Epicurus An Introduction [Paperback]

Professor Rist's short introduction to the philosophy of Epicurus combines scholarship with clear exposition.Professor Rists account of Epicurus mediates between the extremes of approval and opposition traditionally accorded to him, and he emerges as an ideologist, a pragmatic philosopher whose most notable achievement was to reject the prevailing social ethos of Hellenism and assert the rights of the individual against those of the community or state.Professor Rists account of Epicurus mediates between the extremes of approval and opposition traditionally accorded to him, and he emerges as an ideologist, a pragmatic philosopher whose most notable achievement was to reject the prevailing social ethos of Hellenism and assert the rights of the individual against those of the community or state.Professor Rist's short introduction to the philosophy of Epicurus combines scholarship with clear exposition. All Greek in the text is translated, and discussion of more specialised problems of interpretation is relegated to appendices. In an account which mediates between the extremes of approval and opposition traditionally accorded to him, Epicurus emerges as an ideologist, a pragmatic philosopher whose most notable achievement perhaps was to reject much of the prevailing social ethos of Hellenism and assert the rights and claims of the individual against those of the community or state.Preface; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Part I: Epicurus and his Friends; Part II. Canonic: 1. Introduction; 2. Sensation; 3. General concepts; 4. Feelings; 5. Image-making contact of the mind; 6. True and false judgement; Part III. Physics: 1. First principles; 2. Atoms: size and shape; 3. Atoms: weight and movement; 4. 'Parts' of atoms; 5. Secondary qualities; 6. Void; 7. Compounds; 8. Qualities of physical objects; Part IV: Man and the Cosmos; Part V. Soul, Mind and Body: 1. The atomic composition of the soul; 2. Anima and animus; 3. Sensation; 4. Operations of the mind; 5. Will and actl£Á