Emily Austin: Epicureanism is a philosophy about making your life go better. She says it's not debauched in the sense of sex drugs or rock and roll hedonists. The aim is to live a good satisfied life filled with pleasures that you select prudently, she says.Austin: I think there are a lot of available pleasures that are ready at hand and simple if we privileged them.
The Greek philosopher Epicurus made a rather bold claim over two thousand years ago. The key to life, he said, was simple: pursue pleasure and avoid pain. Around this maxim he developed a school of philosophy, Epicureanism, which promised its adherents that if they took care of their basic needs, surrounded themselves with trustworthy friends, and developed a basic understanding of science, they would be happy. But is it really that simple? Can the advice of someone born 2,363 years ago still hold true? To answer these questions, we turned to Emily Austin, professor of philosophy at Wake Forest University and author of the delightful new book "Living for Pleasure: An Epicurean Guide to Life.”
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