Ataraxia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The ataraxia ( Greek  ἀταραξία ataraxía "unshakable", also ataraxis , from a-tárachos "unshakable") is the name of the Epicureans and Pyrrhones for the ideal of peace of mind . As a state of mind she is the affect unemployment and composure against tragedies and similar outside influences, the happiness of the ways that eudemonia compromise.

Ataraxia in everyday life

The living conditions of ancient people were characterized by an everyday life that was difficult to bear. According to the accounts of Homer and Hesiod, suffering and pain, violence, war, excessive inclinations and inhuman behavior were characteristic features. In contrast, there was the human need to want to lead a comfortable life ( eudaimonia ). By developing a relaxed attitude (ataraxia) one followed this need. Therefore, in ancient Greece, ataraxia denotes a desired, ideal attitude to life, to be able to calmly and calmly accept the unpredictable actions of the gods or events of fate, as mentioned by Epictetus (50-138 AD) and others. The ancient poets occasionally advised their contemporaries to take life as it comes, without being misled by false hopes or fears of the gods.

Ataraxia in Epicurean Ethics

According to the ethics of Epicurus , the highest goal (télos or summum bonum) of human existence is serene pleasure (hedoné or voluptas) . The latter refers - according to Malte Hossenfelder - above all to the "health of the body and ... calmness of the soul ..." But both are threatened by the fear of the gods and death, the excess of desires and physical pain . So the wise man has to free himself from external as well as internal influences that threaten his peace of mind (ataraxia or tranquillitas animi) , from desire, lust, grief and fear and thus achieve internal self-sufficiency .

If you follow “sober considerations” about the gods, about death, about your own needs and physical pain, this can succeed, because

  • the gods don't care about the world
  • death does not matter to people because when it occurs they are no longer there,
  • natural needs that avoid displeasure, such as B. Hunger, thirst, friendship can be fulfilled,
  • most pains are mild and short-lived.

In this way, humans are able to lead a modest, self-sufficient life full of ataraxia, ie fearlessness and serenity.

The Stoa merged its concept of "apathy" ( apatheia ) with the concept of ataraxia . The Latin expression tranquillitas animi in Cicero and Seneca covers both apathy and ataraxia.

Ataraxia in the Pyrrhonic skepticism

For the goal of the teaching of Pyrrhon von Elis, which is difficult to grasp because of the sparse tradition , in addition to the stoic term apatheia , the term ataraxia has also been handed down. In the neo-pyrrhonic skepticism, which we encounter especially in the writings of the Sextus Empiricus , ataraxia actually describes the goal of ethics, but it cannot be striven for directly, since every striving for it, even every dogmatic doctrine about the essence of ataraxia would mean a shock and thus destruction of peace of mind. Hence the Neupyrrhoneer say that ataraxia follows the abstention ( epoché ) "like the shadow". One arrives at peace of mind "by chance" by abstaining from judgment in all decisions and thus escaping being torn back and forth.

swell

literature

  • Christoph Horn : Ancient art of living: happiness and morals from Socrates to the Neoplatonists. 3rd edition, Beck, Munich 2014, ISBN 3406669077 .
  • Malte Hossenfelder : Stoa, Epicureanism and Skepticism (= history of philosophy , vol. 3: The philosophy of antiquity ). 2nd edition, Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-30841-4 .
  • Wolfgang Röd (Ed.): History of Philosophy . Volume 3. Beck, Munich 1985 (several places, see register)
  • Andreas Urs Sommer : The Art of Peace of Mind. Instructions for stoic thinking Munich: CH Beck, 2nd edition 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-59194-5 (on the modern adaptations of the ancient ataraxic concept).
  • Gisela Striker : Ataraxia: Happiness and Tranquility . In: The Monist , No. 73, 1990, pp. 97-110

Individual evidence

  1. Cf. Günter Dietz : Homer's Reconciliation and Peace Program as Euhegesie . in: Kick, Dietz (Ed.): Peace as Balance in Psychotherapy and Political Sphere of Action: Process-Dynamic Perspectives . Münster 2013, p. 17.
  2. See Andreas Nießeler: On the Ethos of Serenity . Würzburg 1995, p. 16.
  3. Cf. Jakob Burckhardt : Collected Works. Darmstadt 1956, Volume 6, pp. 320f., 363-374.
  4. See Malte Hossenfelder: Epicurus . In: Ferdinand Pöhlmann (ed.): Philosophy: Works from three millennia. Stuttgart 2016, p. 180.
  5. Forschner: Ataraxia . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 1 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1993, Sp. 1123 .
  6. Malte Hossenfelder: Stoa, Epicureanism and Skepticism. Munich 1995, p. 23 f. and 150 f.