Posts by Kalosyni
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Coming up Monday night 8pm ET - for our First Monday Epicurean Philosophy Discussion - Via Zoom - We will discuss what place ambition has within an Epicurean lifestyle.
There are two shades of meaning for the word "ambition" so this is important to take into consideration. It can refer to any kind of aspiration or it can refer to something to do with career, gaining wealth, power, or fame. Since we already understand that Epicurus refers to power and fame as vain desires, then for Monday night's discussion I am wanting to refer to ambition as "a strong wish to achieve something" (see the Cambridge Dictionary online).
From the Cambridge Dictionary:
B1 [ C ]
a strong wish to achieve something:
Synonyms
intent formal or specialized
B2 [ U ]
a strong wish to be successful, powerful, rich, etc.:
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Welcome to the forum Julia
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Here is our discussion topic for this next Monday evening, First Monday Zoom meeting:
"What place does ambition have within the practical application of Epicurean philosophy?"
Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Short the following:
"I take the liberty of observing that you are not a true disciple of our master Epicurus, in indulging the indolence to which you say you are yielding. One of his canons, you know, was that “that indulgence which prevents a greater pleasure, or produces a greater pain, is to be avoided.” Your love of repose will lead, in its progress, to a suspension of healthy exercise, a relaxation of mind, an indifference to everything around you, and finally to a debility of body, and hebetude of mind, the farthest of all things from the happiness which the well-regulated indulgences of Epicurus ensure; fortitude, you know is one of his four cardinal virtues. That teaches us to meet and surmount difficulties; not to fly from them, like cowards; and to fly, too, in vain, for they will meet and arrest us at every turn of our road. Weigh this matter well; brace yourself up; take a seat with Correa, and come and see the finest portion of your country, which, if you have not forgotten, you still do not know, because it is no longer the same as when you knew it."
I will bring some thought provoking questions to spur on the discussion.
We'll be using the same Zoom link as previous meetings (and I will send out a meeting reminder before the meeting).
For anyone who has not attended previously and wishes to join us, please let us know here in this thread and we will get the Zoom link to you by private message.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
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Hi Everyone, Coming up this next Monday night is our monthly Epicurean Philosophy Discussion!
This meeting is open to all forum members
For those who haven't previously attended and are interested, just let us know here in this thread (and we will get the link to you by private message).
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Thank you for asking Twentier and you now have that trophy.
Hey! Over here!
I am sort of on the fence...because some mornings I wake up an say to myself: "I too am a Hedonist"...
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I am revisiting this thread without re-reading previous posts, just to say that I have been thinking again about how to make Epicurean philosophy more accessable. Some ideas:
1) Create a "sister-site" which gives a quick overview. We already have NewEpicurean.com...however...
...it would be nice to have something a bit more streamlined like a regular website which is geared toward modern times and is focused on practical aspects of applying Epicurean philosophy.
2) Get clear on the "existential" issues that Epicurus covers, and create "conversation starters" for in-person meetings.
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I found this on how Athenian Ephebeia were religiously educated:
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Is it possible that Cicero and others in ancient times used similar thinking as Anselm to decide that there are gods?
Anselm: Ontological Argument for the God’s Existence | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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During my study of it all this piousness seems to be coming back notoriously and sticking like a chewing gum to a shoe. Maybe Epicureanism was not intended as a guide for people trying to come up with their own recipes for their lives. Maybe Epicureanism was designed as yet another concealed ideology for people who are perfectly fine with buying a cookbook and never stray from its content.
I think that the main problem for us now is that half of the pages of the "cookbook" are missing.
We can see that people turned to Epicurus for answers about living a happy and good life. It seems unlikely that the "Epicureanism" during the life of Philodemus was exactly the same as the "Epicureanism" during the life of Epicurus. A whole group of people said: "yes "x,y, z" works but then it evolved and changed over time.
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I'm thinking about this sentence for few minutes now and I can't see how obeying someone in authority is not 'blind faith'.
Now if you think about it, the original authority was "God". In current modern times many people do not believe in God, or perhaps they believe in a God which is only remotely involved with humans (more like "new-age" spirituality). So there will be many who feel taken-aback by the idea of "obeying". We live in a very independent-minded society also.
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What about Mercury retrograde? Here is a fun, short explanation
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Wishing you a Happy Birthday Pacatus !
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I did not take good notes at last night's Zoom, and I can't remember very much about what was said...
Is psychological hedonism the same as saying "motivated by your own self-interest"?
And it doesn't say much about what should be the focus of your self-interest, or about the kinds of choices you make, and whether or not things work out to give you good results.
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Years ago, I read there was actual scientific evidence supporting this concept; so I did a quick search and came up with this item confirming the idea.
From the US government of all places!
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Happy Twentieth!
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The word "eudaimonia" comes up in the Letter to Menoeceus, in the Torquatus section of Cicero, and on the wall of Oinoanda. Can we say that Epicurus believed that both pleasure AND happiness were simultaneously the goal of life? Or would we say that eudaimonia is the same as pleasure?
It seems that eudaimonia isn't just a fleeting emotion of giddiness that arises when you get something that you want, but instead it is an expansive sense of fulfillment and completeness.
The word "complete" comes up in the PD's and VS's... Don or Bryan if you click on the note below you can see the Greek word μακαρία is used, which is a different word than eudaimonia. (Yet how things are translated depends on the translator).
PD27 (Saint-Andre translation)
Of all the things that wisdom provides for the complete happiness of one's entire life, by far the greatest is friendship. [note] ὧν ἡ σοφία παρασκευάζεται εἰς τὴν τοῦ ὅλου βίου μακαριότητα πολὺ μέγιστόν ἐστιν ἡ τῆς φιλίας κτῆσις. -
Don ... likely only one omphalos, which was located in Delphi? and was Delphi considered to be the center of the world, at that time? And which would mean that it is the Pythia and not Cassandra. (I was wondering why anyone would take the time to paint Cassandra onto a wall, but I haven't studied much about the frescos of Pompeii).
btw...seers were different than oracles (seers used divination rituals such as bird signs, animal entrails, etc, where as oracles "heard" the voices of the gods).
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Welcome to the forum!
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Finding Things At EpicureanFriends.com
Here is a list of suggested search strategies:
- Website Overview page - clickable links arrranged by cards.
- Forum Main Page - list of forums and subforums arranged by topic. Threads are posted according to relevant topics. The "Uncategorized subforum" contains threads which do not fall into any existing topic (also contains older "unfiled" threads which will soon be moved).
- Search Tool - icon is located on the top right of every page. Note that the search box asks you what section of the forum you'd like to search. If you don't know, select "Everywhere."
- Search By Key Tags - curated to show frequently-searched topics.
- Full Tag List - an alphabetical list of all tags.