Lesson 24: Humanist Epicureans

Born in Rotterdam (probably), Erasmus became the leading intellectual in Europe. He was a scholar, a writer, a religious reformer, and a diplomat. He knew everyone - kings, popes, scholars.

Key insight: Erasmus believed that classical learning and Christian faith could be unified. You didn't have to choose between secular wisdom and religious truth.

He championed studia humanitatis - the study of human culture, literature, languages, and philosophy as paths to wisdom and virtue. This included studying pagan authors seriously.

Erasmus famously said: "I could wish my life resembled that of the ancient philosophers." He was drawn to ancient philosophy because it valued wisdom, friendship, and freedom from fear.

In his Praise of Folly and other works, Erasmus celebrates:

• Friendship as the highest good: Epicurus taught this; Erasmus embraced it.
• Simple living: Why accumulate wealth you don't need? Why create anxiety through excess?
• Intellectual pleasure: The greatest pleasure comes from learning, conversation, reading - not bodily excess.
• Freedom from superstition: He attacked false belief and empty ritual - even in the Church itself.

Key point: Erasmus didn't call himself an Epicurean, but he lived according to Epicurean principles.

When Martin Luther sparked the Reformation, Erasmus was caught between two camps. Luther's harsh, combative theology clashed with Erasmus's humanistic faith in reason and conciliation.

The issue: Luther believed in free will or predestination; Erasmus believed in human moral agency and the power of education.

Erasmus's position was essentially Epicurean: humans have the capacity and freedom to reason about right action. The good life comes from exercising our rational faculties, not blind obedience to authority (whether papal or prophetic).

Utopia describes an ideal commonwealth where:

• No private property: Resources are shared communally.
• No extreme wealth or poverty: Everyone has basic security.
• Everyone works: But work hours are limited (6 hours daily).
• Time for leisure: The goal is to provide time for reading, conversation, friendship.
• Rational pleasure: People enjoy simple meals, music, and intellectual pursuits.

Epicurean core: The society is designed to minimize unnecessary labor and anxiety while maximizing friendship, learning, and simple pleasure.

More's vision embodies Epicurean principles:

• Freedom from fear: Security through communal provision means no fear of poverty or starvation.
• Minimizing desires: By eliminating wealth-seeking, greed is eliminated.
• Valuing friendship: With basic needs met and work reduced, people can spend time with loved ones.
• Intellectual pleasure: Libraries and schools are central. Learning is encouraged as the highest pleasure.
• Rejection of excess: Utopians reject luxury, gaudy ornament, and wasteful display - just like Epicurus taught.

Difference from Epicureanism: More adds communal emphasis. Epicurus valued friendship and moderate community. More imagines a whole society built on these principles.

Interestingly, Utopia has religious elements. The Utopians believe in God and practice various religions tolerantly (except atheism, which they don't permit).

This parallels Valla's strategy: More incorporates religious faith into a fundamentally Epicurean vision. The society is organized to achieve happiness (Epicurean goal) while respecting belief in divine providence (Christian element).

Lucretius presented a complete natural philosophy: atoms and void explain all matter and change. No need for final causes (Aristotle's "purpose" in nature). No need for celestial spheres or divine intervention in nature.

Why this mattered: It offered an alternative to Aristotelian physics, which dominated medieval and Renaissance universities. It suggested that nature operates through mechanical principles, not divine purposes.

This planted seeds for the Scientific Revolution.

After Lucretius was recovered, atomism gained slowly. Renaissance natural philosophers debated:

• Can matter be infinitely divisible, or are there indivisible atoms?
• Does the void exist, or is space filled with matter or aether?
• Can mechanical principles explain natural phenomena?

Key figure: Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) developed an explicit Christian atomism, building directly on Epicurean foundations.

The acceptance of atomism helped open the way for modern science because:

• Mechanism: If atoms moving in void explain nature, you don't need divine intervention to explain events.
• Quantification: Atoms are discrete, countable, measurable - making mathematics applicable to nature.
• Empiricism: To understand nature, you observe how atoms combine and move - not pure reason alone.

Result: Lucretius and Epicureanism provided intellectual resources for empirical, mechanical natural philosophy - the foundation of modern science.