This is the first English translation of a compelling and highly original reading of Epicurus by Jean-Marie Guyau. This book has long been recognized as one of the best and most concerted attempts to explore one of the most important, yet controversial ancient philosophers whose thought, Guyau claims, remains vital to modern and contemporary culture. Throughout the text we are introduced to the origins of the philosophy of pleasure in Ancient Greece, with Guyau clearly demonstrating how this idea persists through the history of philosophy and how it is an essential trait in the Western tradition. With an introduction by Keith Ansell-Pearson and Federico Testa, which contextualizes the work of Guyau within the canon of French thought, and notes on both further reading and on Epicurean scholarship more generally, this translation also acts as a critical introduction to the philosophy of Guyau and Epicurus.
This is the first English translation of a compelling and highly original reading of Epicurus by Jean-Marie Guyau. This book has long been recognized as one of the best and most concerted attempts to explore one of the most important, yet controversial ancient philosophers whose thought, Guyau claims, remains vital to modern and contemporary culture. Throughout the text we are introduced to the origins of the philosophy of pleasure in Ancient Greece, with Guyau clearly demonstrating how this idea persists through the history of philosophy and how it is an essential trait in the Western tradition. With an introduction by Keith Ansell-Pearson and Federico Testa, which contextualizes the work of Guyau within the canon of French thought, and notes on both further reading and on Epicurean scholarship more generally, this translation also acts as a critical introduction to the philosophy of Guyau and Epicurus.
Note on the Translation
Editors’ Introduction: Jean-Marie Guyau on Epicurus and the Art of
Living: A Novel Approach to the History of Philosophy
Foreword: On the Method Used for the Exposition of Systems
Introduction: Epicureanism in Antiquity and Modernity
Book One: The Pleasures of the Flesh
Chapter 1: Pleasure: The End of Life and the Principle of All
Ethics
Chapter 2: Fundamental Pleasure: The Stomach
Chapter 3: The Rule of Pleasure: Utility. – Happiness, The
Sovereign Good
Chapter 4: Desire. – The Ultimate End of Desire: Rest, Enjoyment of
Self
Book Two: The Pleasures of the Soul
Chapter 1: Intellectual and Moral Serenity – Science, Opposed by
Epicurus to the Idea of Miracle
Chapter 2: Freedom - Contingency in Nature, the Condition of Human
Freedom
Chapter 3: Tranquillity in the Face of Death. – Epicurean Theory of
Death, and its Relation to Contemporary Theories
Book Three: Private and Public Virtues
Chapter 1: Courage and Temperance. Love and Friendship. The Genesis
of Friendship. The Conduct of the Sage in Human Society.
Chapter 2: Justice and the Social Contract
Chapter 3: Progress in Humanity
Chapter 4: Epicurean Piety. The Struggle against Divinity
understood as Efficient Cause
Conclusion: Epicureanism and its Analogies with Modern Positivism.
The Success of Epicureanism in Antiquity
Book Four: The Modern Successors of Epicurus
Chapter 1: The Epoch of Transition Between Ancient Epicureanism and
Modern Epicureanism – Gassendi and Hobbes
Chapter 2: La Rochefoucauld – The Psychology of Epicureanism
Chapter 3: Spinoza – Synthesis of Epicureanism and Stoicism
Chapter 4: Helvétius
Chapter 5: The Spirit of Epicureanism in Eighteenth-Century
France
Conclusion: Contemporary Epicureanism
Bibliography
Index
The first English translation of Jean-Marie Guyau’s highly original, major study of Epicurean philosophy, which demonstrates Epicureanism’s profound impact on the shape of modern culture and contemporary philosophy.
Jean-Marie Guyau (1854 –1888) was a French philosopher
and poet. His central works include Esquisse d’une morale sans
obligation ni sanction (A Sketch of Morality Independent of
Obligation or Sanction) and L’Irréligion de l’avenir (The
Non-Religion of the Future). His works met an enthusiastic
reception by important thinkers of his time, such as Friedrich
Nietzsche, Pierre Kropotkin and Henri Bergson.
Federico Testa is an Associate Fellow at the Institute of
Advanced Study of the University of Warwick, UK. His current
research focuses on Michel Foucault’s politics of life, French
contemporary philosophy and the revival of Hellenistic tradition
within Modern and Contemporary philosophy.
Keith Ansell Pearson holds a Personal Chair in Philosophy at
the University of Warwick, UK. He is the author of acclaimed
monographs on Nietzsche and Bergson and has published a number of
essays on Guyau’s ethics.
This is a fascinating study of Epicurus, also containing a valuable
account of Epicureanism in the early modern period, and it is an
important document in the history of Epicureanism in its own right.
Guyau is himself an unjustly neglected philosopher, making this
volume doubly welcome.
*John Sellars, Reader in Philosophy, Royal Holloway University of
London, UK*
Once compulsory reading for Tolstoy, Nietzsche, and Bergson,
Guyau’s study is three books in one: a masterful introduction to
Epicureanism, a modern history of the philosophy since Hobbes and
Spinoza, and a passionate defense of its utility as a guide to
social and ethical conduct today. This translation will reestablish
Guyau’s reputation as one of the great intellects — and influencers
— of the late nineteenth century.
*James I. Porter, Irving Stone Professor of Rhetoric and Classics,
University of California, Berkeley, USA*
This is a beautiful translation of a game-changing classic in
Epicurean scholarship. A work of philosophy in its own right, Guyau
exquisitely captures the illusive nature of an ethics of the “whole
of life” and reveals its uniquely emancipatory potential. Finally,
English readers can discover the magic of Guyau’s prose that
influenced many of the greatest thinkers of 19th materialism!
*Thomas Nail, Professor of Philosophy, University of Denver, USA*
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