Hellenistic Epicureanism
One of the fundamental beliefs of Epicurus is that death is something that is not to be worried about. This, along with three other main beliefs, is the key to finding individual happiness according to Epicurus. Epicurus believes that death is merely the end of existence. It is nothing to be concerned about because it is simply the end of sensory experiences. Once dead, a person is no longer aware of his surroundings, and he possesses an absence of life. It is based on this idea that Epicurus explores the idea that death is in fact nothing. In The Letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus explains, “The fact that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life a matter for contentment, not by adding a limitless time [to life] but by removing the longing for immortality…. So death, the most frightening of bad things, is nothing to us; since when we exist, death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist. Therefore, it is relevant neither to the living nor the dead, since it does not affect the former, and the latter do not exist”. Epicurus argues that death should be put out of mind for the simple fact that it does not exist during life. A person cannot be in a state of death at
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1683
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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