Lucretius
(99 - 55 BCE)
Timothy H. Wilson
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Epicureanism is an ancient Greek philosophy based on the teachings of Epicurus (341 - 270 BCE). It teaches that the greatest good is to seek modest pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquility, freedom from fear (ataraxia) and absence of bodily pain (aponia). Lucretius' On the Nature of Things sets Epicureanism into verse. While falling into oblivion during the Middle Ages, his work was re-discovered in a German monastery in 1417 by a Florentine bibliophile named Poggio Braccionlini. Stephen Greenblatt makes the case, in The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (2012) , that this accidental occurrence had the profound effect of contributing to the re-birth of scientific inquiry in Europe and ushering in the Modern age.
As a result of his philosophical impact and the beauty of his verse, Lucretius' major philosophical work finds a place on my list of the list of 101 Greatest Books of the Western Canon:
On the Nature of Things
Reflections on the Great Books
Reflections on the Great Books
External Links
External Links
Lucretius (at Wikipedia)
Lucretius (at The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Lucretius (at The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Leo Strauss, "Notes on Lucretius" in Liberalism Ancient and Modern (1968).
Strauss makes the case that Lucretius' thinking lies at the very foundation of the modern political philosophy, or of the modern theologico-political predicament, namely the abandonment of a theological foundation for political arrangements. Strauss also highlights in what ways Lucretius' political philosophy needed to use a subtle art of writing in order to introduce Greek modes and orders (Epicureanism) into the Roman political and social order.
Sean McConnell, "Lucretius and Civil Strife", Phoenix vol 66 No. 1/2 (2012)
Lucretius wrote On the Nature of Things in the context of an extend period of civil wars in Rome. The poem, right from its opening stresses the importance of a devotion to peace. McConnell challenges the scholarly consensus and argues that there is in fact no compulsion to explain Lucretius' concern with civil strife by appeal to a preoccupation with contemporary events.
John Colman, "Lucretius and Religion", Perspectives on Political Science, 38.4 (2009).
Abstract: A number of Enlightenment thinkers of questionable piety drew inspiration from Lucretius's philosophic poem On the Nature of Things. Contemporary atheists, in their renewed vigor, have continued the Enlightenment attack on faith. Our atheists have sought to create a tradition for themselves by claiming Lucretius as an ancient exemplar of their own impious forthrightness. This study argues that Lucretius was more fully appreciative of the necessary and salutary relationship between religion and politics and would not appreciate being co-opted by either group. A return to Lucretius may be useful in understanding the foundation of the early modern project and revealing the imprudence of modern atheism.
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