In ancient polemics, the term Epicureanism was employed with a more generic meaning as the equivalent of hedonism, the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the chief good. However, the school of thought is much more than connoted. Philosophy was, for Epicurus – the founder of this branch of philosophy – the art of living, and it aimed at the same time both to assure happiness and to supply the means to achieve it. As for science, Epicurus was concerned only with the practical end in view. Epicurus arrived at atomism that, like that of the ancient naturalist Democritus, taught that the atoms, the void space in which they move, and the worlds are all infinite. But in contrast to Democritus, he followed an inductive route. Epicurus asserted the idea that to attain true peace one must let go of sublunary fears – particularly the fear of death. In line with his theory of atomism, he suggested that our being is made of atoms that disperse and reform as others when we die, death, therefore, is not to be feared because it marks the end of our physical being and consciousness.
In the era where the thought of the afterlife was dominant, he disapproved of the thought as well as questioned the relevance of gods. Unavoidably, Epicureanism was criticized and diminished by ensuing Christian and Islamic dogmas that followed, but numerous of its principles reappeared in contemporary scientific and nonorthodox humanism following the era of secularization.
