Philosophical Dictionary
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Epicurus on Death: “Death Is Nothing to Us” and His Recipe for a Happy Life
By Markus Uehleke
Epicurus told his students that death is nothing to us: while we exist, death is not here, and when it comes, we are gone. Lucretius added a mirror argument, Thomas Nagel objected, and Epicurus faced his own death with a letter about a happy day. Does the argument hold, and what did he mean by pleasure?