Readers might have noted the ‘philosophy‘ tag among the list of categories on this site. And those who have read those posts noted awhile ago my interest in Epicurean philosophy. In fact, I’m not interested only in Epicurean theory. I’m also interested in applying it in the context of philosophical counseling.
Toward those ends, I’m starting a series of posts on Epicurean philosophy: Epicureanism 101! What you’re reading now is the first post in that series. If you follow along, you’ll see new posts in coming weeks and months with a title that begins with ‘Epicureanism 101.’
This post will cover a basic Epicurean distinction on the nature of our desires.
Enjoy!
Natural and Unnatural Desires
There’s a bigger picture to sketch about how Epicureanism fits together as a total philosophy. But I’ll save that for a future post in this series.
For this part, we’ll talk about desires.
Epicurus thinks desires serve as a key source of our anguish and suffering, especially mental anguish and suffering. But he has good news for us. Our desires stand, in large part, under our control. We can cultivate, shape, and limit our desires. And he has ideas for how to do this.
First, Epicurus draws a distinction between natural and unnatural (empty) desires.
Natural desires concern the fulfillment of our basic needs as human beings. What are those needs? Minimally, we need food, water, shelter, good health, and basic physical necessities. Beyond this, we also have social and intellectual needs, like the need for companionship, friendship, and study of the natural world.
Natural desires contribute to our basic happiness and flourishing in life (eudaimonia), which Epicurus puts in terms of tranquility.
By contrast, unnatural desires prevent us from achieving happiness. They keep us from tranquility. These desires concern things like personal and political power, excess wealth, and fame. Far from promoting our basic needs, unnatural desires promote the very anxieties that block us from tranquility.
Epicurus thinks unnatural desires creep into our lives for largely cognitive reasons. He says they come from ‘groundless opinion.’ Social pressures and false beliefs about what will make us happy lead us to chase power or fame. In response, we need to work hard to identify and eliminate these desires by changing our own beliefs and attitudes.
Necessary and Unnecessary Natural Desires
From this point, Epicurus draws a second distinction. First, he sets aside unnatural desires. We’re done with those for now. But among natural desires, some are necessary for a happy life, while others are unnecessary.
This is a bit trickier, so let’s work through it. Consider the desire for food. Things like simple home cooked meals, or less expensive foods easily obtained on a modest budget, promote our survival in simple ways. But not all desires for food are like those. Some people desire elaborate or expensive meals. They want luxurious, unique, or rare foods.
Epicurus calls the desire for simple foods and home cooked meals ‘necessary desires’ and the desire for luxurious or exotic foods ‘unnecessary desires.’ Both are natural desires, because they satisfy our basic needs. But they do so in different ways.
We can go through a similar exercise for other items on the list of natural desires. Necessary desires for shelter include the desire for a modest home, while unnecessary desires include, say, a million dollar mansion. And for health, necessary desires include the desire for basic exercise and fitness, while unnecessary desires include, say, the bizarre tech exec desire for AI life-extension treatments.
To be clear, Epicurus doesn’t say we should totally get rid of unnecessary desires. He saves that treatment for unnatural desires. However, to promote tranquility, we should focus mostly on necessary desires and limit our unnecessary desires.
Everyday Desires
Now we have a handy guide for sorting our desires. We should work to eliminate unnatural desires like those for power or fame. And while it’s fine to have unnecessary desires like the desire for a fancy meal or swanky clothes, we shouldn’t rely too heavily on those. As we face changes in life, we might lose our access to some of them. We shouldn’t let that take away our tranquility.
Finally, we should focus on desires that are natural and necessary. It’s hard to take away our tranquility if we focus on having a simple home, keeping up our basic health and fitness, and eating simple, nutritious meals.
Most (not all) of us have ready access to those things.
Finally, many things that disrupt our tranquility stem from desires that are natural, but unnecessary. Consider unrequited love, an issue many of us face. Epicurus sees a natural and necessary desire for companionship and friendship. However, romantic love is usually an unnecessary desire. It’s natural, since it fulfills basic needs. But it looks more like a luxury good than a basic need.
People with feelings of unrequited love should, according to the Epicurean, try to replace this desire with simpler forms of friendship or companionship.
For a second example, consider the desire for a raise or promotion. This is a natural desire, because work plays an essential role in procuring our basic needs. But if our wage already meets our basic needs, the desire for a raise is one we should tread cautiously around. We shouldn’t just reject it our of hand, but we should be careful not to let it overcome us.
Everyday Life
You might recognize Epicurus’s distinction in the everyday one between ‘needs’ and ‘wants.’ As The Rolling Stones tell us, you can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometime, you just might find you get what you need.
The Epicurean gives us a more philosophically compelling version of that.
Epicurus further reminds us that not only is it easier to satisfy natural and necessary desires, it also lasts longer. If you focus on your basic needs, you find you can often satisfy them. And you find that you’re not left hollow or empty, longing to fulfill those desires again right away.
Natural and unnecessary desires play out differently. It’s nice to have luxury clothes and a fancy meal from time to time. But the more you depend on it, the more the next meal or item of clothing won’t truly satisfy you. You’ll want it again and again.
Furthermore, we can lose our ability to satisfy those desires. A tornado, earthquake, or flood might sweep away our luxury mansion. We might lose our job and thereby our ability to buy fancy clothes or meals. But it’s more difficult to take away simpler versions of those things. Simple homes and clothes can be replaced more easily.
Unnatural desires look even worse by these standards. Power or fame will never satisfy you. You’ll always want more. The ancient philosophers – not just Epicurus, but also Aristotle and Plato – recognized that we quickly become slaves to desires like power or fame.
Leave a Reply