Complete 3 pages APA formatted article: Epicurus' and Epictetus' Teachings. Epicurus, whose teachings are related to the philosophy of hedonism, saw pleasure as the primary goal in every human’s life.

Complete 3 pages APA formatted article: Epicurus' and Epictetus' Teachings. Epicurus, whose teachings are related to the philosophy of hedonism, saw pleasure as the primary goal in every human’s life. He taught that happiness can only be achieved by means of pleasure. The concept of pleasure is also related to the notion of psychic tranquility, which he calls ataraxia. Ataraxia refers to inner peace of a human being and his being free from fear. Moreover, pleasure is also explained as the “absence of pain”. Just as Epicurus distinguishes between active and passive pleasure, he defines the former as an active process aimed at satisfying people’s desires, and the latter as the absence of pain, the perfect pleasure.

Similarly to Epicurus, Epictetus, who belonged to Stoics, developed his view of happiness and what can make humans happy. However, his views are different from Epicurus’ because he assumes that a person can achieve happiness only if he/she desires something which he/she is capable of achieving. Otherwise, this person will be unhappy. Hence, unlike Epicurus, Epictetus believes that controlling desires by means of self-discipline is the way to avoid unhappiness. Furthermore, Epicurus expressed the view that human beings did not need to be fearful of gods since gods do not interfere in human fates and lives. Unlike Epicurus, the representative of Stoics Epictetus believes that it is god that has control of everything. Hence, human beings are “fragments of god”.