Epicurus (born Samos 341 BC–died Athens, 270 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher who was the founder of Epicureanism. He born into an Athenian émigré family — his parents, both Athenian citizens, had moved to an Athenian settlement on the Aegean island of Samos. He returned to Athens as a young citizen to serve in military training.

The playwright Menander served in the same age-class of the ephebes as Epicurus.

After pursuing philosophical education in several Greek cities he taught in two cities in Asia Minor, and formed one of the most important Philosophy schools of the period in Athens, named The Garden.

Epicurus' teachings represented a departure from the other major Greek thinkers of his period, and before.

He admitted women and slaves into his school, emphasized the senses in his epistemology, and was one of the first Greeks to break from the god-fearing and god-worshipping tradition common at the time.

He is best known for advocating the pursuit of or indulgence in pleasure with a guilt-free attitude as a necessary moral good. There are connections to the philosophies of Ayn Rand and Osho as well as Zen.

The most known Epicurian verse wich epitomize the Epicurian philosophy is

lathe biōsas λάθε βιώσας, meaning "live in obscurity", i. e. without pursuing glory or wealth or power, but anonymously, enjoying little things like food, the company of friends etc.

Elements of Epicurean philosophy have resonated and resurfaced in various diverse thinkers and movements throughout Western intellectual history. The Epicurean paradox is a famous argument against the existence of God.

Epicurus discussed a human being's natural right to "life, liberty, and safety."

This was later picked up by the democratic thinkers of the French Revolution, and others, like John Locke, who wrote that people had a right to "life, liberty, and property."

This triad was carried forward into the American freedom movement and Declaration of Independence, by American founding father, Thomas Jefferson, as "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

How do the Epicureans qualify Aristotle’s conception of happiness?

Epicurus was the first of the Empiricists, those who take knowledge from what they can experience with their senses, and opposed to a Rationalist who seeks truth through the use of Reason more than experience such as mathematicians like Leibniz. Epicurus is similar to the atomists like Democritus who think that essence is matter. Epicurus believed in matter more than form, and therefore sought happiness in real objects. His idea was that happiness could be achieved through pleasure. The Epicurean idea of happiness is similar to Aristotle’s idea of happiness due to the fact that the Epicurean must find the mean between the two extremes of pleasure and pain; they must seek to be moderate in seeking pleasure and know the right proportion for every act. The Epicureans were not hedonists as popularly believed, and their way of life is quite strict.

An Epicurean must also know the difference between natural pleasures (necessary) and unnatural pleasures (unnecessary). Two examples of necessary pleasures would be eating and sex. An Epicurean must seek to get rid of unnatural pleasures such as eating expensive foods. Pain was defined by Epicurus as having a deficiency of pleasure. Epicurus stated that a man who lives a prudent life will live a life with the least disturbances, and an imprudent man will lead a life with the most disturbances.

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