Epicurus originated Individualism and the teachings of Athoomism opposed to Aristotle's Universalism
Biography of Epicurus
In contrast to the situation during Aristotle's life, namely when the world empire of King Alexander the Great was reigning, Epicurus lived (342 271 BC) when the world empire of King Alexander the Great had fallen, Alexander the Great died in 323 BC.
As a result the Greek state was divided.
This situation will continue until the Greek state becomes part of the empire of the Roman world.
Epicurus and Philosophy
Because of this condition, Epicurus had created a new school in the world of philosophy, whose teachings about the state and law were based on the changed state.
Due to the state of the divided state, the nature of the relationship between man and the state has changed.
If Aristotle taught that the most important part is the state or society, now people start to be indifferent.
Individualistic Epicurus
Humans as individuals and the state began to be isolated from each other, and there was no longer any possibility of educating people to be good citizens of the state. It was in these circumstances that Epicurus then created his individualistic teachings.
This individualism then urged universalism rather than Aristotle, which was intended as a Greek nationality as the basis for their way of thinking.
So Epicurus is the creator of the teachings of individualism, which considers that the most important element or part is not the state or society, as Aristotle expressed in Universalism, but the most important element or part is the individual himself as a member of society.
Even the existence of that state is to fulfill the interests of the individuals themselves.
Athoomism
Because society is composed of individuals as atoms and these individuals are the most important part, Epicurus's teaching about the nature of the structure of society or the state is called atoomism.
In the teachings of Epicurus Atoomism contained the first seeds of the community covenant teachings that would later appear.
It is evident that in Epicurus' teachings, people are considered to be atoms, as the smallest basic element, who have their own personality, so in the state individual interests must be prioritized, as the basis of the interests of the state.
Because if the individual is happy, so will the State.
But in that society chaos and violence often arise, which can threaten the peace and happiness of the individual.
So to prevent violence and injustice from occurring, the state then issued a law.
However, this law cannot be enforced if it has not received the consent of the individuals.
So for the entry into force of a law, the votes of individuals to agree is very decisive.
Here in lies the seeds of the community agreement.
The seeds of the community covenant that Epicurus laid down were later given the foundations of Marsilius, a medieval scholar, and later developed by Natural Law scholars in the XVII and XVII centuries.
Definition of the State according to Epicurus
According to Epicurus, the state is the result of human action, which was created to carry out the interests of its members.
Society is not a reality and has no basis for life of its own. It is human beings as individuals, and as members of society, who have the basics of an independent life, and which are reality.
So according to Epicurus, the living is the individual, which is the whole that is the individual, while the state or society is the creation of these individuals, so it is the same as inanimate objects, and is a mechanism.
So what must be prioritized is the individual, individual interests must first be met.
Because it is this individual who creates the state, therefore if individual interests are met, he will become strong, and thus the state of the state he creates.
The state was created meant to meet its needs.
So the state is only a tool to carry out his life. In this case according to Epicurus the country may have been created by humans on purpose, or maybe just by chance.
But after all the state must be for the benefit of humans, and the duty of the state is only to serve humans.
So, in essence, the state is a tool for humans to fulfill their needs.
Meanwhile, the aim of the state is to maintain order and security, and for this, people must submit themselves to the government regardless of its form and nature.
So according to Epicurus, the important thing for security is to carry out individual interests.
So it means maintaining personal calm.
Personal Calm according to Epicurus
But it was explained by Epicurus that what is meant by personal tranquility is not calm that is materialistic, although this must be worked on sometimes, but what is important is calm that is mental or spiritual in nature.
Because of this tranquility is more lasting or lasting when compared to the pleasures which are materialistic.
Thus if Plato has tried to correct the inclination of the hearts of people in the country by means of his dialectic; and Aristotle also wants to maintain this condition and wants to improve it with the actual knowledge of reality, namely with the teachings of his philosophy of ontology; whereas Epicurus with an attitude of mind that was indifferent, by compulsion, made adjustments of mind and aid to degenerate states, without hope, without trying to save himself from them.
Therefore, Epicurus' teachings about the state and law only developed and had benefits at that time only, while for later it would have no value at all, even for later his teachings had no value at all.
Because the situation had changed completely, while the teachings of Epicurus were presumably aimed only at repairing or overcoming the depravity of society at that time.
So the situation is not like the second philosophical school from the Greek period, namely the Stoic school of philosophy.
