The ethics of pleasure. Guilt and happiness in the works of Epicurus

Abstract

This paper aims to show the currency of the epicurean criticism of the moral superstitions, particularly those related to culpability and, together with it, the depuration of some obstacles to reach eternal happiness. To this end, the author analyzes several key points of Epicurean Ethics, namely: ethos and physis; the ethics of desire; guilt and corporeity; in-situ resistance; the morality of friendship; politics and justice; guilt and temporality. The methodology is basically hermeneutical and genealogical (Foucault) given the text analysis and the critical approach which seeks to recover the Epicurean resistance as a fruitful perspective for the creation of an anti-capitalist ethics in the modern context.