442. Psychological And Philosophical Epicureanism

Psychological And Philosophical Epicureanism

Epicurus is a philosopher, whose writings and teachings roughly cover three main areas:  

1. Explaining nature and science in general
2. Suggestions for values, attitudes and a way of life as an individual being a part of the physical and social surroundings.
3. Suggestions for the interactions and communication with other individuals.  

2300 years ago, psychology did not yet exist.   But areas 2 and 3 are today psychological topics.  

The focus of philosophy is the definition and evaluation of goals.       

Psychology uses a wider approach, it looks also at the choice and the process of reaching the goals.    Therefore adapting Epicurus' suggestions concerning a way of life to modern times requires converting them into psychological concepts.  

The following is an example.  

"This led one to attain a state of tranquility (ataraxia) and freedom from fear, as well as absence of bodily pain (aponia). The combination of these two states is supposed to constitute happiness in its highest form."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism

Ataraxia and aponia are goals, states, ideals.    Both are words beginning with an 'a', describing a negative, an absence of something unpleasant and unwanted, in this case turmoil and pain.   

The psychological concept considers the cycle of dishomeostasis, homeostation and homeostasis as a recurrent process, in which homeostasis is the baseline.      

• Dishomeostasis is the felt urge of any unpleasant and unwanted state.   There are wide individual differences between how possible causes elicit a stronger or a weaker subjective perceptions of dishomeostasis.
  • a physical need like hunger
  • a physical pain like a headache
  • a mental need like boredom
  • a simple emotional need like loneliness
  • a complex emotional need like justice
  • a simple emotional pain like grief
  • a complex emotional pain like humiliation

• Homeostation is the behavior chosen to reduce, whatever is felt and sensed as dishomeostasis and to restore homeostasis. 
• The resulting temporary homeostasis is the ideal state, which Epicurus considers as a good life.

Merely defining goals is not enough.   The goal of restoring and maintaining homeostasis implies for every individual to be conscious and knowledgeable of the causes of subjective dishomeostasis, how to avoid them and of methods for homeostation.