So Richard Dawkins, Darwinian scientist and crusader for atheism, has launched a campaign to spread the atheist message via bus billboards (see above). The ads read: 'There is probably no God. So stop worrying and get on with your lives.'This is a reversal to Epicurean tactics. The Epicureans believed a primary cause of unhappiness was worrying what happened to the soul after death, so they would contemplate the vast emptiness and atomic randomness of the cosmos as a means of therapy. They even tried to spread their message via large roadside adverts.
All well and good in the 3rd century BC. But surely there's better ways to spend time and money in 21st century London, the most secular and materialist society that ever existed, where hardly anyone believes in God, and even fewer sit around worrying about the afterlife? Sounds like evangelical atheism to me.
9 comments:
Yes, because it's totally unfair of atheists to push back, however gently, to counteract thousands of years of one-sided preaching. That's perfectly okay and we should all accept it, but one bus advert is a sign of an army of intolerant atheists who want to micromanage everyone else's life. Stupid tosser.
But I guess I shouldn't expect any better from a wanker who actually takes a laughable charlatan like Ken Wilber seriously. What next, Deepak Chopra? Har har!
wow, another gutsy atheist. you guys are so brave!
"The best revenge is not to be like that." M. Aurelius
Except that Epicurus wasn't an atheist. I think it's a travesty how Epicureanism has been selectively used by modern-day rationalists. If you study it, you'll discover it's not atheist in the slightest, and its theory of gods contains echoes of Leibniz' Monadology, which was in some part influenced by Epicureanism. (see Catherine Wilson's excellent book on the topic: Epicurus at the Origins of Modernity)
As Philodemus/Herculaneum studies shed more light on the real Epicureanism, we learn more and more that the views of 17th and 18th century rationalists were dead wrong.
Epicureanism at the Origins of Modernity is the name of Wilson's book, sorry.
Hi again Hypatia
Sure, Epicurus mentions the Gods, but they seem very disconnected from human life, don't they?
I'm no expert on Epicurus, but does he ever suggest that the telos of life should be union with the divine, or contemplation of the divine, or anything like that?
The idea that the goal of life should be merely pleasant feelings seems quite materialist and earthbound to me...
But is this a wrong assessment of his vision?
All best
Jules
It's true that Epicureanism used a method of a "sculpted word" to promote Epicurean recruitment - see Bernard Frischer's book on the subject. "The Sculpted Word" Unfortunately out of print but it can be obtained electronically or used (used is how I got my copy). Also a lot of information about Epicurean theological theory in the book.
Hi Jules,
yes, there's a lot of similarity between the Epicurean gods and Aristotle's Unmoved Mover. There's a lot of independent attesting to Epicureans participating in cult, Epicurus and Philodemus are good sources on this. Lucretius was very militant about religion but his views don't seem to be echoed by the evidence for Philodemus and Epicurus himself.
I particularly like this explanation of Epicurean theology by Jeffery Purinton:
http://books.google.com/books?id=KU-DlTyatj8C&lpg=PA181&ots=0HrapkZ8o5&dq=Jeffrey%20Purinton%20epicurus%20god&pg=PA181#v=onepage&q=Jeffrey%20Purinton%20epicurus%20god&f=false
It is tightly bound to Epicurean psychological theory, about the eidola.
At any rate, just correcting what's a popular but to my mind, an incorrect view.
just a last note - the "ethical end of life" for Epicurus is ataraxia - peace.
Something the world could use more of, quite frankly.
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