Ataraxia
conceptThe Epicurean ideal of tranquility, a state of undisturbed peace free from anxiety and fear.
The Myth
If apatheia was the Stoic goal, ataraxia was the Epicurean one — though the two words are often confused. Ataraxia literally means "without disturbance," from the prefix a- and tarassein, to trouble. Epicurus identified two great sources of human misery: fear of the gods and fear of death. Eliminate both through rational philosophy, and ataraxia follows naturally. The gods exist but do not intervene in human affairs, so fearing their punishment is irrational. Death is the dissolution of atoms, so there is no afterlife to dread. With these fears removed, a person can live in simple pleasure — friendship, modest food, philosophical conversation in the garden. Pyrrho and the Skeptics also claimed ataraxia as their goal, though they reached it differently. Where Epicurus used physics to dispel fear, Pyrrho used suspension of judgment. If you never commit to any belief about how things truly are, you cannot be disturbed by being wrong. Democritus had used the related term euthymia — good spirits — for a similar state. All three schools agreed: philosophy was not an academic exercise but medicine for the soul.
Parents
Epicurean philosophical tradition
Symbols
Fun Fact
Psychiatric drugs that reduce anxiety are still called "ataractic" agents — a term borrowed directly from Epicurus's philosophy of the calm mind.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Achlys
conceptThe personification of the mist of death that clouded the eyes of the dying, one of the most...
Actaeon's Transformation
conceptThe hunter who accidentally saw Artemis bathing naked and was transformed into a stag, then torn...
Adamantine Sickle
conceptThe unbreakable sickle forged by Gaia and given to Cronus to castrate his father Uranus, an act...
Aegis
conceptThe aegis was a divine shield or breastplate belonging to Zeus and wielded by Athena, fringed with...
Agape
conceptSelfless, unconditional love — the highest form of love in Greek philosophical and theological...
Ages of Man
conceptHesiod's five successive races of humanity — Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroes, and Iron — each worse...
Agoge
conceptThe brutal Spartan education system that transformed boys into warriors through collective living,...
Aion
conceptThe Greek personification of unbounded, cyclical time, distinct from the linear time of Chronos.
Ajax (Shield)
conceptAjax's shield was a massive tower shield of seven ox-hides layered with bronze — the largest...
Akrasia
conceptThe Greek concept of acting against one's better judgment, the philosophical problem of weakness of...
Akrasia (Weakness of Will)
conceptThe philosophical problem of knowing what is right but doing wrong anyway — weakness of will in the...
Aletheia
conceptTruth understood as unconcealment — the revealing of what was hidden.