Living for Pleasure by Emily A. Austin

Author:Emily A. Austin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Despite the elaborate, technical nature of this doctrine, its upshot is simple—if you are always satisfied, then you do not die dissatisfied. Epicurus thinks that our unreasoning body craves unlimited time, but our reason can correct for that error, telling us that happiness is tranquil pleasure within the natural limit of a human life. An Epicurean who has reached confidence about the satisfaction of their necessary desires and recognizes that situation as sufficient for happiness lives a fully good life at all times. Death deprives them of nothing because they already have everything they need. Epicurus’ additional claim that we have no reason to fear the afterlife will be the focus of a later chapter.

Remember the distinction between meaningful and conditional desires. Meaningful desires are those whose satisfaction death threatens. Satisfying meaningful desires depends on our having more time. Conditional desires, however, are pleasures we will enjoy should we be living at the time. For Epicurus, it seems we should learn to treat even our meaningful desires as conditional, counting them as desires we will greatly enjoy satisfying should the opportunity arise, but whose objects we do not need for our happiness.

In that sense, our desire for future pleasures is what we have been calling an extravagant desire—a naturally desirable thing we should welcome given the opportunity and that we will appreciate more because we do not need it. As Epicurus puts it, “Those who least need extravagance enjoy it most.”18 The future, when we do not need it, is a continuing source of joy. Epicureans think each day offers everything they need for happiness, and their days are decorated with the various joyful extravagances of human life. One of those extravagances is more time with friends, which an Epicurean best appreciates.

It only makes sense that we struggle to adopt this Epicurean stance. We almost can’t help seeing more time as more pleasure, longer tranquility as greater tranquility. Epicurus, though, thinks that those fortunate enough to gain confidence about the satisfaction of their necessary desires can and should use their reason to correct that misperception. For Epicurus, we have two options. We can appreciate each day as enough and as a reason for complete joy. Or, we can view every day as never quite enough, never fully joyful. Epicurus thinks we have reason to aim for steady satisfaction because that state is more pleasant, not because it lowers our expectations for pleasure.

Epicurus does not, of course, think we can or should eliminate all varieties of the fear of death. It would run counter to nature and prudence to ignore an oncoming bus or fail to clearly label bottles of rat poison. We put the rotten odor in natural gas so we can smell it. Some varieties of the fear of death, though, undermine our happiness, and to the extent that we can control or eliminate them, we should. We should not allow our fear of death to undermine our commitment to our principles, friends, and values. We should not allow our fear to convince us that living well requires greed for more things and more time.

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