply this in life?

Hungry student years or difficult moments in life are a great time to remember this article or the school of Epicurus. The ability to find something good, for example, in cheap Chinese instant noodles or bad Internet that forces you to read your roommate's histology textbook, is something in which you can find, if not happiness, then relief from suffering. If you think like that, every person is a fucker of his own happiness, or, well, a blacksmith.

“No pleasure in itself is evil, but the means of achieving other pleasures cause much more trouble than pleasure!” - this phrase of Epicurus very well reveals the essence of his philosophy. One can argue for a long time about whether the followers of this school were right when they considered the sciences and arts to be of secondary importance for the good of the individual, but the value of getting rid of suffering, not dwelling on one’s pain, stress and other temporary problems is the obvious advantage of this approach to life.