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Ancient World

Epicurus

341–270 BCE · Garden school

Justice is a pact of mutual advantage, and nothing sacred about it.

In their words

“Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little.”

Epicurus taught that justice is not a divine command but an agreement among people not to harm one another, valid only while it holds advantage for both sides. His community, the Garden, admitted women and slaves as equals and kept its distance from Athenian politics. That grounding of obligation in consent and mutual benefit is the seed of later contractarian and libertarian argument.

Why it matters for freedom

He built a voluntary community outside the state and argued the good life needs no ruler to guarantee it.

Who they stood against

the fear of gods and the politics of the city that traded peace for power