Comparing 'Letter To Menoeceus And Leading Doctrines'
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Ancient Greek philosophers such as Diogenes Laërtius, Aristotle, and Epicurus provide eminent philosophical theories that offer the definition of intrinsic happiness which successfully portray a direct link between an ethical life and happiness, as their theories are essentially philosophies for identifying with an individual’s own morality – in which ‘true happiness’ arises from. Through thorough analysis of extracts from ‘Ethical Virtue: Aristotle, extract from Nicomachean Ethics’, ‘The Stoics Reader – Selected Writings and Testimonia’, and ‘Epicurus, ‘Letter to Menoeceus’ and ‘Leading Doctrines’’, this essay aims to argue that although Laërtius, Aristotle, and Epicurus have different philosophies, they all strive towards a concluding good…show more content… Though the philosophy of stoicism as a whole is multifaceted, the works of stoic philosophers emphasise focus on concrete advice and enlightenment for individuals trying to attain wellbeing or happiness through four fundamental concepts – value, emotions, nature, and control. Diogenes Laërtius was a biographer of ancient Greek philosophers who had a passion for stoic ethics. Within an extract written in ‘The Stoics Reader – Selected Writings and Testimonia’, Laertius (n.d) stated:
Neither good nor bad are those things which neither benefit nor harm, such as life, health, pleasure, beauty, strength, wealth, good reputation, noble birth, and their opposites, death, disease, pain, ugliness, weakness, poverty, bad reputation, low birth, and such things… For these things are not good, but things are indifferent, in the category of preferred…show more content… To a person who is experiencing total euphoria and has embraced a melancholy attitude, music will be an intrinsic good. As opposed to this circumstance, a person who is mourning from the loss of a loved one will not necessarily want to hear anything – like music – therefore, from their perspective, it’ll be an intrinsic bad. As Laërtius’s statement states that neither is beneficial nor harmful, for a deaf person, music won’t be pleasurable nor will it be a burden – simply based on the fact that they are unable to