As a defender of Epicurus, I get a lot of practice opposing majority positions and anointed leaders of the establishment. Plato and Aristotle are common targets, but tonight is a more challenging example. In this post, I have to point out a major philosophical problem in someone many Americans consider a hero. We have clearly articulated Epicurus views on this particular issue in many recent posts, but to restate: happy living requires that we properly appreciate and exercise our capacity for free will, which is not unlimited but certainly exists within limits set by Nature. It is therefore distressing to find (as I have tonight) that in contrast to Thomas Jefferson, a later American President was a thorough determinist. So thorough a fatalist was he, in fact, that he named as his favorite poem a drearily oppressive recitation of death and defeat that ends Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud? If you need an example of the need to be wary of idolizing people without knowing their philosophy, even when those people are universally beloved (by the establishment, anyway), you can check out the determinist views of Abraham Lincoln in this article. It took less than a hundred years to fall from having a president with Thomas Jeffersons Epicurean views on human liberty to having a president with views of predetermined fate as strong as that of any Stoic. If you want more uplifting reading, you can review the outline of Epicurean philosophy (including man is a free agent) prepared by Jefferson and cited in my recent post at the *third* link below. quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0018.105/--abraham-lincoln-and-the-doctrine-of-necessity?rgn=main;view=fulltext Lincolns favorite poem: abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/education/knox.htm Jeffersons Epicurean outline: newepicurean/peace-and-safety-for-your-twentieth-of-november-thomas-jeffersons-personal-outline-of-epicurean-philosophy/
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 02:38:16 +0000
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