Epicurus: Pursuit of Pleasure Epicurus, the founder of the philosophy that bears his name, advocated the pursuit of pleasure, But in his definition of pleasure he intended something that had le in common with what we today so often identify as pleasure. In keeping with the traditions of Greek philosophy in early Hellenistic times, he understood pleasure as attaining freedom from the pains and hurts of life through the practice of virtuous living. However, unlike Socrates he did not feel that virtue was a good in itself, worthy of devotion because of its superior qualities. He never looked deeply into the question of virtue's great, even divine qualities. Rather he recommended focusing on living a virtuous life because it was able to produce pleasure--freedom from pain. Virtue was not the highest good. It was merely y the means to the highest good which was pleasureEpicurus: Pursuit of Pleasure ◼ Epicurus, the founder of the philosophy that bears his name, advocated the pursuit of pleasure. But in his definition of pleasure he intended something that had little in common with what we today so often identify as pleasure. In keeping with the traditions of Greek philosophy in early Hellenistic times, he understood pleasure as attaining freedom from the pains and hurts of life through the practice of virtuous living. However, unlike Socrates, he did not feel that virtue was a good in itself, worthy of devotion because of its superior qualities. He never looked deeply into the question of virtue's great, even divine, qualities. Rather he recommended focusing on living a virtuous life because it was able to produce pleasure--freedom from pain. Virtue was not the highest good. It was merely the means to the highest good, which was pleasure