Book
Epicurus. Principal Doctrines (Kuriai Doxai). In: Inwood B, Gerson LP, eds. The Epicurus Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing; 1994.
Why we cite it
Provides the Epicurean framework for desire classification that directly maps to eating behavior. The three-category system (natural/necessary, natural/unnecessary, vain) gives a philosophical vocabulary for distinguishing hunger from craving from food obsession. The insight that pleasure plateaus once pain is removed — more food doesn’t add more pleasure, only varies it — is the ancient articulation of diminishing marginal returns applied to eating.
About the author
Epicurus (341-270 BCE) was a Greek philosopher who founded Epicureanism. He established the Garden (Kepos) school in Athens c. 306 BCE, notable for admitting women and slaves. He wrote over 300 works, most now lost. The Principal Doctrines (40 maxims) were preserved by Diogenes Laertius. This edition is translated by Brad Inwood and Lloyd P. Gerson, both Professors of Philosophy at the University of Toronto.
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