Should We Fear Death? Epicurean and Modern Arguments
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The Epicureans had such an account and it actually has
some attraction. Specifically, they claimed that the good
life consists in living with freedom from pain (aponia) and
freedom from anxiety (ataraxia). They believed that achiev-
ing aponia and especially ataraxia (which we might translate
as “tranquility”) for as long as we are alive and conscious,
is the highest level of human happiness, and that many of
our strivings and concerns actually frustrate our happiness.
Such propositions can be found in Epicurean documents such
as the Letter to Menoeceus and, particularly, the Key Doctrines
(149–150). [2] The Roman poet Lucretius, the greatest of
Epicurus’ followers, argues in detail in his masterful De Rerum
Natura that our lives are blighted whenever we strive after
goals that are inconsistent with ataraxia (p 151–153). [4]
If we could accept these more general Epicurean views,
we might well limit the classes of genuine misfortune and
we might conclude that a combination of the strategies that
I explained above could protect the spirit of The Basic
Epicurean Argument against any possible counterexample to
P1. This is because, according to the Epicurean conception of
happiness, any genuine misfortune must be something that
can interfere with our tranquility while we are alive. Death
itself does not do so – though fearing it does – so death itself
is not a misfortune. To an Epicurean, then, death is not a bad
thing.
On the other hand, this analysis suggests that The Basic
Epicurean Argument can be successfully defended only if we
accept general Epicurean views about the nature of happiness.
These would require us to jettison many of our commonsense
ideas; such as that it is a misfortune to be despised by others
(even if we are blissfully ignorant).
It appears to me that there is more truth to the Epicurean
view of happiness than is usually acknowledged. There does
actually seem to be a limit to our happiness, and we do seem