What is Lucretius known for?

What is Lucretius known for?

Lucretius, in full Titus Lucretius Carus, (flourished 1st century bce), Latin poet and philosopher known for his single, long poem, De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things). The poem is the fullest extant statement of the physical theory of the Greek philosopher Epicurus.

What happened to Lucretius?

Because early Christianity branded Lucretius an enemy of religion, his life and death had to be depicted as appropriately wretched. Thus, according to St Jerome, he was driven mad by a love philtre, wrote poetry in his lucid intervals, and died by his own hand, leaving his poem to be edited posthumously by Cicero.

Where is Lucretius from?

Rome
Lucretius probably was a member of the aristocratic gens Lucretia, and his work shows an intimate knowledge of the luxurious lifestyle in Rome.

What did Lucretius discover?

Lucretius was one of the first persons to discover that everything in this universe, ranging from planets and stars to mountains, decay. Centuries before the second law of thermodynamics, he predicted that one day “the walls of the sky will be stormed on every side, and will collapse into a crumbling ruin …

What did Lucretius get right?

In the pages of Lucretius we find: 1) A developed atomic theory, resembling that of the world of Dalton if not ours today, with serious intimations of what is to come. 2) Clearly spelled out laws of the conservation of matter and energy, essential to any understanding of modern chemistry.

Is Lucretius religious?

Lucretius never explicitly questions the existence of the gods, but he provides ample reason to doubt his religious belief. The greatest source of classical Epicureanism we possess is Lucretius’s poem On the Nature of Things (De rerum natura).

What does Lucretius say about death?

The fear of death is irrational, according to Lucretius, because once people die they will not be sad, judged by gods or pity their family; they will not be anything at all. “Death is nothing to us,” he says.

How does Lucretius describe death?

Lucretius employs a common dichotomy to organize his case against such fears: death is either the utter destruction of the person who dies, or it is not and the person survives in some form. Lucretius argues for two key claims: first, that there is no post-mortem survival and, second, that non-survival is not harmful.

What did Lucretius believe about atoms?

But it is clear, in all his work, that Lucretius conceived two things as quite constant: atoms were neither created nor destroyed, and their motion could neither be created nor destroyed. He believed that each atom kept its velocity unaltered.

What does Lucretius say about atoms?

How does Lucretius view death?

Focus on staying healthy. The fear of death is irrational, according to Lucretius, because once people die they will not be sad, judged by gods or pity their family; they will not be anything at all. “Death is nothing to us,” he says. Not fearing death is easier said than done.

How does Nietzsche define good?

In the “good/bad” distinction of the aristocratic way of thinking, “good” is synonymous with nobility and everything which is powerful and life-asserting; in the “good/evil” distinction, which Nietzsche calls “slave morality”, the meaning of “good” is made the antithesis of the original aristocratic “good”, which …