Tetrapharmakos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - StumbleUpon. The Tetrapharmakos (τετραφάρμακος) "four-part remedy" is a summary of the first four of the Κύριαι Δόξαι (Kuriai Doxai, the forty Epicurean Principal Doctrines given by Diogenes Laërtius in his Life of Epicurus) in Epicureanism, a recipe for leading the happiest possible life.
They are recommendations to avoid anxiety or existential dread.[1] The four-part cure[edit] As expressed by Philodemos, and preserved in a Herculaneum Papyrus (1005, 4.9–14), the tetrapharmakos reads:[4] This is a summary of the first four of the forty Epicurean Principal Doctrines (Sovran Maxims) given by Diogenes Laërtius, which in the translation by Robert Drew Hicks (1925) read as follows: Atheists Wager. One formulation of the Atheist's Wager suggests that one should live a good life without religion, since Martin writes that a loving and kind god would reward good deeds, and if no gods exist, a good person will leave behind a positive legacy.[1][2] The second formulation suggests that, instead of rewarding belief as in Pascal's wager, a god may reward disbelief, in which case one would risk losing infinite happiness by believing in a god unjustly, rather than disbelieving justly.[3] Explanation[edit] The Wager states that if you were to analyze your options in regard to how to live your life, you would come out with the following possibilities:[1][4][5]
