PHIL 230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Epicureanism, Empirical Evidence, Atomism
28 Aug 2017
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Epicurean philosophy: everything that exists is made of atoms, atoms collude and combine to make bigger things, rocks, plants, animals, souls & minds, gods, etc. Fear of death: death is nothing to fear, wise people do not fear or seek death, they accept death when it is their time, recognition eliminates fear. Death is not bad: all good and bad is in sense experience, absence of experience is not good or bad, death is the absence of experience. Soul cannot be punished: the soul is too fragile to live without the body. If you don"t have a physical body then there is nothing to punish: you need a body for sensations, so, a soul cannot be punished it just wouldn"t do anything. If the soul is not made of atoms, it cannot interact with things composed of atoms: the soul is affected by atoms. (sense perception, therefore, the soul is material.
