Epicurus argues that the ultimate goal of philosophy should be to gain practically from one's beliefs. He writes that his goal in philosophy is to attain ataraxia, which is a Greek word referring to the euphoric delight of being un-disturbed by circumstance. He says that all human suffering is related to death anxiety, and that therefore, philosophy is essentially a response to death.
He argues that death is not logically a thing to be feared, since it is not empirically dangerous. He defends his empirical approach to philosophy. Epicurus teaches that reality is composed of tiny particles. He believes that, somehow on a small level, atoms must be somehow oriented to respond to human will, but he says that nature is otherwise deterministic.
Therefore, he concludes that if reality bends to our will (in that we can attain what it is we want on the planet, through strategy and discipline) that we should be essentially happy, because we can seek our own freedom through correct philosophy.
