Titus Lucretius Carus
c.99–55 BC · Hellenistic Philosophy · Prominent
Lucretius was a Roman poet whose On the Nature of Things gives the fullest surviving account of Epicurean philosophy, six books of Latin verse written to free his readers from the fear of gods and the fear of death. Everything is atoms falling through the void and swerving at random. Your soul dies when your body does, no god plans or governs any of it, and nothing waits on the other side to dread.
Signature
The position Lucretius is most identified with in the Profiler:
- Natural Processes
- leans Mechanistic
- Ethics Basis
- Utilitarian Calculation / Egoism
Positions on the 9 axes the sources answer
- Natural Processes
- leans Mechanistic (13 on a 0–100 scale from Mechanistic to Purposeful)
- Society
- mildly leans Individualism (67 on a 0–100 scale from Collectivism to Individualism)
- The Divine
- leans Describable (13 on a 0–100 scale from Describable to Indescribable)
- Identity
- mildly between Unchanging and Changing (58 on a 0–100 scale from Unchanging to Changing)
- Meaning
- leans Constructed (13 on a 0–100 scale from Constructed to Inherent)
- Nature of Reality
- mildly leans Multiplicity (67 on a 0–100 scale from Unity to Multiplicity)
- Truth
- mildly between Subjective and Objective (50 on a 0–100 scale from Subjective to Objective)
- War
- mildly leans Pacifism (33 on a 0–100 scale from Pacifism to Militarism)
- Conviction
- leans Uncertain (25 on a 0–100 scale from Uncertain to Certain)
11 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Lucretius refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Theology
- Deism / Apatheism
What is your position on the existence and nature of God or gods? - Government
- Other
What is your ideal form of government? - Highest Good
- Pleasure
What is the highest good? - Good and Evil
- Natural Emergence
What is the fundamental nature of good and evil? - End of Things
- Annihilation
What is the ultimate end of all things? - Perception
- Direct Realism
What do we directly perceive? - Knowledge
- Sense Experience
What is the ultimate foundation of knowledge? - Ethics Basis
- Utilitarian Calculation / Egoism
What is the ultimate basis of ethics? - Agency
- Libertarian Free Will
What is the nature of human agency and freedom? - Beginning of Things
- Eternal Cosmos / Multiverse
What is the origin of reality? - Death
- Annihilation
What happens at death? - Role of Emotion
- Obstacle to Reason
What is the proper role of emotion? - Human Nature
- Evolved Animal
What is human nature? - Primary Bond
- Friends
What is your primary bond and loyalty?