Ethics

Letter to Menoeceus

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Epicurus

c. 300 BC

The Letter to Menoeceus is Epicurus's most concentrated statement of his ethical philosophy — a brief but remarkably complete account of how to live well and die without fear. Written as a personal letter to a student, it sets out the four pillars of Epicurean practice: that the gods need not be feared, that death is not to be dreaded, that what is truly good is easily obtained, and that what is truly terrible is easily endured. Happiness, Epicurus argues, consists not in the pursuit of intense pleasures but in the achievement of ataraxia — a tranquil, undisturbed state of mind — and aponia, the freedom from bodily pain. The letter's closing injunction, that philosophy's purpose is to enable a life of happiness now and always, makes it one of the founding documents of practical ethics.