Full Idea
Epicurus alone among the ancient schools denies that in nature we find any teleological explanations. Nothing in nature is for anything, neither the world as a whole nor anything in it.
Gist of Idea
Only Epicurus denied purpose in nature, for the whole world, or for its parts
Source
report of Epicurus (fragments/reports [c.289 BCE]) by Julia Annas - Ancient Philosophy: very short introduction
Book Reference
Annas,Julia: 'Ancient Philosophy: a very short introduction' [OUP 2000], p.89
A Reaction
This may explain the controversial position that epicureanism held in the seventeenth century, as well as its incipient atheism.