Epicureanists and Stoics believe in self equality but to two different extremes. Epicureanists believe that men should be free from passion and completely unmoved/unaffected by emotions. Stoics believe that men should have a sense of balance in nature and view themselves as a particle of nature.
Epicureanists encourage the idea that strong individuals are given birth through the lack of connection to personal objects/emotions. Though many individuals may criticize this ideology as cruel and unrealistic, epicureanists believe that by freeing yourself from passion and other binding emotions you can truly understand the true “nature of things”. One of the significant advantages of this idea is that having freedom from your emotions allows you to be unharmed/unaffected by painful(sad) emotions. However, the disadvantage is that having a lack of emotions disables an individual from having a sense of connection with other individuals and ultimately life experiences.
Stoics encourage the idea that strong individuals are given birth through their personal connections to nature. They believe that by having close binds with nature, you are more easily able to examine your conscience. They also believe that by welcoming every situation calmly you create a better balance in nature. One significant advantage of this ideology is that you would be able to have a deeper connection with everything in nature, even the simpler things in life that we may sometimes overlook/not appreciate. Another advantage is that you would ultimately have a more positive outlook on life. A disadvantage of this theology is that viewing everything with a positive outlook, it can sometimes make it very difficult to see both the good and the bad in every situation.
You need to rethink your view of Epicureanism a bit. If an Epicurean's goal is to minimize pain so life is more pleasant, how can you claim they have no connection to objects and emotions? They actually love those possessions that make them feel good; they love the idea of feeling good.
ReplyDeleteEpicureans ARE disconnected to others like you say, but it's not because they don't have emotions. Think it through a bit more, and the reason will come to you.
Your understanding of Stoicism is pretty accurate, but what about the question I asked? Which philosophy seems to be more about avoiding life?
It all boils down to what do you see as a sounder core value: to endure as best you can or to be as happy as you can? Which should you follow (or is there a third option)?