Posts by Don

Quote from Kalosyni

There are millions of insignificant events that can't possibly be predetermined.

The predetermined nature of all our choices is exactly what the current crop of the "no free will" crowd says. Their contention is that if we knew the position of every atom and the physical laws that pertained to them, it would be possible to accurately know what would happen next ad infinitum. Just because we don't know how to do that yet doesn't negate the "fact" that there's no free will.

Here are some videos to react to...

It's also a great reference work for questions about the content of On Nature.

This video explains the fate of the universe depends on "the stuff in the universe" (atoms? ) and "empty space" (void? )

Also... To boggle everyone's mind a little more...

Per this one... It's not "the speed of light", it's the "speed of causality"...

It appears that it's "the speed of light for something with mass is constant in a vacuum."

Yes, tweak agreed to! Good catch.

I would only add that the possibility still could be that the number isn't infinite but could just be "infinite" relative to us. The difference between 10^{100,000,000,000} or 10^{1,000,000,000,000,000} or more makes little difference to me.

Jury is still out on that as far as I'm concerned, but it doesn't keep me up at night.

Honestly, I don't think we have to reinterpret or reconcile Epicurean philosophy with the theory of relativity or modern quantum physics, or vice versa.

Both Epicurus and Einstein were doing thought experiments with the knowledge and information they had available at the time, 3rd c. BCE and early 20th c. CE, respectively.

Epicurus's idea of a material universe composed of uncuttable "atoms" moving in a "void" was revolutionary. Einstein's discoveries of general and special relativity were groundbreaking. As scientific discoveries advance, we should not be tied to the literal texts but to their spirit. Epicurus himself was a proponent of waiting for evidence to come to a "final" decision. We can do the same and still think of ourselves as Epicureans.

*The* important takeaways from Epicurus's "atoms and void" are:

1. We live in an understandable, material universe.
2. The universe does not have a secret, supernatural undiscoverable "governor" controlling or creating it.
3. There are an innumerable but not infinite number of particles that make up the universe, constantly being reused and recycled into new bodies.

Quote from Cassius

Are (1) the illustration of dropping the penny from the train and (2) Einstein in this context, correct, or incorrect?

From the point of view of the person standing on the ground, the stone dropped inside the moving train travels in a curve.

From the point of view of the person dropping it inside the moving train, the stone travels straight down.

The is no ultimate "correct" perspective. It's all relative.

That seems a good analogy/metaphor for some of Epicurean philosophy's position.

A couple mind blowing videos:

(Train explanation at 3:00)

I certainly can't say I disagree with TauPhi 's overall thoughts. It would certainly make for an interesting alternative history novel!

Quote from Cassius

sometimes attributed to Metrodorus

FYI

Thread

VS10 - Source of VS10 in Manuscripts

Bailey attributes VS10 to Metrodorus, corroborated with the fragments of Metrodorus...

epicureanfriends.com/wcf/attachment/3866/

https://archive.org/details/metrod…7/mode/1up?q=10

The note seems to say: "Dueningius did not correctly infer from this passage that the book "Pros Menestraton" was written by Metrodorus, the sentence was drawn from a letter." And it must be the letter cited from Clement of Alexandria where the fragment includes addressing "Μενεστρατε Menestraton…

Don

July 6, 2023 at 8:50 AM

For reference:

Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, ε , ἐπιβολ-ή , ἐπιβολ-ή

Bryan 's description of "focus" seems a good way to think of it. The basic definition in LSJ of "throwing or laying on" gets at that same idea.

Welcome aboard!

From one reference librarian to another, welcome aboard. Great introductory story!

Quote from Bryan

Just as an experiment, I wanted to see how well GPT could automatically break the text into smaller sections and produce a vocab list

That's an impressive start. And that vocab list was generated automatically by ChatGPT? Some of the grammar and definitions are basic, but I'll admit I'm a little stunned, encouraged, and just a little bit intimidated.

PS: Upon further reflection, I still believe you need a human intelligence to interpret, to understand, and to communicate what the texts mean and how to apply them.

Bryan : You might need interested in these videos:

Quote from Pacatus

And those few ancient images may well have been "riffs" themselves?

Good point. Roman copies of Greek originals.

It might be useful to remember all the bearded Epicurus images are based on probably 2, maybe 3, statues and maybe a ring or two(?) at most from the ancient world.

I'm disregarding the School of Athens one traditionally with the wreath and the bald one seen on various medieval or Renaissance images.

The modern ones are all jazz riffs on that ancient image.

Bryan : Yeah, I wasn't impressed with their pronunciation convention. It seemed a little hodgepodge and too "Erasmian."

I was more impressed with this paleography sections.

Somewhat into the weeds of Ancient Greek, but this paper provides practical applications of learning that language:

Hellēnizein: A Flexible Structure for Teaching Greek to Archaeologists and Ancient Historians (2nd author with E. Parisinou). Milton Keynes, 2004; Liverpool, 2008; Leicester, 2015

Hellēnizein: A Flexible Structure for Teaching Greek to Archaeologists and Ancient Historians (2nd author with E. Parisinou). Milton Keynes, 2004; Liverpool,…

www.academia.edu

Being able to pick out names and phrases on artifacts in museums is quite rewarding.