HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
FIRST EDITION
© Catherine Wilson 2019
Cover layout design by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019
Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Catherine Wilson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at
Source ISBN: 9780008291693
Ebook Edition © May 2019 ISBN: 9780008291716
Version: 2019-04-02
Contents
1 Cover
2 Title Page
3 Copyright
4 Contents
5 Preface
6 Note on the Text
7 PART I: HOW THE EPICUREAN SEES THE WORLD
8 1. Back to BasicsThe Epicurean AtomAtomism: Three Consequences
9 2. How Did We Get Here?The Epicurean Theory of Natural SelectionDarwin’s Upgrade: How Selection Causes Evolution
10 3. The Material MindThe Mystery of ConsciousnessThe Evolution of Consciousness
11 4. The Story of HumanityThe State of Nature and the Rise of CivilisationAuthority and InequalityThe Lessons of the Past
12 PART II: LIVING WELL AND LIVING JUSTLY
13 5. Ethics and the Care of the SelfPleasure and PainPrudence and its LimitsHedonism and its ProblemsDon’t Suffer in Silence!The Pleasure Merchants
14 6. Morality and Other PeopleMorality vs PrudenceMoral Truth and Moral ProgressWhy Be Moral?What’s Different About Epicurean Morality?
15 7. Beware of Love!The Epicurean ExceptionThe Pains and Pleasures of LoveSexual Morality: Minimising Harm to OthersUsing Your Head
16 8. Thinking About DeathThe Epicurean View of DeathDeath at the Right and Wrong TimesAbortion vs InfanticideSuicide vs EuthanasiaResisting and Accepting MortalityDon’t Count on the Afterlife
17 PART III: SEEKING KNOWLEDGE AND AVOIDING ERROR
18 9. What Is Real?Nature and ConventionThings in BetweenHuman Rights: Natural or Conventional?The Imaginary: UnthingsThe Reality of the Past
19 10. What Can We Know?The Importance of First-Person ExperienceResolving DisagreementIs Empiricism True?
20 PART IV: THE SELF IN A COMPLEX WORLD
21 11. Science and ScepticismScientific ExplanationCan We Trust the Scientists?Living with Uncertainty
22 12. Social Justice for an Epicurean WorldThree Epicurean Philosophers on War, Inequality and WorkEpicurean Political PrinciplesJustice for Women: Nature, History and Convention
23 13. Religion From an Epicurean PerspectiveBelief in the ImaginaryPiety Without SuperstitionCan Religion Be Immoral?Can a Religious Person Be an Epicurean?
24 14. The Meaningful LifeTwo Conceptions of the Meaningful LifeMeaningfulness for the IndividualThe Problem of AffluenceThe Philosophical Perspective