Ataraxia

Ataraxia is the Greek word for freedom from disturbance, used by the Epicureans and the Pyrrhonian Skeptics as a term for the goal of philosophical practice. For the Epicureans, ataraxia is achieved through moderate pleasure, the cultivation of friendship, and the dissolution of irrational fears — particularly the fear of death and the fear of the gods. Epicurus holds that natural philosophy serves ataraxia: understanding that the gods do not concern themselves with us and that the soul perishes with the body removes the principal sources of mental disturbance.

The Pyrrhonian Skeptics arrived at ataraxia by a different route. By suspending judgment on questions where the evidence is balanced, the Skeptic ceases to be agitated by the dogmatic disputes of the philosophers and lives without the anxiety that comes from clinging to particular doctrines. Sextus Empiricus reports that the Skeptics noticed ataraxia following from suspended judgment as a shadow follows the body.