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Epicurus, 341-271 BC
Ancient Athenian hedonic philosopher, founder of the "Epicurean School". Like many others, much of what we know about his doctrines comes from second-hand accounts.
The Epicureans posited the hedonic axiom that the ultimate Good was the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain. However, unlike the Cyrenaics before them, the Epicureans emphasized pleasure and pain as mental conditions and thus (unlike bodily sensations) measurable against each other on the same continuum. To emphasize this point, Epicurus differentiated between various sorts of pleasure, including "moving pleasure" (i.e. actively pleasurable experiences), and "stable pleasure" (i.e. absence of pain, tranquility). He regarded the first as mere short-lived titillation and thus not quite on the same plane as the second.
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