
Contents
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The Hedonic Calculus The Hedonic Calculus
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Epicurean Ethics Hiding in Plain Sight: The Amores Epigram Epicurean Ethics Hiding in Plain Sight: The Amores Epigram
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The Hedonic Calculus in the Remedia amoris The Hedonic Calculus in the Remedia amoris
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The Hedonic Calculus in Ars 3 The Hedonic Calculus in Ars 3
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The Hedonic Calculus in Ars 1–2 The Hedonic Calculus in Ars 1–2
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Ovid and the Discovery of the Limits of Hedonism Ovid and the Discovery of the Limits of Hedonism
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8 Venus discors: The Empedocleo-Lucretian Background of Venus and Calliope’s Song in Metamorphoses 5
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3 Ovid’s Ars amatoria and the Epicurean Hedonic Calculus
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Published:February 2022
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Abstract
This chapter studies Ovid’s use of the Epicurean hedonic calculus in the Amores epigram and the Ars amatoria and Remedia amoris. Epicurean ethics asserts that all actions must be based on a calculation of future pleasure versus future pain: the former should outweigh the latter in the long run and in a regular manner. A version of the hedonic calculus is particularly evident in Ars 2, where the male lover must learn to weigh both short-term pleasure and immediate pain against the long-term goal of the satisfaction derived from an enduring relationship. Ovid, however, gradually reveals himself to be an “erotic extremist” willing to risk everything in order to maximize momentary pleasure. If men are expected to pursue an individualistic life course according to a perverted calculus of pleasure, the women of Ars 3, by contrast, are tasked with the creation of cooperation and social cohesion in the erotic world. The Panaetian ethics of Cicero’s De officiis, with its emphasis on decorum and compliant behavior, dominates the instruction given to women in Ars 3. Ultimately, however, Ovid rejects Epicurus (and Lucretius). Ovid insists that instruction in the Ars is “privileged” and exceptional. The unethical behavior encouraged in the poem is not to be practiced in conventional society outside the world of love. Furthermore, there is inherent right and wrong: the gods exist and underwrite the shared moral code of Roman society. These positions are linked to an apparent rejection of Epicureanism as a system for living in normal society.
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