DEMOCRITUS PLEASURE, HAPPINESS AND CHEERFULNESS Democritus of Abdera (second half of the 4th century BC) is known today primarily for his theory of atoms, which resembles to some extent modern scientific theories. In fact, he wrote many books about a variety of topics, including ethics, natural science, mathematics, music, and technical works. Only fragments of these works have survived, many of them quotations by Aristotle (who lived about two generations later). The following are Democritus’s main fragments on the topic of...

Aristotle was one of the most important philosophers in the history of Western philosophy. He was born in Macedonia, was a pupil of Plato, and later was a tutor of Alexander the Great. His writings are systematic, covering most...
On Happiness

HERACLITUS Heraclitus lived around the year 500 BC, in the Greek city of Ephesus in Asia Minor. Little is known about his life, but later ancient historians wrote that he was from an influential family; that he was a snob and wrote in a difficult language so that only few would understand him (hence the name “Heraclitus the obscure”); and that he was a pessimist (hence the name “the weeping philosopher”). He died of some illness at the age of 60....

Plato was one of the main philosophers of Western thought. He grew up in Athens, and was a student of Socrates. He founded the Greek academy, which continued to operate until the 6th century AD (when the Roman emperor closed it)...
On Love