Principle and Prudence in Western Political Thought by Lynch Christopher Marks Jonathan

Author:Lynch, Christopher,Marks, Jonathan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2016-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

II. THE EPICUREAN, THE STOIC, AND THE PLATONIST

“The Epicurean,” with the subtitle “or, the man of elegance and pleasure,” begins with the claim that “it is the great mortification of the vanity of man, that his utmost art and industry can never equal the meanest of nature’s productions, either for beauty or value.” Even within the realm of poetry and art, the most beauty is found in “the force and happy influence of nature.” It is not through following rules of art that genius achieves works of divine harmony. In the conduct of life we find happiness not through the severe precepts of reason, imposed by philosophers who achieve only “artificial happiness,” but by the obedience to “the springs or principles which nature has implanted” in us (138–40). “Happiness implies ease, contentment, repose and pleasure, not watchfulness, care, fatigue.” With a nod to Lucretius, the speaker writes: “But see, propitious to my wishes, the divine, the amiable Pleasure, the supreme love of Gods and men, advances towards me” (141). “In my own passions and inclinations … I read the dictates of nature.” Wandering into a dark grove, the speaker encounters “the charming Caelia, the mistress of my wishes,” and more than hints at the delights of sexual pleasure. Yet experience shows that sensual pleasure unassisted by virtue leads to boredom and satiety. The greatest pleasures are those of “cheerful discourses,” not to be confused with “the formal reasoning of the schools.” Not Bacchus but “the sprightly muses” maintain a regime of peace, harmony, and concord. Lest thoughts of mortality cause some lessening of the pleasure, we should dwell in the present and think of death as mere extinction. “We shall be as if we had never been” and our fruitless anxieties “shall all be swallowed up and lost.” Those still seeking solace for human transience may find it in the idea that “if any governing mind preside, he must be pleased to see us fulfill the ends of our being, and enjoy that pleasure for which alone we are created” (145). Supported by a deity friendly to pleasure, this philosophy affords “an unbounded loose to love and jollity.”

“The Stoic,” with the subtitle “or, the man of action and virtue,” argues that the Epicurean gives little attention to the distinctive human situation. The “celestial spirit” of the human, which has an affinity with superior beings, cannot lie “lethargic or idle,” but nature urges it “by necessity to employ, on every emergence, the utmost art and industry” (146–47). Human needs are not supplied by nature, and man, being born “naked and indigent to the rude elements” can subsist only through his own care and vigilance. Nature furnishes only “rude and unfinished” materials which human industry refines. For the sake of the great end of all human industry, happiness, were societies, laws, arts, and sciences invented by the profound wisdom of legislators and patriots (148). The highest work of art is the man of virtue, the true philosopher, who governs his appetites, subdues his passions, and whose reason sets a just value on things.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.