Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness
Abstract
The essay examines the central role that pleasure plays in a wide range of conceptualisations of happiness or ‘good life’, from Epicurean hedonism, to Christian asceticism, to contemporary cases of pastoral and philosophical counselling. Despite the apparent moral chasm between hedonists and ascetics, a look at the practices promoted by Epicurus and the Christian monastic fathers reveals striking similarities. The reason is that, at a fundamental level, both parties agree that one should reject the vulgar pleasures that society glorifies, and develop a refined attitude that seeks the appropriate and natural pleasures, while ignoring the harmful or unnecessary ones. And such an attitude can only be acquired through moral training, either by philosophical instruction and reflection, or by pastoral counselling. We highlight some important parallels regarding the connection between pleasure and happiness, as conceived by Epicureans and monastic fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. We be...gin by discussing elements of Epicureanism that can also be found in its rival philosophical schools and Christianity, mainly the emphasis on forming the right conception of happiness and acting in accordance with it. We then examine the connection between morality and happiness in the Christian Orthodox monasticism. We argue that Christian ascetic ethics not only condone some types of pleasures, but in fact require them as elements of happiness in this life that play an instrumental role for the Christian soteriological dogma. The argument has wider philosophical significance because it shows that pleasure is indeed a fundamental conceptual ingredient of happiness across different normative ethical contexts.
Source:
South African Journal of Philosophy, 2014, 523-536Publisher:
- Cape Town : The Philosophical Society of Southern Africa
DOI: 10.1080/02580136.2014.967594
WoS: 000346632800013
Scopus: 2-s2.0-84919845492
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IFDTTY - JOUR AU - Fatić, Aleksandar AU - Dentsoras, Dimitrios PY - 2014 UR - http://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/123456789/357 AB - The essay examines the central role that pleasure plays in a wide range of conceptualisations of happiness or ‘good life’, from Epicurean hedonism, to Christian asceticism, to contemporary cases of pastoral and philosophical counselling. Despite the apparent moral chasm between hedonists and ascetics, a look at the practices promoted by Epicurus and the Christian monastic fathers reveals striking similarities. The reason is that, at a fundamental level, both parties agree that one should reject the vulgar pleasures that society glorifies, and develop a refined attitude that seeks the appropriate and natural pleasures, while ignoring the harmful or unnecessary ones. And such an attitude can only be acquired through moral training, either by philosophical instruction and reflection, or by pastoral counselling. We highlight some important parallels regarding the connection between pleasure and happiness, as conceived by Epicureans and monastic fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. We begin by discussing elements of Epicureanism that can also be found in its rival philosophical schools and Christianity, mainly the emphasis on forming the right conception of happiness and acting in accordance with it. We then examine the connection between morality and happiness in the Christian Orthodox monasticism. We argue that Christian ascetic ethics not only condone some types of pleasures, but in fact require them as elements of happiness in this life that play an instrumental role for the Christian soteriological dogma. The argument has wider philosophical significance because it shows that pleasure is indeed a fundamental conceptual ingredient of happiness across different normative ethical contexts. PB - Cape Town : The Philosophical Society of Southern Africa T2 - South African Journal of Philosophy T1 - Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness SP - 523 EP - 536 DO - 10.1080/02580136.2014.967594 ER -
@article{ author = "Fatić, Aleksandar and Dentsoras, Dimitrios", year = "2014", abstract = "The essay examines the central role that pleasure plays in a wide range of conceptualisations of happiness or ‘good life’, from Epicurean hedonism, to Christian asceticism, to contemporary cases of pastoral and philosophical counselling. Despite the apparent moral chasm between hedonists and ascetics, a look at the practices promoted by Epicurus and the Christian monastic fathers reveals striking similarities. The reason is that, at a fundamental level, both parties agree that one should reject the vulgar pleasures that society glorifies, and develop a refined attitude that seeks the appropriate and natural pleasures, while ignoring the harmful or unnecessary ones. And such an attitude can only be acquired through moral training, either by philosophical instruction and reflection, or by pastoral counselling. We highlight some important parallels regarding the connection between pleasure and happiness, as conceived by Epicureans and monastic fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. We begin by discussing elements of Epicureanism that can also be found in its rival philosophical schools and Christianity, mainly the emphasis on forming the right conception of happiness and acting in accordance with it. We then examine the connection between morality and happiness in the Christian Orthodox monasticism. We argue that Christian ascetic ethics not only condone some types of pleasures, but in fact require them as elements of happiness in this life that play an instrumental role for the Christian soteriological dogma. The argument has wider philosophical significance because it shows that pleasure is indeed a fundamental conceptual ingredient of happiness across different normative ethical contexts.", publisher = "Cape Town : The Philosophical Society of Southern Africa", journal = "South African Journal of Philosophy", title = "Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness", pages = "523-536", doi = "10.1080/02580136.2014.967594" }
Fatić, A.,& Dentsoras, D.. (2014). Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness. in South African Journal of Philosophy Cape Town : The Philosophical Society of Southern Africa., 523-536. https://doi.org/10.1080/02580136.2014.967594
Fatić A, Dentsoras D. Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness. in South African Journal of Philosophy. 2014;:523-536. doi:10.1080/02580136.2014.967594 .
Fatić, Aleksandar, Dentsoras, Dimitrios, "Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness" in South African Journal of Philosophy (2014):523-536, https://doi.org/10.1080/02580136.2014.967594 . .