Dictionary.com Word Of The Day
Feb. 01, 2017
ataraxia\at-uh-RAK-see-uh\noun
1. a state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety;
tranquillity.
QuotesRemember that the goal of the great Epicurus was not an earthly
he-done (Hedonism), or pleasure, but a lofty ataraxia, or freedom from
cares and trivial thoughts.
-- H. P. Lovecraft, Selected Letters, 19651976
Origin of ataraxiaAtaraxia impassiveness, calmness is best known
from and associated with the ethics of the Athenian philosopher
Epicurus (341270 b.c.). It is acquired by shunning politics and
obnoxious people, by paying no attention to the gods or an afterlife,
and by devoting oneself to trustworthy friends and a simple life.
Ataraxia was important to the Stoic philosophers, also, but for them
the final goal was apatheia, which means not apathy in the modern
sense but calmness, imperturbability gained from the pursuit of
virtue.Ataraxia (spelled atarxie) entered English in the early 17th
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