So, I mentioned in class on Monday that Christopher Hitchens is a modern day Epicurean. I would like to defend that statement. To begin with, Hitchens is quoted in calling himself an Epicurean. Where he is most like the Epicureans is in his hedonistic outlook on life. Hitchens desires to achieve the highest pleasures in this world, especially because he does not believe there to be a God or an after life. Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer last June, and I think that this has made him even more of an Epicurean, searching for life's daily pleasures as opposed to looking towards the past or the present. Most notably, Hitchens enjoys his daily indulgences of cigarettes and alcohol, which he does not find a problem with. He claims that he becomes nervous without having a drink at night. In an interview, he said that he does not pity himself, nor does he ask, "Why me?" For him, that is a pointless question because he does not see himself as an individual more significant than any other individual. His cancer, he sad, was not a result of God's hate for him being an avid atheist, but rather, it is merely a result of human evolution. He said that he felt lucky to have lived to the age of 62; there are many who never live past 20. Additionally, Hitchens mentioned that he has three children, whom he would like to spend as much time with as possible.
Everything about Hitchens just screams Epicurus to me. I also feel as though he is very similar to Epicurus himself. Hitchens is not only an avid atheist, but he has publically spoken out against organized religions and social institutions which he believes to be destroying our society. Similar to Epicurus, he is concerned with turning the masses away from the lives which they live at the present moment, although he does not have anything close to the dogmas which Epicurus had defined so clearly.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130917506
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