Epicurus on Freedom Tim O’Keefe Frontmatter More Information

Cambridge University Press 052184696X - Epicurus on Freedom Tim O’Keefe Frontmatter More information

EPICURUS ON FREEDOM

In this book, Tim O’Keefe reconstructs the theory of freedom of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-271/0 bce). Epicurus’ theory has attracted much interest, but our attempts to understand it have been hampered by reading it anachronistically as the discov- ery of the modern problem of free will and determinism. O’Keefe argues that the sort of freedom which Epicurus wanted to preserve is signiﬁcantly different from the ‘free will’ which philosophers debate today, and that in its emphasis on rational action it has much closer afﬁnities with Aristotle’s thought than with current preoccupations. His original and provocative book will be of interest to a wide range of readers in Hellenistic philosophy.

tim o’keefe is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgia State University. Since 2001 he has been the Ancient Philosophy Area Editor for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

EPICURUS ON FREEDOM

TIM O’KEEFE

cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sa˜o Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521846967

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First published 2005

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For Anne and Quinn

Contents

Acknowledgments page viii List of abbreviations x

Introduction 1 1 What sort of an incompatibilist is Epicurus? 10 2 Lucretius on the swerve and voluntas 26 3 Aristotle and Epicurus on the origins of character and action 48 4 Epicurus’ reductionist response to Democritean fatalism 65 5 The swerve and collisions 110 6 The swerve and fate 123 7 Epilogue: Epicurus and the invention of libertarian free will 153

Appendix: Some texts 163 References 168 Index 174

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Acknowledgments

In the long process of working out my thoughts about the topic of Epicurus on freedom, I’ve received help from many people. I’m happy to acknowledge some of them here. David O’Connor’s seminar on ancient ethics gave me an engaging and sympathetic introduction to Epicureanism. Although my disagreements with David Sedley will be obvious in what follows, reading his pioneering work ﬁrst sparked my interest in the role of the swerve in preserving our freedom. Many of the arguments here were originally developed during work on my dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin. It was a wonderful place to study, largely because the faculty and students of the joint program in Ancient Philosophy formed a supportive and enriching com- munity. In particular, I’d like to thank Steve White and Jim Hankinson for their continuing help and friendship. Steve White provided answers, often leavened with dreadful puns, to many questions of mine. Jim Hankinson gave feedback on much of the ms. Also, his work has provided for me a model of how to engage in the study of ancient philosophy. Sylvia Berryman and Hal Thorsrud each looked over drafts of the whole book; their prompt and generous comments were immensely helpful. I hope that one day soon I can return the favor. The detailed input of the anonymous reviewers from Cambridge University Press, and of David Sedley, was also quite useful. This book is dedicated to Anne Farrell and Quinn O’Keefe. Anne has been invaluable as a sounding board and in-house editor and reviewer. More importantly, her love has helped sustain me and bring me happi- ness. Quinn’s entry into the world during the late stages of revision to this book did not directly assist me in my writing—if anything, the opposite is true—but he was a source of joy and of comic relief. Also, he helped

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Acknowledgments ix convince me that the Stoic version of the Cradle Argument is closer to the mark than the Epicurean one.

Note: Although no part of this book simply reprints previously published articles verbatim, in some sections there is considerable overlap of content. I dealt with the swerve’s role as an origin of collisions (chapter 5)in O’Keefe (1996). The ontological status of sensible qualities for Democri- tus and Epicurus (section 4.1.2) is treated at greater length in O’Keefe (1997), and Epicurean reductionism and On Nature 25, the subjects of much of chapter 4, are discussed in O’Keefe (2002). Some of the consid- eration of the ‘traditional’ interpretation in chapter 2 appeared previously in O’Keefe (2003a).

Abbreviations

Adv. Colot. Plutarch, Against Colotes Arr. Arrighetti, Epicuro, Opere DA Aristotle, de Anima de Int. Aristotle, de Interpretatione De lib. arb. Augustine, De libero arbitrio DF Cicero, De ﬁnibus DK Diels and Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker DL Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers DRN Lucretius, De rerum natura Ep. Hdt. Epicurus, Letter to Herodotus Ep. Pyth. Epicurus, Letter to Pythocles Ep. Men. Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus KD Epicurus, Principal Doctrines L&S Long and Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers M. Sextus Empiricus, Against the professors MA Aristotle, de Motu Animalium Meta. Aristotle, Metaphysics PH Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism Pol. Aristotle, Politics NE Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Tim. Plato, Timaeus SV Epicurus, Vatican Sayings