Epicurus founded the Garden in Athens, a community open even to women and slaves. He taught that the goal of life is pleasure, understood as the absence of pain in the body and disturbance in the soul. Far from the image of parties and excess, he advocated a simple life with friends, free from fear of the gods or of death.
Core ideas
Happiness is the absence of pain in the body and disturbance in the soul
Death is nothing to us, since when it arrives we no longer exist
Simple pleasures and friendship are worth more than luxury and power
The tradition: Epicurean
An Epicurean follows Epicurus in pursuing a calm, moderate pleasure, based on an atomist view of the world. He is the founder and great reference of the school.
