Introduction

This chapter contains an historical sketch of the circumstances surrounding the recovery of the text of Lucretius's On the Nature of Things and the spread of Epicureanism from Italy to France and Great Britain. The main tenets of Epicureanism, including the theory of atoms, the denial of providence, the mortality of the soul, the role of pleasure in ethics, and the existence of a plurality of independent worlds, are surveyed. The opposition of the Stoics and the distortions introduced by early Christian writers are discussed, along with Gassendi's role as an apologist for Epicurus in the mid-17th century, and the contributions of Galileo, Descartes, Cavendish, and Charleton to the positive reception and visibility of the recovered doctrine.

Epistemology · Materialism · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Philosophy