  The reports concerning Democritus' ethical views pose a number of interpretative problems, including the difficulty of deciding which fragments are genuinely Democritean (see above, section 1).  In contrast to the evidence for his physical theories, many of the ethical fragments are lists of sayings quoted without context, rather than critical philosophical discussions of atomist views.  Many seem like commonsense platitudes that would be consistent with quite different philosophical positions.  Thus, despite the large number of ethical sayings, it is difficult to construct a coherent account of his ethical views.  Annas notes the Socratic character of a number of the sayings, and thinks there is a consistent theme about the role of one's own intellect in happiness (Annas 2002).  The sayings contain elements that can be seen as anticipating the more developed ethical views of Epicurus (Warren 2002).  