Epicurus

About Epicurus

Epicurus was an influential ancient Greek philosopher who lived from -341 to -269 BCE. He is ranked #283 in historical importance by the MIT Pantheon project for founding Epicureanism, a system of thought centered on achieving a tranquil, fearless life through simple pleasures, friendship, and knowledge, primarily advocating for the absence of pain (aponia) and mental disturbance (ataraxia). His teachings offered a comprehensive worldview encompassing physics, ethics, and epistemology, deeply impacting later philosophical discourse.

Despite his high historical standing, Epicurus receives relatively modest modern internet attention, registering an Attention Gap of approximately 1x—meaning his current attention aligns with what might be expected based on his importance, but this warrants comparison. For instance, his 362K Wikipedia views in 2025 are significantly lower than those of fellow philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (#642 importance) who garnered 740K views, suggesting a field-specific imbalance in digital visibility. Furthermore, his yearly views saw a decline of -8.9% year-over-year, indicating a potential erosion of his presence in the contemporary digital sphere.

This modest level of current engagement, paired with a slight -4% drop in interest between Q1 and Q3 of 2025, suggests that Epicurus's profound ethical and metaphysical contributions are not currently generating significant online momentum.