伊比鳩魯的政治寂靜主義？──回應西塞羅的批判

Epicurus’ Political Quietism?―A Reply to Cicero’s Critique

伊比鳩魯的享樂主義，自西洋古代以來就被認為，勿參與公共事務是他的政治哲學思想的基礎；此外這個詮釋立場充分且具體地呈現在西塞羅對伊比鳩魯倫理學及政治哲學思想的批判。這篇文章一方面藉由檢視及探究伊比鳩魯及古代原子論的倫理學及政治哲學傳統，來說明伊比鳩魯未如西塞羅所言，倡議政治寂靜主義的思想。另一方面，若西塞羅對伊比鳩魯的批判是建立在他誤解其思想上，那他何以形成如此的曲解是值得推敲的問題。

Epicurus’ hedonism, ever since antiquity, has been regarded as the basis on which he formed his political philosophy, do not engage in public affairs; moreover, this interpretative view was fully and explicitly embodied in Cicero’s critique of his ethical and political thoughts. This paper, on the one hand, by virtue of examining Epicurus’ and the Atomists’ ethical and political thoughts, would like to claim that Epicurus, not as Cicero asserts, promulgates the idea of political quietism. If, on the other hand, it is a misunderstanding of Epicurus’ political thought, the reason why Cicero presents such a distorted picture will be discussed in this paper as well.