Epicurius Letter

Epicurus’ Letter

In Epicurus's Letter to Menoeceus, he writes, 

'Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we exist, death is not present, and when death is present we do not exist. It is nothing, then, either to the living or to the dead, for with the living it is not and the dead exist no longer.'

What does this mean, and is it plausible?

For Epicurus it was vitally important that humans not fear something so unknowable as death.  To him people thought of death as a kind of punishment and it gave them all kinds of worries and stress.  If they didn’t feel so bad about death then they’d have a huge burden lifted from their shoulders.

What this passage in Epicurus’ letter really gets down to is the clear and distinct empiricism that guides Epicurus in most of his writings.  A key point of that philosophy is that clear facts need to support any opinions put forth.

By putting forth opinions with supporting evidence Epicurus hoped to rid people of their irrational fear of death.  So how could he get that idea across?

One of the things that makes supporting opinions easier is if you have proof, and for Epicurus this could be given with his criterion of feeling.  That idea pretty much says that self-perceptions, feelings, observations, and other things allow us to make choice that are good.

Epicurus believed that the soul did not leave the body after death – that was it, you were no more.  To have any kind of fear that the soul would be punished was therefore silly to him.  He thought there were Gods, but he thought them so unconcerned with humans that any fear of death would also be unjustifiable.  Those needless worries were just causing people to miss out on what was really important – pleasure.

For Epicurus, death was final and there was nothing to fear.  He tried to convince others, but few wanted to listen.  After all, his message was rather down, while the idea of living after death made people happy.  Still, his ideas keep us wondering today, and that’s what philosophy is all about.