Facebook: Extending it's Social Networking Boundaries to the Past

I had an interesting encounter with Facebook the other day. As I left a wall post on a friend's page I saw her quiz results for a random Facebook quiz called, "What Greek Philosopher are you?" She's Socrates, lucky bastard. Who am I, I thought? Could I too be the legendary Socrates?Or am I Plato? Or maybe Aristotle? Naturally, I hoped for one of Ancient Greek philosophy's legendary three musketeers. A sucker for the subject, I gave it a shot. While I found the question & answer survey horribly disappointing (ex: You are LEAST likely to spend time: [A] with anything unproductive [B] with art [C] with work [D] with getting too focused on one thing [E] with video games [F] with religion) the results genuinely surprised me.

I am Epicurus.

Epicurus was a hedonist. He believed in living life in a manner that made you most happy. Pursuing the pleasurable would ultimately push you toward the ultimate goal of aponia, or absence of fear and pain. This absence of pain was most important because when we cease to suffer we are no longer in need of pleasure. He believed in living a life in this middle state of satiation and tranquility that was free of the fear of death.

Agreeing with my Facebook match, I believe that when we die we do not feel the pain of death because we no longer exist and therefore feel nothing: when we exist death is not, and when death exists we are not. All sensation and consciousness ends with death and therefore in death there is neither pleasure nor pain. He also believed that death brought the end to our body and soul (strangely this was the thesis of my last post exactly) but that this should not be the cause of fear, but invigoration. Our days are numbered: use each day to pursue your pleasures but don't fear the repercussions of whatever these actions may be because the gods simply do not and will not reward or punish you for your actions in death. It's important to note, he also warned how overindulgence can bring pain.

Now, you may be asking what about those who may desire a darker pleasure? Adolf Hitler, Siaka Stevens, or Osama Bin Laden for example?

Epicurus statement of the Ethic of Reciprocity as the foundation of ethics is the earliest in Ancient Greece and differed in the traditional sense by Epicurus emphasizing that if we harm ourselves and others less we can further maximize our happiness. It's the golden rule: treat others as you yourself would like to be treated. His school was also the first of the ancient Greek philosophical schools to admit women as a rule rather than an exception. Epic work Epicurus! These perspectives also later inspired thinkers of the French Revolution, including John Locke, who eventually inspired my founding fathers.

Epicurus also insisted that we should believe nothing except that which can be tested through direct observation and logical deduction. I believe seeing is believing and our ability to reason is one of mankind's most essential tools for reaching understanding: that said, some things are still a mystery.

He believed in a self-sufficient way of life surrounded by friends. In addition, he believed that the universe was infinite and eternal and that every event that occurs is ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space but which can occasionally exhibit a clinamen, or swerve (Wikipedia does wonders). It's a fancy description that he believed in atomism, but also free will.

What intrigues me most about the Epicurus living inside of me, however, is not any specific views he has been credited with, but rather the philosopher's lack of credit: of Epicurus's 300 written works, only a few fragments and letters remain. To me, this simple fact about Epicurus brews in me a stronger link to the man than any of the views he supposedly held in life. For in this mystery I relate to an uncertainty of never being able to validate my own thoughts with permanent conviction. In the end, I accept I know nothing.

Facebook got it wrong, I'm totally a Socrates.