greek-ethicsfeatured in 30 works

Ataraxia

The deep, unshakable calm that remains when the mind is no longer troubled by fear or anxious desire.

Ataraxia means freedom from disturbance — a settled tranquility of mind that two rival schools made their goal by opposite routes. For Epicurus (who founded his Athens school around 306 BCE), it came from shedding the fear of gods and death and limiting desire to what is natural and necessary. For the Pyrrhonist Skeptics, it followed from suspending judgment on questions that cannot be settled, letting anxiety simply fall away. Both the word and the aim shaped later ideas about peace of mind.

How it traveled

Fragmenta
— · -370
explains
Epistula ad Menoeceum
Athens · -270
explains
Epistula ad Herodotum
Athens · -270
explains
Ratae Sententiae
Athens · -270
explains
De Rerum Natura
Rome · -55
explains
de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum
Formiae · -43
explains
Tusculanae Disputationes
Formiae · -43
explains
de Natura Deorum
Formiae · -43
explains
Remedia amoris
Tomis (Constanța) · 1
applies
Discourses
Nicopolis · 108
explains
Non Posse Suaviter Vivi Secundum Epicurum
Chaeronea · 120
explains
De Tranquillitate Animi
Chaeronea · 120
explains
Consolatio ad Apollonium
Chaeronea · 120
explains
De exilio
Chaeronea · 120
explains
Quaestiones Convivales
Chaeronea · 120
explains
The Handbook
Nicopolis · 135
explains
Fragments
Nicopolis · 135
explains
Ad Se Ipsum
Vindobona (Vienna) · 170
explains
Nigrinus
Samosata · 180
explains
Gallus
Samosata · 180
explains
De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam
Samosata · 180
explains
Demonax
Samosata · 180
explains
Saturnalia
Samosata · 180
explains
Adversus Mathematicos
Alexandria · 190
explains
Pyrrhoniae Hypotyposes
Alexandria · 210
explains
Vitae philosophorum
— · 240
explains
Mivchar HaPeninim
Granada · 950
Duties of the Heart
Zaragoza (Saragossa) · 1080
Yalkut Shimoni on Nach
Tiberias · 1250
Sefer HaIkkarim
Soria · 1425

Key passages(20)

Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum 10.1.128↗explains

Vitae philosophorum · Diogenes Laertius