Epicurus theorized that what one considers as living a good life is just learning how to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. This is contained in the Philosophy of Hedonism,
The Wisdom to Know the Difference
Is wisdom more valuable than philosophy itself? Philosophy is quite simply defined as the love of wisdom. Wisdom, however is much more difficult to define, but we can consider wisdom as the ability to judge what is right through knowledge and experience. So, it does not seem possible that philosophy in itself can be more valuable than wisdom. Epicurus argues that wisdom is more valuable than philosophy itself because it measures pleasure against pain. Pain that a wise man endures is never so severe that he can find pleasure in knowing that the pain will not last forever. Adding to the measures of pleasure against pain, he also states having wisdom allows a man to not fear death, since death involves neither pleasure nor pain. A wise man does not dwell on the past, nor does he fear the future. In fact a wise man looks forward to the future, and enjoys the present. All of these arguments by Epicurus are summarized in the following quote: "It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and honorably and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and honorably and justly without living pleasantly. Whenever any one of these is lacking, when, for instance, the man is not able to live wisely, though he lives honorably and justly, it is impossible for him to live a pleasant life."(Epicurus 5).
Having wisdom provides us with the tools needed to make choices. Epicurus theorized that what one considers as living a good life is just learning how to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. This is contained in the Philosophy of Hedonism, which is that pleasure is the most important pursuit of mankind. Epicurus explains this In A Letter to Menoeceus. He gives advice on how to minimize pain in our life, and explains the nature of pleasure. He explains that every pain is bad and should be avoided, and every pleasure is good and should be pursued. However, there is some relation between pain and pleasure, for every pain we have is bad, and we should minimize that pain whenever possible. However, sometimes simply minimizing life's pains is sufficient to achieve happiness, but we also should actively seek to maximize pleasure. He argues that we should not pursue every possible pleasure, especially those that produce more pain. He also argues that the fewer desires we have, the easier it will be to experience happiness. Living the simple life brings most people pleasure. Relaxing in the park with a good book, free of pain and outside influences can bring pleasure to most. This would be an example of hedonism. On the other hand minimizing pain in the same example, if the temperature were one hundred degrees minimizing our exposure to the sun would minimize the pain, so as to maximize the pleasure.
