Unit I
IN THIS LESSON
Democritus argues for the one idea that could help restart civilization after a cataclysmic collapse.
Topics discussed:
The atomistic philosophy of Democritus
The role of chance in our success or failure (and what that means for our ethics according to Democritus)
Democritus' maxims for how to achieve ataraxia (tranquility)
Democritus' notion that what's good for us is good for society
For lesson transcripts, go to zencastr.com/The-Luxury-of-Virtue.
Focus Questions
What is Democritus’ account of how, from only atoms and void, the world as we know it came to be formed?
Democritus believed that goal of life was to attain the state of ataraxia. In what ways did Democritus believe that self-reflection and tempering desires would lead to this desired state of being?
Chance played a large role in the physics of Democritus, with atoms and the compounds they form being the result of accidental collisions. How did chance figure into his ethical views?
Democritus set the stage for future schools of thought with his view of ethics as a way of life. In what way did future schools of lifestyle philosophy mirror the way Democritus developed his views on ethics?
Democritus thought that the body and soul were interrelated and that the one would have an effect on the other. How does modern psychology provide support for the view that the body and mind influence each other?
Further Reading
David Conan Wolfdorf, Early Greek Ethics.
Robin Waterfield, The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and the Sophists.
Other Relevant Material
Lewis Dartnell, The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Civilization in the Aftermath of a Cataclysm.
Helge Kragh, Quantum Generations: A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century.
David Epstein, The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance.
James Ladyman and Robin Gordon Brown, Materialism: A Historical and Philosophical Inquiry.
Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.
Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault.
Kathryn Paige Harden, The Genetic Lottery.
John Hibbing, Kevin Smith, and John Alford, Predisposed: Liberals, Conservatives, and the Biology of Political Differences.
Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment.
Antonio Damasio, Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain.
Paul Bloom, Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion.