Epicurus in Nineteenth-Century Germany Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche Page 1 of 35 PRINTED FROM OXFORD HANDBOOKS ONLINE (www.oxfordhandbooks.com). © Oxford University Press, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Handbooks Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 22 August 2020 Print Publication Date: Aug 2020 Subject: Classical Studies, Classical Studies Online Publication Date: Aug 2020 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199744213.013.29 Epicurus in Nineteenth-Century Germany Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche James I. Porter Oxford Handbook of Epicurus and Epicureanism Edited by Phillip Mitsis Abstract and Keywords (SLFXUXV PDUNV D XQLTXH SRLQW RI FRQYHUJHQFH IRU WKUHH XQOLNHO\ EHGIHOORZV LQ WKH QLQHo WHHQWK FHQWXU\ +HJHO 0DU[ DQG 1LHW]VFKH (DFK VHHV D GLIIHUHQW ފ(SLFXUXV ދLQ WKLV fourth-century successor to Democritus, the fifth-century co-founder of atomism. Each UHQGHUV (SLFXUXV DQG KLV PDWHULDOLVP LQWR D V\PSWRP RI PRGHUQLW\އV HQJDJHPHQW ZLWK antiquity, a role that atomism increasingly played from the Enlightenment onwards. Fresh readings of each of these philosophers contribute to a better understanding of their ways RI FRQVWUXLQJ WKH KLVWRU\ RI LGHDV DQG LQ SDUWLFXODU WKHLU EROG UHLQWHUSUHWDWLRQV RI (SLFXo UXV KLPVHOI LQ DGGLWLRQ WR FRUUHFWLQJ D QXPEHU RI PLVFRQFHSWLRQV VXUURXQGLQJ WKHLU LQGLo YLGXDO UHDGLQJV RI (SLFXUXV EH WKLV LQ +HJHOއV Lectures on the History of Philosophy and his Science of Logic 0DU[އV GLVVHUWDWLRQ RU 1LHW]VFKHއV VSUDZOLQJ FRUSXV RI SXEOLVKHG and unpublished writings. Keywords: Democritus and Epicurus, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, freedom, chance, determinism, individualism, self- consciousness, Epicurus and Epicureanism The attention that Epicurus received among German Romantic philosophers from Kant to Nietzsche is remarkable. This is partly to be explained by the French Revolution, which elevated ancient atomism to a new level of prominence. The worldly materialism of this ancient doctrine, and its amenability to atheism, secularism, science, humanist ethics, DQG FRPPXQDO YDOXHV ZHUH REYLRXV DWWUDFWLRQV %XW WKH JURXQG KDG EHHQ SUHSDUHG HDUOLo HU ZLWK WKH UHGLVFRYHU\ RI DQFLHQW PDWHULDOLVP E\ WKH QDWXUDO SKLORVRSKHUV RI WKH VHYHQo teenth century and with the increased focus on Epicureanism that was inaugurated by Gassendi. Earlier still, Renaissance scholars had laid the foundations for this dramatic shift with their renewed philological attention to the principal texts. 1 %HLQJ EHWWHU SUHo served than the first-generation Greek atomists (Democritus and Leucippus), not least of all thanks to the poem On the Nature of Things by his Roman spokesperson Lucretius, Epicurus naturally moved into the limelight. The reception of Epicurus was, however, not DOO SRVLWLYH DQG QRW HYHQ KLV ZHOOZLVKHUV ZHUH IDLWKIXO H[HJHWHV RI KLV SKLORVRSK\ &RQVHo TXHQWO\ WKH WKLUGFHQWXU\ DWRPLVW OHQW KLPVHOI WR YDULRXV DSSURSULDWLRQV DQG PLVDSSURSULo ations even as he was pilloried from different quarters. As a result, his name continued to