“Thomas Jefferson” demonstrates that Jefferson combined elements of Epicureanism with components of Stoicism and Christianity to form a unique philosophy. Jefferson derived from the Stoics and from Cicero the belief in an innate moral sense. Like these forebears, Jefferson envisioned the moral sense as a mere instinct for good that required training (reason acting on experience) to develop into full-blown virtue, rather than as a collection of Platonic innate ideas. Christianity furnished him with the concepts of a creator, a resurrection, and an afterlife. It also provided a system of ethics based on positive benevolence. He preferred the warmth and benevolence of Christianity to the cold obligations of classical philosophy, which centered on the mere avoidance of injury to oneself and others. Epicureanism provided other essential features of Jefferson’s philosophy, such as a materialist metaphysics and consequent rejection of miracles. Although Jefferson’s Epicureanism did not lead him to reject the doctrine of divine providence commonly held in his day, it contributed greatly to his belief that God worked solely through natural causes to achieve his ends. The Epicurean emphasis on the role played by reason (logic) acting on experience in uncovering truth and its concept of free will also influenced the Virginian.
Innate Ideas Revisited: For a Principle of Persistence in Infants' Physical Reasoning