Henry Imler December 2nd, 2008

The Epicureans (most modern analog: Strict Materialists) advocated ethics, but detractors often asked: “If the soul just dissipates into a cloud of fine atoms, what does it matter that I am ethical?  None of it matters anyway.”  In the Meditations, Emperor Marcus Aurelius [1] asks in book VI, 10:

[The real world is] either a medley of entangled and dispersed atoms, or a unity of order and providence.  If the former, why am I eager to remain in such a haphazard concatenation and confusion?  Why should I even care for anything but how to “return to earth”?  Why be disturbed?  The dispersal of atoms will come upon me whatever I do.  If the latter, however, I worship and am content and derive courage from the governing reason.

Christians, Muslims, Materialists, etc – Why are you ethical?

1. he was a stoic who had a distaste for Christians [↩]

• Ethics , Philosophy , Religion
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