It’s time to take stock of the year that is ending and, above all, to set goals for the year that is beginning: learn to play the guitar, travel around the world, publish a novel… Maybe before you make this list We can Holding on to two schools of 2,300-year-old philosophical beliefs that have traditionally been viewed as opposites, this can help us get to know ourselves better before thinking about what we can do and how to achieve it. We mean Stoicism, which has been in vogue for some years, and Epicureanism, burdened by centuries of clichés and false accusations.
These two philosophical schools begin their journey after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. They arise in times of crisis: city-states have disappeared and larger kingdoms are being consolidated. There begins to be a great distance between the rulers and the ruled, and philosophers wonder what a single individual can do in a society ruled by a very powerful government that has a lot of influence over our lives, but at the same time is very distant is .
It’s not that far removed from what we sometimes feel: How can I fight climate change? What can I do to mitigate inflation? Will this tweet be useful against the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Indeed, and although it is a question of a time very different from ours, there is at least one other very important common point, as explained to us by Iker Martínez, professor of ancient philosophy at UNED: the sensation that at that time the decline in values could be felt. María Isabel Méndez Lloret, dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Barcelona agrees: “Hellenistic philosophies appeared at a time when individuals felt helpless and disoriented because moral references had lost their value, their meaning.”
In this context, Zenón de Citio founded the Stoic school, which was also present in the 2nd century AD when the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote his Meditations, and which also influenced Christianity and current ideas as diverse as cosmopolitan rights, the entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley and even in the preparation of Luis Enrique, coach of the Spanish men’s soccer team. Their influence can be understood if we recall that, as Victoria Camps writes in her brief History of Ethics, these thinkers “addressed concerns of human death or vulnerability that were hardly addressed directly by the rest of the ancient or modern philosophers became .” “.
And it is that the Stoic philosophy is a practical philosophy that wants to help people to live as well as possible, taking into account human weaknesses. In his Enchiridion (The Manual for a Happy Life), Epictetus said that there are things that are up to us that we can control, including our desires and fears, and others that we cannot, like the fear of growing old or get sick. which we must face courageously. . “It’s not the facts that trouble people, it’s their judgments about the facts,” he wrote.
Stoicism, Martínez recalls, is a system that puts rationality at the center. The goal is apathy, that is, freeing ourselves from the passions that lead us to seek impossible things like immortality, or irrelevant things like wealth and fame, in order to live peacefully and without disturbances.
That is, a Stoic’s New Year’s resolutions will be rational, measurable, and controllable. Go to the gym? Of course. Learn German? Of course. Got a promotion? It is no longer up to us alone, and we must be content with doing our part. We must live as best we can, knowing our limitations and developing virtues such as courage, self-control and justice: “Stoic ethics teaches how through self-knowledge the individual discovers his place in world history, how he accepts it and how he lives his life harmoniously with the universal order of nature,” explains Méndez Lloret.
Still, it’s not surprising that Stoicism is accused of conformism, particularly the versions that have become popular in recent years, and that in exchange for reducing our suffering and fear, we help perpetuate the status quo. As Iker Martínez recalls, all ancient schools are conservative, but even with this in mind, very complex thinking is often simplified, the main aim of which is to get to know ourselves better. And that we admit that in this case we will never learn to play guitar with YouTube videos and should sign up for courses.
The sensual pleasures of Epicurus
Epicureanism sounds like a funnier alternative, at least when we listen to the allegations of banquets and orgies. But these accusations, many dating from the first centuries of Christianity, were bogus and false news that contributed to making Epicurean ideas less known and less accepted. Added to these accusations were aspects of his philosophy that had been difficult for the powerful of his day (and later), such as a belief that the gods did not intervene in human life, his distrust of political power, and a commitment to pacts and dialogue .
It is true that this school, founded by Epicurus, proposes a philosophy based on pleasure: “Joy is the beginning and end of a happy life.” But, as Michel Onfray recalls in Les Wisdoms of Antiquity, after this sentence the philosopher emphasized that present pain or suffering is better if it produces greater satisfaction later, and that immediate pleasure must be avoided if it causes pain in the future. Indeed, avoiding pain was often more important to these thinkers than seeking pleasure.
Méndez Lloret also rejects clichés, recalling that the Epicureans proposed a model of free life, “without luxury, far from political achievements, laws, strict, whose general rule consisted mainly in taking into account the calculation of the consequences of everyday choices.
That said, a foodie wouldn’t indulge in a binge to bursting topped off with two or three (or four) gin and tonics, as he’d factor in the indigestion, the headaches, the regrets and, if there was a cigar, even the lung cancer . His joy is that of moderation and, above all, that of friendship. As Epicurus himself said, “For whom a little is not enough, nothing is enough”.
This way of thinking can not only save us from many an unnecessary Christmas hangover, but also encourage us with resolutions for 2023 such as learning another language or another job, even if that means doing without in the short or even medium term. Hedonism, Onfray recalls, is “a more refined, conceptual, imaginative, less rudimentary mechanism than what its detractors think”. Or as Méndez Lloret sums it up: “A comfortable life is a quiet, trusting, secure life”.
Epicurean insights can also help us assess our priorities, as philosopher Catherine Wilson explains in her How to Be an Epicurean. Of course we can’t always choose, but often we trade pain for a lesser pleasure or, worse, one that never comes: are we working too much, especially when we don’t like what we’re doing? Do we need the car or can we save costs? Do we really have to say yes to all social commitments just so we don’t look bad?
Like the Stoics, Epicurus believes that the faults are not in what happens to us, but in what we think about what happens to us, and especially the fear that certain things will happen to us. Including death, which we should not fear. What Epicurus and his followers suggest – particularly the Roman Lucretius in the first century B.C. – is that we are primarily concerned with the quality of our life and not only with its quantity.
Though now partially forgotten in the face of its rival, Epicureanism influenced thinkers like Thomas Hobbes, utilitarians (who also studied pleasure and pain), and American revolutionaries. It must be remembered that these are also ideas addressed to all of humanity, similar to Stoic cosmopolitanism. Indeed, the school of Epicurus (the Garden) admitted women, the elderly, children, and slaves, which was unusual at the time but contributed to allegations of lack of control and licentiousness.
We can learn from both philosophies. Both pursue the same goal, explains Méndez Lloret: “Restore man’s self-confidence, offer him the philosophical tools to make him a cosmopolitan, free him from belonging to a particular community (the Greek polis)”. That is, becoming critical citizens who trust their reason, although some (the Stoics) accept the natural order of the world and others (the Epicureans) believe that this order is nothing but chaos and chance.
Perhaps it’s not necessary to choose sides or take a stance, but we’ve had a few years of pandemic and inflation and tensions that have almost forced us to be at least a little stoic. Maybe – and that’s my opinion – we could use a little and moderate rest.
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