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  1. ataraxia love

Definitions

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Freedom from the passions; calmness of mind; stoical indifference: a term used by the Stoics and Skeptics.

Wiktionary

  1. n. literary, Greek philosophy A pleasure that comes when the mind is at rest.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. Perfect peace of mind, or calmness.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. peace of mind

Etymologies

  1. From Ancient Greek ἀταραξία (ataraxia), ἀ- (a-, "negative prefix") + ταράσσω (tarassō, "trouble, disturb"). (Wiktionary)

Examples

  • “Mr. Jaffa is already developing what the ancient Stoics and the great Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard called ataraxia, or imperturbability.”

    The Wall Street Journal: How to Handle a Market Gone Mad

  • “He was a devoted follower of the teachings of Epicurus—“that pleasure is the beginning and end of living happily”—although I hasten to add that he was an Epicurean not in the commonly misunderstood sense, as a seeker after luxury, but in the true meaning, as a pursuer of what the Greeks call ataraxia, or freedom from disturbance.”

    Simon & Schuster: Imperium

  • “All three schools stressed the overarching value of "ataraxia", the absence of disturbance in the soul.”

    Emotion

  • “The climacteric stage of the mere exercise of reason is displayed in Stoicism, an ethical system which aims primarily not at virtue but at happiness, although this theory inculcates that happiness can be attained only through "ataraxia" (inward quietness or peace of mind), while this can only be gained by virtue.”

    The World's Greatest Books — Volume 14 — Philosophy and Economics

  • “By being reflective and considered, said the Stoics, one can attain "ataraxia," which means "peace of mind" or emotional stability.”

    Politics

  • “It is also possible that the Epicureans, whose aim was also ataraxia, learned something from Pyrrho; there are indications of an association between Pyrrho and Nausiphanes, the teacher of Epicurus.”

    Fictionaut: Picnic

  • “Finally, in answer to the third question, we are told that the result for those who adopt the unopinionated attitude just recommended is first aphasia and then ataraxia.”

    Fictionaut: Picnic

  • “What we have here, plainly, is a fuller specification of the ataraxia that the Aristocles passage promised as the outcome of the process of responding in the recommended way to the three questions.”

    Fictionaut: Picnic

  • “For them, ataraxia is to be attained by coming to understand that the universe consists of atoms and void; and the Epicureans 'attitude towards the senses was anything but one of mistrust.”

    Fictionaut: Picnic

  • “For on either interpretation Pyrrho is said to promise ataraxia, the later Pyrrhonists 'goal, and to promise it as a result of a certain kind of withdrawal of trust in the veracity of our everyday impressions of things; the connection between these two points aligns Pyrrho with the later Pyrrhonists, and sets him apart from every other Greek philosophical movement that preceded later Pyrrhonism.”

    Fictionaut: Picnic

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Lists

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Comments

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  • jmjarmstrong JM is worried about aiming for ataraxia. Jan 17, 2011

  • owretchedman your all lying-it means a rake. Aug 1, 2009

  • jmjarmstrong JM enjoys his state of ateknia as it produces a state of ataraxia Feb 6, 2009

  • seanahan I first heard this word as the title of track 3 of the Everclear album "So Much for the Afterglow", which was about a short statement about anti-depressants. Dec 15, 2007

  • odessa (noun)

    calmness untroubled by mental or emotional disquiet

    http://medical.merriam-webster.com/medical/ataraxia Dec 14, 2007

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‘ataraxia’ has been looked up 3356 times, loved by 17 people, added to 93 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 15.