Ricerc@Sapienza

The focus of this paper is the analysis of the epistemological and practical role played by pathe/affections in Epicurus’ philosophy. Epicurus firstly considered the affections not as emotional/passional conditions, but as firm criteria of truth and more specifically as the third criterion of the canonic (i.e. the epistemological part of his philosophical system). In this article the critical reactions (in particular by the Peripatetic side: Aristocles of Messene) against the Epicurean position about the function of the affections will be investigated too. Finally, two parts of this paper are devoted to the Cyrenaic tripartition of pathe (in all likelihood, a subject criticized by Epicurus) and to the probable doctrinal relationship between Epicurus’ pathe and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics Book 2.