How to Be an Epicurean by Wilson, Catherine -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Copyright Table of Contents Preface Note on the Text PART I: How the Epicurean Sees the World

1. Back to Basics

The Epicurean Atom Atomism: Three Consequences

2. How Did We Get Here?

The Epicurean Theory of Natural Selection Darwin’s Upgrade: How Selection Causes Evolution

3.The Material Mind

The Mystery of Consciousness The Evolution of Consciousness

4. The Story of Humanity

The State of Nature and the Rise of Civilisation Authority and Inequality The Lessons of the Past

PART II: Living Well and Living Justly

5. Ethics and the Care of the Self

Pleasure and Pain Prudence and its Limits Hedonism and its Problems Don’t Suffer in Silence! The Pleasure Merchants

6. Morality and Other People

Morality vs Prudence What’s Different About Epicurean Morality?

7. Beware of Love!

The Epicurean Exception The Pains and Pleasures of Love Sexual Morality: Minimising Harm to Others Using Your Head

8. Thinking About Death

The Epicurean View of Death Death at the Right and Wrong Times Abortion vs Infanticide Suicide vs Euthanasia Resisting and Accepting Mortality Don’t Count on the Afterlife

PART III: Seeking Knowledge and Avoiding Error

9. What Is Real?

Nature and Convention Things in Between Human Rights: Natural or Conventional? The Imaginary: Unthings The Reality of the Past

10. What Can We Know?

The Importance of First-Person Experience Resolving Disagreement Is Empiricism True?

PART IV: The Self in a Complex World

11. Science and Scepticism

Scientific Explanation Can We Trust the Scientists? Living with Uncertainty

12. Social Justice for an Epicurean World

Three Epicurean Philosophers on War, Inequality and Work Epicurean Political Principles Justice for Women: Nature, History and Convention

13. Religion From an Epicurean Perspective

Belief in the Imaginary Piety Without Superstition Can Religion Be Immoral? Can a Religious Person Be an Epicurean?

14. The Meaningful Life

Two Conceptions of the Meaningful Life Meaningfulness for the Individual The Problem of Affluence The Philosophical Perspective

15. Should I Be a Stoic Instead?

The Stoic System Too Much Fortitude? Wrapping Up

Bibliography and Suggestions for Further Reading Acknowledgements Discover More Also by Catherine Wilson About the Author