Lucretius’ Philosophy
Complete in depth research on philosopher Lucretius. it’s important to remember your purposes
in this project. Your primary goal is to focus on the philosopher’s theoretical contributions to “the
problems of philosophy.” DO NOT rehearse biographical or other factual matters unless they
directly relate to your story about issues of explicitly philosophical/theoretical enterprise. Central
to the purposes of this project are to REPORT on what authors of secondary literature say about
your chosen issue, and CRITICALLY EVALUATE those findings.
LUCRETIUS’ PHILOSOPHY 2
Part 1: Report on Lucretius’ Philosophy
Philosophy is a teaching based on the world of reality by studying nature. Lucretius was
one of the wise poets from roman that provided meaningful teaching quotes to people to educate
and guide them. He understood well about nature and gave moral teaching about the experience
stated by (Warren, 2007). He was among the first philosophers to discover that everything on
this earth was to end through decomposition. Lucretius prophesize that the sky was to collapse;
this was through his critical knowledge of science about nature. Most of his teachings were based
on the three categories. The first teaching was all about what the earth comprises and how it
teaches; how it is dead brings about fear and everything concerning death. Finally, the use of
traditional tools and how it educated people in society. (Segal, 2014), Epicureanism, one of the
critical systems that Lucretius used in his teachings, describes the philosophical approach
discovered around early 307 B.C. Through poetry, Lucretius further conveyed an important
message to people on how to achieve pleasure (Lehoux, Morrison, & Sharrock, 2013). Although
through his teaching, other philosophers contributed both negatively and positively towards his
work. Lucretius used some critical theories towards his work.
The entire universe’s idea was a theory that Lucretius tried to explain what the universe
comprises and how it came to be developed. Both the living and the non-living. In this theory,
Lucretius tried to demonstrate how the universe came to action through the available resources
on the universe (Warren, 2007). The primary tools that contributed to technological development
were human body organs, including hands and teeth. These were the main tools that helped
LUCRETIUS’ PHILOSOPHY 3
human beings to discover the existence and the importance of stones and how to use it. After
discovering rocks, copper became an important development tool observed to produce an
essential service such as tilling the land and used as a weapon to provide security during danger.
This discovery made human beings now think about how to come up with the idea of setting up
small huts where they could live, wearing clothes, and capable of setting up the fire. After that,
human life changes, and now the man was able to construct the right house, chairs and also was
able to afford modest things that were essential through the human lifestyle. Lucretius was trying
to convey the message about the process of succession. Like Virgil, some authors attempted to
use the mockery language by writing a book on Lucretius, trying to mock him on his discoveries
(Barbour, 2007).
The second theory is the mind and soul model (the constituents of the human soul and
mind). This model explains how the human soul and the human mind are made and how they
came in two combinations where he tried to explain how the instinct particles present in the
universe were combined to form the mind and the soul, according to (Palmer 2012). It further
tries to put precisely the importance of soul and mind when it comes to surviving. According to
Lucretius’s philosophy, human beings had much intelligence that helped them survive among all
living things. He was against the modern mind that new organisms evolved from the pre-existing
ones and rejected that the animals living on the land were not derived from the marine ancestors.
The high development of the human brain, Lucretius, was able to identify human beings as more
superior species in the universe. He also observed that mammal animals could provide care to
their young ones, as observed in human mothers (Palmer, 2012).
Despite his profession of world physics experience, he concluded that his first book was
contradictory to spherical earth theory. This contradiction left many readers in a dilemma.
LUCRETIUS’ PHILOSOPHY 4
Lucretius concluded that both the soul and mind are the end product of the dominant particle.
When a death occurs, nothing can hold the soul together, and all are small particles disintegrates.
Gaius, an author who was also a friend to Lucretius he also supported the theory. Lucretius was
trying to convey the importance of interaction in the community and love between members
before Christianity came (Santayana, 2019).
According to Warren (2007), the theory of mortality is a critical approach that
contributed to Lucretius’s work. It was based on individuals’ thinking that stimulated the
emotions that triggered the fear of death. He was trying to remove that emotion of fear among
people on the issue of death. According to Lucretius, an argument based on the soul’s existence,
he formulated the idea that the soul comprises small particles. With time, the particles were to
disintegrate, arguing that death does not harm the person who dies and the one who still survives
(Santayana, 2019). His idea of post mortem, which is done after the end of human beings and the
concept of non-living, is not harmful, helped him come up with a compelling message to people
against the fear of death. He tried to prove the first argument that when a person is dead, only the
compound that makes up the soul and the body is the one which is distracted: therefore, no
eternal heart suffering after death.
As stipulated by Bergson (2014), in support of the second argument, Lucretius said no
harm to a non-existing thing. Hence a non-surviving has no damage to the dead body. Although
most of the other authors were trying to mock his work of poet, Lucretius was attempting to
convey a message on self-acceptance to everyone in the universe. Another way in which
Lucretius attempted to explain the course of fear is through ignorant. Ignorant among people is
one of the most diseases that fuel fear in society, according to Lucretius (Sedley, 2003). It is
observed that most people fear that because of the knowledge that the heart will still suffer after
LUCRETIUS’ PHILOSOPHY 5
death. We must accept anything that comes across our life even if the time of difficulties, we
have to be focused and not to fear.
The canonic theory is all about human sense, the reality of how human beings see things,
and how we account for forms of errors in our daily lives, such as fantasies and dreams. Most of
those errors come when we make wrong judgments due to the sensory organs’ wrong message.
(Sedley, 2003) We always cheat ourselves because we tend to do the wrong thing or put the
wrong decision because of the sensory fault. The theory of materialism and atomism is one good
example that tries to explain this perception (Holmes, 2012). According to this theory, Lucretius
attempted to explain the faulty perception that most people have in their minds. People all see all
heavenly bodies equal in size because of the naked eyes when observed. The reality about the
celestial bodies such sun and moon them both have different shapes and sizes, according to
(Segal, 2014). Before concluding, we have to do detailed research on something before making
the final judgment. As observed in the above theories, we can determine that Lucretius’s poem
has a lot of important teaching capable of modeling children to grow up well (Santayana, 2019).
Part II: Critiquing Lucretius’ Philosophy
Although his philosophical ideologies were quite educative, society still grapples with
some of the messages in his not well-delivered theories. More precisely, throughout his
intellectual work and across the messages he passed across, Lucretius has no clear concept
regarding emotions. For instance, he contradicted himself by saying that fear is sensual and, at
the same time, referred to nonsensical thinking and ignorance among people (Bergson, 2014). In
this case, Lucretius also referred fear to be childish, which results in darkness. This
overwhelmingly nonsensible thing implies that thought or reason has no use to a human being. If
he said that fear is like a child fearing the darkness, then we see that fear has nothing to do
LUCRETIUS’ PHILOSOPHY 6
reasoning, resulting in no fear among people (Lehoux, Morrison, & Sharrock, 2013). Although
Lucretius has both answers about fear, he should have further considered other elements instead
of favoring one perspective. He should have stuck to his main issues that may result to fear
among people in society.
Most fundamentally, Lucretius emphasized that reasoning cures this disease of troubled
emotions, but the reason is not well explained how it results in this cure (Gillespie & Hardie,
2007). According to logic, reasoning facilitates the identification of the primary causes of a
specific phenomenon. However, based on Lucretius’ point of view, he considers reason to be a
way of showing that fear fits into an individual’s logic. As such, I believe that Lucretius’s part of
the assessment on overcoming the fear of death calls for a thorough analysis of all the factors
that may lead to such eventualities before making the relevant decisions on the appropriate
course of action or response strategies. It further necessitates an in-depth evaluation of the
possible solutions to overcome something.
Besides, the concept of atomism is not well elaborated as Lucretius said that the soul and
mind occur as a result of the combination of particles on the universe. Specifically, Lucretius
noted that the soul is dead when the particles disintegrate, which implies that it is possible to
assume that the soul and the mind are made up of particles. As a result, this line of thought can
be translated to mean that the particles comprising the mind and soul disappear when they stop
thinking (Turner, 1973). Lucretius had a good idea of how the human soul and mind are made
and their constituents. Still, he lacks an elaborate illustration of their correlation to human
functionality, reasoning, emotions, and ultimately death (Ford, 2007). He further postulates that
the soul dies when the particles disappear. Still, the point is not elaborated in terms of what
causes the particles to disappear, and whether they can be restored. According to my
LUCRETIUS’ PHILOSOPHY 7
proceedings, I can do the following to add to Lucretius’ work: conduct advanced research to
determine these particles’ course to disappear and the reason behind such eventualities (Holmes,
2012). Additionally, to support Lucretius’s work in analyzing this theory, I would conduct
cutting-edge research and analysis to develop an in-depth comprehension of information about
the origin of something.
Part III- Questions
Although Lucretius was so skillful in his poetry works, he still had much work. His works
had both advantages and also some shortcomings (Holmes, 2012). He had some important
messages that he conveyed through his creation of a poet. He also undergoes many challenges
because there were too many contradictions from other philosophers’ work. This gap resulted in
some vital questions left unanswered. Some of these questions include:
- What factors contributed to Lucretius’s development of the idea that particles
disintegrate, and ultimately death occurs? - Why did he believe that a correlation exists between the disappearance of particles the
occurrence of death? - As Lucretius pointed out, what context does the fear of death emanate from excessive
and overwhelming thoughts? - How are thoughts and reasoning related to the development of fear or its disappearance?
- Does it mean that fear among people occurs due to in-depth thoughts or the in-depth
consideration of different situations? - As a learner, do you perceive inner thoughts to cause fear related to different
phenomena?
LUCRETIUS’ PHILOSOPHY 8
- Are there ways in which Lucretius’ philosophical ideologies be interpreted and applied in
modern society? - Based on your opinion and the ideas obtained from Lucretius’s readings, what do you
perceive to be the correlation between the mind, soul, and death? - Mention various ways in which Lucretius triggered inner thoughts about various aspects
you have been thinking about regarding the connection between human existence and the
universe. - Has Lucretius’ line of thought influenced your understanding, knowledge, and values on
life?
LUCRETIUS’ PHILOSOPHY 9
References
Barbour, R. (2007). Moral and political philosophy: readings of Lucretius from Virgil to
Voltaire. The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius, 149-66.
Bergson, H. (2014). The philosophy of poetry: The genius of Lucretius. Open Road Media.
Ford, P. (2007). Lucretius in early modern France. The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius, 227-
241.
Gillespie, S., & Hardie, P. (Eds.). (2007). The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius. Cambridge
University Press.
Holmes, B. (2012). Deleuze, Lucretius, and the simulacrum of naturalism. Dynamic Reading:
Studies in the Reception of Epicureanism, 316-42.
Lehoux, D., Morrison, A. D., & Sharrock, A. (Eds.). (2013). Lucretius: poetry, philosophy,
science. Oxford University Press.
Palmer, A. (2012). Reading Lucretius in the Renaissance. Journal of the History of Ideas, 73(3),
395-416.
Santayana, G. (2019). Three Philosophical Poets: Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe (Vol. 8). MIT
Press.
Segal, C. (2014). Lucretius on Death and Anxiety: Poetry and Philosophy in De Rerum nature.
Princeton University Press.
LUCRETIUS’ PHILOSOPHY 10
Sedley, D. N. (2003). Lucretius and the transformation of Greek wisdom. Cambridge University
Press.
Turner, F. M. (1973). Lucretius among the Victorians. Victorian Studies, 16(3), 329-348
Warren, J. (2007). Lucretius and Greek philosophy. The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius, 19-
32.
