The moral intellectualism in Epicur of Samos

Abstract

The object of this work is to show that the ethics of Epicurus is a psychological interpretation of the ethics of Plato. The identification of virtue with the knowledge of the virtue involves three implications. The first is that virtue can be taught, the second, that all virtues are reduced to one, and the third is that the virtue is always good for the moral subject, in such a way that virtue is unavoidable for those who know it, because no one acts against his own interest. We find in the Epicur’s moral system these three implications. The only difficulty is that he says that the wise man will commit no injustice because he can’t be sure of not to be punished. But when he asks himself what would do if he could be sure of that, he doesn’t answer that he will commit injustice.

Key words: Epicur, ethics, Plato, moral intelectualism.