With Gassendi's 3-part switcheroo as presented here, you do not get to ataraxia. I contend that ataraxia is an actual, salvific mind-state brought about by eliminating the fear of hellish realms and angry Gods, and conquer the fear of death itself by living Blessedly and knowing the telos through Epicurean contemplation (and maybe some other Greek systems have their own method of fixing up the soul, which is probably wholly different). The whole system itself is what brings about the ability to even get to the pleasant living he is on about. Switching up the physics and the nature of the soul and anything else to keep it palatable to Christians could've been a valiant way to save Epicurean texts from the flame again, but to take any of it as a serious way to live or think about anything does more harm than good in that it still leaves the soul marred and serves only to keep the ideological engines running science or political-economic ideologies for gross exploitation, "secularism" and whatever else; rather than the aim and telos of the Epicureans which was bringing souls to Salvation.
Liked the article.
With Gassendi's 3-part switcheroo as presented here, you do not get to ataraxia. I contend that ataraxia is an actual, salvific mind-state brought about by eliminating the fear of hellish realms and angry Gods, and conquer the fear of death itself by living Blessedly and knowing the telos through Epicurean contemplation (and maybe some other Greek systems have their own method of fixing up the soul, which is probably wholly different). The whole system itself is what brings about the ability to even get to the pleasant living he is on about. Switching up the physics and the nature of the soul and anything else to keep it palatable to Christians could've been a valiant way to save Epicurean texts from the flame again, but to take any of it as a serious way to live or think about anything does more harm than good in that it still leaves the soul marred and serves only to keep the ideological engines running science or political-economic ideologies for gross exploitation, "secularism" and whatever else; rather than the aim and telos of the Epicureans which was bringing souls to Salvation.
Thank you for writing about him and his work!
It‘s very interesting to learn about a man so divided in his thought.
And I hadn‘t read about him before.
Glad I could introduce you to Gassendi. Definitely an important thinker in the history of Epicurean thought.