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Recent Activities
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TauPhi
June 20, 2026 at 8:58 PM Replied to the thread So You Want To Learn Ancient Greek Or Latin?.PostPart of Lucretius' Book 3 Proem sang in classical Latin pronunciation to some medieval-like music. Lovely stuff.
youtube.com/watch?v=9uW0PaQqglg -
Cassius
June 20, 2026 at 5:09 PM Posted the thread Updates To Participation Level Designations.ThreadToday we are making changes to our forum participation levels to make the titles more informative. The full details are on our Community Stands, Participation Levels, And Posting Policies page. The relevant part is reproduced below.2. Participation
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Cassius
ThreadJune 20, 2026 at 2:48 PM Welcome to Episode 339 of Lucretius Today. This is a podcast dedicated to the poet Lucretius, who wrote "On The Nature of Things," the most complete presentation of Epicurean philosophy left to us from the ancient world. Each week we walk you through the… -
Cassius
ThreadJune 20, 2026 at 8:57 AM
I've been looking at several aspects of reorganization of the forum, and I thought it would be useful to highlight ways in which Epicurus himself as a model was not just an individual thinker but as a primary part of his effort was working with others… -
Kalosyni
June 20, 2026 at 8:55 AM Posted the thread Happy Twentieth of June 2026!.Thread
Happy Twentieth Everyone! Wishing everyone a beautiful day filled with all the things that make life wonderful!
And tomorrow is Summer Solstice!
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Elli
June 19, 2026 at 2:31 PM Wrote the blog article The Letter of Epicurus to His Mother.Blog ArticleThe Letter of Epicurus to His Mother
Diogenes of Oinoanda (fr. 125–126) – Free rendering
Mother, concerning everything that troubles you, I want you to form clear and confident thoughts. The images we see in dreams - especially when they concern things not… -
Cassius
June 19, 2026 at 2:31 PM Replied to the thread Episode 338 - EATAQ20 - Are Knowledge And Wisdom Available Only To Gods?.PostEpisode 338 of the Lucretius Today Podcast is now available. This week our episode is entitled: "Are Knowledge And Wisdom Available Only To Gods?"
[media]https://www.spreaker.com/episode/72603581/media -
Cassius
June 17, 2026 at 9:32 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
No no not at all directed at you - it's just a general reference to a topic that's regularly on my mind - how to balance competing priorities. This topic has covered a lot of ground and that comment arose from my constantly thinking about how to… -
DaveT
June 17, 2026 at 7:46 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
I'm not sure how to take this comment to my statement above. Please explain if you are speaking to me as "one of those"? -
Cassius
June 17, 2026 at 7:08 AM Replied to the thread Relationship between AI/LLMs and prolepsis.Post[…]
i agree with Peter K's post and "liked it." I singled out this sentense only because I don't think he meant to imply that animals are not conscious, or only a "human" brain can be conscious. If you did mean that Peter please correct me, but I took… -
Cassius
June 17, 2026 at 7:02 AM Replied to the thread Relationship between AI/LLMs and prolepsis.Post[…]
At least at present that's the way I am seeing a relationship that is productive to discuss.
No doubt there are many differences, but i would not underestimate the significance of even this short part of Martin's statement.
When the major other… -
Peter Konstans
June 17, 2026 at 6:58 AM Replied to the thread Relationship between AI/LLMs and prolepsis.PostIf prolepsis is roughly equivalent to the notion of pattern recognition that our cognition relies on, then AI is just the collective pool of human prolepsis, a machine packed with enormous quantities of information that humans use as an auxiliary for… -
Martin
June 17, 2026 at 1:55 AM Replied to the thread Relationship between AI/LLMs and prolepsis.Post[…]
[…]
I do see an analogy between prolepsis and LLMs. In both cases, pattern recognition built on past input is applied to new input to generate a response. This analogy may be weaker for ancient Epicurean prolepsis than for what prolepsis updated with… -
Don
June 16, 2026 at 10:14 PM Replied to the thread Relationship between AI/LLMs and prolepsis.PostLLMs are nothing like the way the brain works. Since I don't think prolepsis isn't necessarily how the brain actually functions, I'm sharing a couple videos explaining the brain as prediction machine. The mind doesn't break reality into tokens and assign… -
Kalosyni
June 16, 2026 at 2:17 PM Replied to the thread Relationship between AI/LLMs and prolepsis.PostHere is a good video explaining LLM's:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=NKnZYvZA7w4
Martin do you have any input on the comparison between prolepsis and LLM's? -
Kalosyni
June 16, 2026 at 1:58 PM Replied to the thread Relationship between AI/LLMs and prolepsis.PostAll posts mentioning the gods have been moved (and general prolepsis comments by Bryan have been copied and exist in both threads. Also, Titus' AI query exists in both threads).
New thread split off to discuss prolepsis of the gods:
Prolepsis and the… -
Cassius
June 16, 2026 at 1:34 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
That "student" term would describe all of us, and is one of the two major goals of the forum.
The other major goal of the forum is to build a community of "advocates" for Epicurean philosophy as a coherent body of thought for normal people. That's… -
Kalosyni
ThreadJune 16, 2026 at 1:26 PM Admin Edit: This thread is for discussion on the nature of the gods spurred on by a section below: "An especially interesting case: the gods" (A number of posts have been moved or copied depending on the content).
For discussion on LLM's please visit this… -
DaveT
June 16, 2026 at 11:29 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
I enjoyed your overall post in which you ended with the above thought. I guess I'm not an Epicurean but rather a student of Epicurean thought and an adopter of many of his methodologies for discovering knowledge. -
Don
June 16, 2026 at 7:36 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
Thank you!! No, you are not misunderstanding... I just need to "get back to the books" to paraphrase Philodemus. I am woefully out of practice!
What I was saying is that we don't have any extant texts from Epicurus himself placing the gods in the… -
Cassius
June 16, 2026 at 7:06 AM Replied to the thread Relationship between AI/LLMs and prolepsis.PostADMIN NOTE: Speaking of things breaking apart due to atomic collisions, I think Kalosyni is looking at dividing this thread up into more manageable topics such as separating the prolepsis of gods topic from prolepsis analogies to llm (while leaving… -
Cassius
June 16, 2026 at 7:03 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
I don't recall that we've discussed this but it would probably be interesting to pin down exactly what it was about being "between the worlds" that the Epicureans would have associated with the idea that this was a particularly hospitable place.
I… -
Don
June 16, 2026 at 6:52 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
Thanks! I've changed to nowadays to be clearer. -
Cassius
June 16, 2026 at 6:47 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
This is probably what you meant as written but just to be clear - this is not missing a "don't" is it? (The "anymore" rather than "nowadays" at the end is the main reason i ask that.)
And thanks to Bryan for immediately weighing in with some texts -… -
Bryan
June 16, 2026 at 1:37 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
Let me throw in some quotes as a jumping-off point, I may be misunderstanding.
"...that Cosmoi such as this are also infinite in number is able to be thoroughly comprehended, and that such a Cosmos also has the force to be produced both in a cosmos and… -
Don
June 15, 2026 at 11:34 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
This may not turn out exactly as you thought it might...
I have the utmost respect for TauPhi 's perspective and insightful comments in this thread and through the forum. Some of my responses below may be a little provocative, but they're not… -
Cassius
June 15, 2026 at 5:08 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
This aspect of the "idealist" position as cited by Bryan reminds me to clarify: I think Epicurus' position on divinity served important goal-identifying and psychological purposes for Epicurus (which is a positive use of the term ideal), just as… -
Bryan
June 15, 2026 at 4:19 PM Replied to the thread Relationship between AI/LLMs and prolepsis.Post[…]
We have the category "pending (προσμένον)" for things which are simultaneously not attested (μὴ ἐπιμαρτυρούμενον) and not contested (μὴ ἀντιμαρτυρούμενον), because indeed in that case there is no evidence either way.
We also have "pending" for… -
Pacatus
June 15, 2026 at 2:32 PM Replied to the thread $toicism, Broicism, and stoicisM.PostReminds a bit of Emily Austin’s questioning whether modern Stoics are actually – Stoics. (Though she wasn’t as harsh as Bates.) -
Pacatus
June 15, 2026 at 2:26 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).PostOne might take Epicurus’ arguments for a “realist” view of the gods as suggestive, rather than “dogmatic.” I don’t know if that’s too much of a wrenching of what he said, but he was, in part, deconstructing any sort of Platonic idealism throughout.
For… -
Pacatus
June 15, 2026 at 1:19 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
Just as an aside: the Pyrrhonians would not call those “false” but indeterminate or undecidable (ἀνεπίκριτα). -
DaveT
June 15, 2026 at 12:02 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).PostI appreciate all the comments made on my original questions and observations. I often look for similarities in teachings before and after Epicurus.
I hope this doesn't stir up a hornets nest from this thread (which everyone is probably fatigued over) But,… -
Titus
June 15, 2026 at 11:57 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
In that moment where we start talking about something that is outside of our sphere of influence, it becomes symbolic. I agree that they are very alien because they master those both points of life being limited and of emotional imperfection, due to… -
TauPhi
June 15, 2026 at 11:46 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
Spledid idea! Almost as good as appointing Lucifer as a gatekeeper at St. Peter's gates of heaven. It should be fine. -
Cassius
June 15, 2026 at 11:37 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
To supplement my brilliant humor, I am hoping that some of our "idealists" like Don will weigh in on the objection Tau Phi is raising to what Titus has suggested. I personally don't consider that the two camps on this topic are really in conflict,… -
Cassius
June 15, 2026 at 11:08 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
If this keeps up we're going to have to appoint Tau Phi as Moderator-Pro-Tem of the SUAVITY forum! -
TauPhi
June 15, 2026 at 10:59 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
I do differ in some areas but I also love Epicurean philosophy. It has benefited my life enormously and it still does. Even if I don't accept the philosophy in its entirety, I agree with most of it. It may look sometimes that I'm picking a fight but I… -
Cassius
June 15, 2026 at 9:20 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).PostI meant to say this previously but I believe I got cut short of time and deleted it.
In general I often find it surprising how much I agree with Tau Phi's perspective on Epicurean philosophy despite the fact that he is very clear that he differs with… -
Cassius
June 15, 2026 at 8:16 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).PostOn each of these points I agree with Titus and completely see it differently from Tau Phi. We are not talking idealism, we are talking about recognizing scales of measure just as we would see longer living as better than shorter living. There's no… -
TauPhi
June 15, 2026 at 6:52 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).PostHere are my personal opinions on all three points. Please mind they are just that - personal opinions. Nothing else but food for thought, if someone is interested in reading them.
[…]
Ultimate excellence does not exist. It's nothing more but a turn into… -
Titus
June 15, 2026 at 4:25 AM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
I would argue that the Epicurean theory on the Gods is still important, independent from what one thinks of the possibility of receiving images or eidolas:
1.) As Patrikios said, the Gods symbolise ultimate excellence. They are something to orientate… -
Cassius
June 14, 2026 at 10:18 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).PostWe've discussed many of these issues many times in many plaves, but Just for the sake of having fun with the last post here is an example of how I would push back at the contention that Epicurean physics is obsolete. Ironically I would also expect that… -
Cassius
June 14, 2026 at 9:15 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
Fully understood and no problem. And we will go merrily along our way because I know you understand that I disagree with every significant statement of fact you have made in that post as to Epicurus having been "proven wrong." Out terminology is not… -
TauPhi
June 14, 2026 at 8:28 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
[…]
Both statements are true for Epicurus but are not true from modern perspective. We no longer can equate atomic theory and the theory of eidolas. The atomic theory still stands nowadays, the theory of eidolas has been proven to be incorrect.… -
Cassius
June 14, 2026 at 7:39 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).PostI just saw what Patrikios wrote and i agree with it - seems consistent with what Joshua said.
Beyond that I want to go further, because I think there's a direct analogy between the problem we face today in explaining Epicurus' views of the gods and the… -
Patrikios
June 14, 2026 at 6:20 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post -
Cassius
June 14, 2026 at 5:46 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).Post[…]
He could believe in them in exactly the same way he believes in atoms, which he has also never perceived with his five senses.
[…]
Again, he had the same level of evidence he had as to atoms - all inference, no direct evidence - yet fully "believed" in… -
DaveT
June 14, 2026 at 5:14 PM Replied to the thread Prolepsis and the Epicurean Gods (discussion split from earlier thread started by Titus).PostI don't know if anyone else will chime in, so thank you Cassius . It's so sad that the extent fragments, the letters, and Lucretius are all we have to resolve the issue of how he could believe in gods that neither he or anyone had ever sensed with the… -
Don
June 14, 2026 at 10:37 AM Posted the thread $toicism, Broicism, and stoicisM.Threadhttps://open.substack.com/pub/ataraxiaor…e-stoicism-scam
A Pyrrhonist on Substack joins in the "Stoics aren't Stoics" debate head-on in some blunt language.
I do think a number of items in his list are either Epicurean in source or Epicurean in practice.
I… -
Kalosyni
June 14, 2026 at 8:00 AM Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.Post
Happy Birthday! Buck23
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