Stoicism and Epicureanism

Because of its philosophical grounds in ancient Greece, stoicism and epicurenism had opposing and significant influences on Roman society. These two philosophies are different in many basic theories. Stoic Sc ​​hool tried to reach the moral level of freedom from passion, but Epicurean School asked for joy and struggled to avoid all kinds of suffering. Like the epicurean school, the stoic school focuses on ethics as a key area of ​​knowledge but they also develop logic theory and natural science theory to support their ethics.

There are two philosophical elementary schools in the Roman Empire, both of which are stoicism and epicureanism born in Greece. Epicurean believes life should be enjoyed because life is short lived. Stoic Sc ​​hool believes that the greatest achievement in life is knowledge and virtue. Although they emphasize Socrates' ethical doctrine, it is like many of the early Christian teachings. The most important thing in their moral doctrine is the existence of the golden rule. Prior to accepting Christianity, stoicism was the main moral light of Roman society.

Greek philosopher Zeno (335-263 BC) of Stoicism and Epicurean founded a philosophy school called Stoicism (STOH • ih • SIHZ • uhm). Stoic Sc ​​hool proposed that people should live according to the virtues of God or the laws of nature that God has set up to manage the universe. They also preached epiculus (EHP • KYUR •) to create a school of thought called epicurenism. He taught that God who is not interested in mankind dominates the universe. Epicuras believes that the only real object is the subject perceived by the senses. He teaches that the greatest kindness and highest happiness comes from benign behavior and painless. Epicuras proposed that the main purpose of human beings is to achieve harmony between the body and the mind. Today, the term hedonism means that people are committed to seeking happiness, especially enjoying food. But in his life Epicuras claims that everything should be moderate