Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 11

Philosophy - Essay ExampleStoicism was founded by three early thinkers Zeno of Citium in Cyprus (344-262 BC), Cleanthes (d. 232 BC) and Chrysippus (d. ca. 206 BC). Chrysippus was particularly prolific, theme over 165 works, but we have only fragments of his works. The only complete works by Stoic philosophers that we possess are those by writers of Imperial times, Seneca (4 BC-65 AD), Epictetus (c. 55-135) and the emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180) and these works are principally focused on ethics (Baltzly, 2004). On the surface, Stoicism emphasized the idea that the true sage, in his zealous pursuit of wisdom, would obtain all the happiness he could want in his knowledge and subsequent inner tranquility. The ultimate source of this tranquility is achieved through the fire of the soul as it becomes connected with the fire of God, who permeates everything. Because they felt that the laws of nature were absolute and that the essential nature of humans was reason, they felt people cou ld do no other than live accord to nature.The Epicureans, on the other hand, felt that the greatest goal in life was to experience pleasure. Founded on the ideas of Epicurus (340-270 BC), Epicureanism centers on the idea that pleasure in moderate amounts as well as an absence of bodily pain was necessary for one to gain a state of tranquility and freedom from fear. This was obtained through the obtaining of knowledge, friendship and by living a virtuous and temperate life. The key to how this philosophy differed from other forms of pleasure-seeking philosophies was in the term moderation. Although it was all right to have sex, to become involved in an all-consuming passionate affair or to have sex too often could easily throw one out of balance, making it preferable to simply abstain. In addition, this philosophy was firmly grounded upon scientific, rather than divine, principles presuming that an understanding of the world around us, and a physical understanding of