Welcome Aristos
One more step is required to complete your registration, and three things are required reading before you post.
- WELCOME THREAD: Please comment in this thread below to acknowledge your new account and to state that you agree to abid by the forum rules listed in the next item. We invite you to let us know what prompted your interest in Epicurus and what particular aspects of his philosophy interest you most.
- FORUM RULES: We maintain a detailed explanation of our forum history and rules at the page Community Standards, Participation Levels, and Posting Policies. Your signing up for an account is presumed to mean that you have read this page and agree to abide by it in your activity here on the forum.
- OUR POLICY THAT THE SUPREME EPICUREAN GOOD IS PLEASURE - AND NOTHING ELSE: There are many differences of opinion on how to interpret Epicurean teachings. This forum is dedicated to the proposition that Epicurus taught that the Supreme Good is Pleasure. This means that the supreme Epicurean good is not Virtue or Piety or Logic or any particular type of pleasure. This policy and the reasons for it are explained in Against Katastematic Supremacy - Pleasure Is A Unified Good, Not A House Divided Against Itself.
- INITIAL READING: Torquatus' Presentation of Epicurean Ethics is the clearest, most complete statement of Epicurean ethics to survive from antiquity, and reading it early will save you -- and us -- a great deal of confusion.
We stress the Torquatus presentation because many people arrive here with a version of Epicurean philosophy assembled superficially from the Tetrapharmakon and the Letter to Menoeceus focusing on "minimalism" and "tranquility" rather than "pleasure." This difficulty stems from the fact that the Tetrapharmakon is very compressed and can be read in many different ways. Likewise, the Letter to Menoeceus was written at a time when the details of debate about pleasure as the supreme good were well known. Those arguments are largely forgotten today, so most people lack sufficient context to understand the implications of the "absence of pain" discussion. Reading the Torquatus narrative first avoids most of those problems because it is by far the most detailed and complete explanation of Epicurean ethics that survives from the ancient world.
Many sincere fans of Epicurus hold views about his philosophy that are incompatible with the purpose of this forum. We are not here to teach minimalism, virtue, or any other point of view except and unless they lead to pleasure. Our goal is not to reconcile Epicurus with modern ideas, but to understand him on his own terms before we decide whether to accommodate him to ours.
Please read through the Torquatus narrative and our articles and other materials on the forum before investing time in arguing against key aspects of Epicurean philosophy. Questions and discussion are welcome, but If you want to argue against Epicurus there are many other places on the internet to do so.
All of us arrived at our respect for Epicurus after long journeys through other philosophies. That's why we have participation levels that give new members room to learn. But please be aware that we reserve the right to limit argument and remove participants who become disruptive to the purpose of the community.
For further study beyond Torquatus, see our Recommended Reading page. In brief: Norman DeWitt's Epicurus and His Philosophy is the single best book-length treatment available, and the one book worth reading beyond the ancient sources. Emily Austin's Living for Pleasure is a good modern on-ramp, best read alongside Torquatus and DeWitt rather than in their place.
No specific reading is required before you participate, and we welcome basic questions. But the more you've read -- and the more you tell us about your interests and comment yourself -- the more you'll get out of being here.
Our Getting Started page also has ideas for using the site.
Thank you again for your interest, and welcome to the forum!