Welcome To EpicureanFriends!
Listen to the latest Lucretius Today Podcast! Episode 230 is now available. This week the Epicurean spokesman Velleius attacks misplaced ideas about divinity held by other philosophers.
Welcome to the EpicureanFriends forum - online home for the study, discussion, and promotion of Classical Epicurean Philosophy. Here you will find a forum and many other resources dedicated to the indepth study of the philosophy of Epicurus. Visitors, you are welcome to explore our site, read our Forum, and use our many Resources, for which no account is needed.
EpicureanFriends was established in 2015 by a group of friends interested in the study of Classical Epicurean Philosophy, free from contemporary politics and the Humanism, Platonism, Stoicism, and other "isms" with which it is often combined.
Read about the Core Aspects of Classical Epicurean Philosophy emphasized here at EpicureanFriends.
Here Our Highest Good Is Pleasure
Epicurus held that there are only two feelings given by Nature - pleasure and pain - and that if you are aware of feeling anything at all you are feeling one of the two. Thus if you are not feeling pain you are feeling pleasure, and so to Epicurus the word "pleasure" refers not only to agreeable sensory stimulation of mind and body but also to all normal and healthy conditions of mind and body, as these too are experienced but not felt to be painful. Seen in this way, Epicurean pleasure is neither "hedonistic" nor "ascetic" as those terms are generally understood, but consists in all types of healthy non-painful function of both body and mind.
"Again, the truth that pleasure is the supreme good can be most easily apprehended from the following consideration. Let us imagine an individual in the enjoyment of pleasures great, numerous and constant, both mental and bodily, with no pain to thwart or threaten them; I ask what circumstances can we describe as more excellent than these or more desirable? A man whose circumstances are such must needs possess, as well as other things, a robust mind subject to no fear of death or pain, because death is apart from sensation, and pain when lasting is usually slight, when oppressive is of short duration, so that its temporariness reconciles us to its intensity, and its slightness to its continuance." (Torquatus Section, On Ends [40] XII., Cicero)
"This is why we say that pleasure is the beginning and the end of a completely happy life. For we recognize it as the primary and innate good, we honor it in everything we accept or reject, and we achieve it if we judge every good thing by the standard of how that thing affects us. And because this is the primary and inborn good, we do not choose every pleasure. Instead, we pass up many pleasures when we will gain more of what we need from doing so. And we consider many pains to be better than pleasures, if we experience a greater pleasure for a long time from having endured those pains. So every pleasure is a good thing because its nature is favorable to us, yet not every pleasure is to be chosen — just as every pain is a bad thing, yet not every pain is always to be shunned. It is proper to make all these decisions through measuring things side by side and looking at both the advantages and disadvantages, for sometimes we treat a good thing as bad and a bad thing as good. (excerpt from Letter to Menoeceus)
A Note About Epicurean Terminology - For all visitors, including those considering joining the discussion forum, we recommend that you take some time to understand that due to terminology differences, seemingly simple statements about "pleasure," "gods," "virtue," and even "good and evil" or "religion" can frequently mean something very different in Epicurean terms from what they may expect.
In Epicurean terms "gods" do exist, and it is important to act "virtuously," but "gods" are not supernatural or omniscient beings which create universes or control human affairs, and "virtue" is not desirable as an end it itself, but as a means of obtaining pleasure. "Good" and "evil" are not abstract absolutes, but are ultimately evaluations based on sensations of pleasure and pain felt by real living things. "Practical Reason" is held to be essential for living wisely, but "dialectical logic" is rejected as misleading. It is a major goal of EpicureanFriends to explore Epicurean terminology in these and other areas so we can appreciate the philosophy as the ancient Epicureans understood it. For more on terminology and similar topics, check out our FAQ page. We also particularly recommend Episode 222 of the Lucetius Today Podcast where we discuss key terminology issues surrounding "happiness" and "pleasure" and "virtue."
Featured Forum Threads
Unread Threads
Upcoming Events For EpicureanFriends Participants
-
First Monday Epicurean Philosophy Discussion Hour - Via Zoom 8pm ET
Mon, Jun 3rd 2024, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
-
Wednesday Night Epicurea Zoom - Every Wednesday Night at 8pm ET
Wed, Jun 5th 2024, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
-
Wednesday Night Epicurea Zoom - Every Wednesday Night at 8pm ET
Wed, Jun 12th 2024, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
-
Wednesday Night Epicurea Zoom - Every Wednesday Night at 8pm ET
Wed, Jun 19th 2024, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Foundations of Epicurean Philosophy
For a presentation of many details of Epicurean Philosophy assembled from a close paraphrase of passages of the ancient texts, see the slides, text, or video below. Each passage contains a citation to the text or texts from which the point is taken. For prior versions and for a discussion of this material go here.
The Current Version of The Text Is Here.