伊壁鸠鲁论“好生活”

Epicurus on the Good Life

好生活的问题一直是古今政治哲学中的核心问题,伊壁鸠鲁的思想同样是围绕如何实现一种好生活而展开的。伊壁鸠鲁将好生活定义为“身体的无痛苦与灵魂的无纷扰”的状态。他认为,因缺乏对神、死亡、痛苦、“身体-灵魂”的正确认识而产生的恐惧,以及对欲望缺乏正确认识而产生的虚妄是阻碍人们过上好生活的两大类障碍。因此,要实现一种好生活,一是需要用自然哲学从认识论上清除影响人们灵魂宁静的恐惧和错误的观念,二是需要借用正义来规定人们的生活方式,从而营造一个和谐安全的外在生存环境。最终,伊壁鸠鲁开创了一种以原子论个体主义为基础的新型幸福论哲学。这使其一方面与古典自然正当论者表现出极大的差异,另一方面也为现代自然权利论者提供了重要的思想资源。

The question of a good life has always been at the core of ancient and modern political philosophy, and Epicurus’ thoughts also revolve around how to achieve a good life. Epicurus defined the good life as a state of ‘no pain in the body and no disturbance in the soul’. According to him, the fear that comes from the lack of a proper understanding of gods, death, pain and ‘body -soul’, and the false desire that comes from the lack of a proper understanding of desire, are the two major obstacles that prevent people from living a good life. Therefore, in order to realize a good life, it is necessary to use natural philosophy to eliminate the fear and the wrong ideas that affect the tranquility of one’s soul from the perspective of epistemology, and to use justice to regulate one’s way of life, so as to create a harmonious and safe external living environment. Finally, Epicurus initiated a new philosophy of happiness based on atomistic individualism. It not only shows a great difference from the classical theory of natural right, but also provides an important resource for the modern theory of natural rights.