LATEST LUCRETIUS TODAY PODCAST: Episode 328 - "Sensation - While Neither Right Or Wrong - As The Touchstone Of Reality" | Website Overview | Forum Navigation Map | Latest Blog Post: Not a Bunker But A Camp - Epicurean Engagement With Society
REMINDER: SUNDAY WEEKLY ZOOM - April 12, 2026 -12:30 PM EDT - Ancient text study and discussion: De Rerum Natura - - Level 03 members and above (and Level 02 by Admin. approval) - read more info on it here.
New Graphics: Are You On Team Epicurus? | Comparison Chart: Epicurus vs. Other Philosophies | Chart Of Key Epicurean Quotations | Accelerating Study Of Canonics Through Philodemus' "On Methods Of Inference" | Note to all users: If you have a problem posting in any forum, please message Cassius
Recent Activities
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Martin
April 12, 2026 at 2:35 AM Replied to the thread Welcome M Dango.PostWelcome M.Dango! -
wbernys
April 12, 2026 at 2:25 AM Replied to the thread What would Epicurus have thought of going to the moon?.PostPlutarch says much the same. Albeit out of his ignorance and desire to slander Epicurus he doesn't understand how one can enjoy spectacles so much but not spend their life obsessed with nonsense questions with no relevance.
[U20]
Plutarch, That Epicurus… -
wbernys
April 12, 2026 at 2:03 AM Replied to the thread What would Epicurus have thought of going to the moon?.Post[…]
Personally think he would consider it freaking awesome. It's important to remember one of Diogenes Laertius sayings about the Epicurean wise man, which people who like to imagine Epicurus as ascetic always love to ignore.
"He will care more than other… -
wbernys
April 12, 2026 at 1:58 AM Replied to the thread Welcome M Dango.Post[…]
Damn straight! Best book on Epicurus in my view. If i may recommend, I would personally recomendding Torqautus speech, this and Austin is what really made me love the philosophy.
Here's a video link (uses ai voice, if that bothers you, you can read it… -
Godfrey
April 12, 2026 at 12:35 AM Replied to the thread What would Epicurus have thought of going to the moon?.PostThere's also the issue of natural philosophy as well as the anachronistic nature of the situation proposed. Epicurus' life predated so much of our contemporary knowledge, although his thinking in many ways laid the groundwork for it. If he was presented… -
Cassius
ThreadApril 11, 2026 at 6:46 PM These week we will continue around section 1:329 of Lucretius and explore the implications of the Void.
https://handbook.epicureanfriends.com/sbslucretius/#1-329 -
Cassius
ThreadApril 11, 2026 at 6:16 PM Welcome to Episode 329 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
April 11, 2026 at 5:54 PM Replied to the thread What would Epicurus have thought of going to the moon?.PostOK other than Eikadistes no one is rushing to answer, so I'll start a preliminary response that will be far too short.
[…]
As with all options in life, I think Epicurus would advise evaluating the specifics as it applied to him personally and not take… -
m.dango
April 11, 2026 at 3:33 PM Replied to the thread Welcome M Dango.PostI finished "Living for Pleasure" and it was a joy to read! I had a hold on a library app I placed before I had learned of Epicurean philosophy, for a book titled "The Art of Frugal Hedonism", which unexpectedly has a section summarizing Epicurus. I've… -
DaveT
April 11, 2026 at 2:37 PM Replied to the thread How do we know that we only get one life?.PostWelllll! I think facing the consequences of death is so personal, I'm good doing it alone. Of course when facing imminent or approaching death, I'd imagine having support during the process would be helpful if I'm fortunate to have close loved ones… -
Cassius
April 11, 2026 at 1:21 PM Replied to the thread Responding to the Avicenna "Proof of the Truthful" Argument For A Supernatural God.PostThanks Patrikios that is a very new document that I am still in the process of researching and revising, but it's already very helpful. I will add that as you suggest.
EDIT: HMMM how did you get that link - it's not correct - I will get the correct one… -
Patrikios
April 11, 2026 at 1:20 PM Replied to the thread How do we know that we only get one life?.Post[…]
Kalosyni ,
I just love the way you add the soft touch reminder that this Epicurean work comes down to living a life of wellbeing as fully as possible within the environment and circumstances we find ourselves!❤️
Maybe we can discuss on a future Eikas… -
Patrikios
April 11, 2026 at 1:10 PM Replied to the thread M. Dango's personal outline.Post -
Patrikios
April 11, 2026 at 12:48 PM Replied to the thread Responding to the Avicenna "Proof of the Truthful" Argument For A Supernatural God.Post[…]
Cassius , I appreciate you bringing us this Epicurean defense of nature-based reality.
It might be helpful to add a link from the first mention of “Canon”, as most of the Epicurus’s responses mention it. When I tracked down this link and read… -
Kalosyni
April 11, 2026 at 12:25 PM Replied to the thread How do we know that we only get one life?.Post[…]
Except an "Epicurean death discussion" would end up being different than the objectives of a Death Cafe, because we would be exploring why " death is nothing to us ".
According to the Death Cafe website, theirs is very open-ended:
[…] -
m.dango
April 11, 2026 at 12:24 PM Replied to the thread M. Dango's personal outline.PostNot a problem!
Phantom pain is a phenomenon where a person feels pain in a limb which has been amputated/removed. The reason it came to mind is that it is described as a sensation, and my initial thought was if it could be considered a sensation which is… -
Kalosyni
April 11, 2026 at 11:49 AM Replied to the thread How do we know that we only get one life?.Post -
Cassius
April 11, 2026 at 10:49 AM Replied to the thread How do we know that we only get one life?.Post[…]
And the best way to do that is through regular teamwork with people who already agree or are close to agreeing with you, and not continuing to imagine that maybe the rest of the world will one day wake up and everything will be different.
If someone… -
Eikadistes
April 11, 2026 at 10:34 AM Replied to the thread What would Epicurus have thought of going to the moon?.Post -
Kalosyni
April 11, 2026 at 8:44 AM Replied to the thread How do we know that we only get one life?.Post[…]
And the internal experience of being alive is as if we "feel" immortal (and yet we are not).
Also, it is much more appealing to think that there is something good coming (such as heaven) rather than nothingness.
But just because we "feel" immortal… -
DaveT
April 11, 2026 at 7:03 AM Replied to the thread How do we know that we only get one life?.PostRelated to this thread, I listened to an interview of David J. Linden a Johns Hopkins neuroscientist on Big Think. He was facing his own cancer death and realized he had difficulty in accepting a world without him in it. After 40 years of his career… -
Cassius
April 11, 2026 at 6:31 AM Replied to the thread M. Dango's personal outline.PostThank you for highlighting that quote wbernsys - I missed it when I first read the post.
Since those two terms seem to be of interest i would appreciate m.dango explaining briefly what those terms mean and why they come up here so as to make the thread… -
Cassius
April 11, 2026 at 6:22 AM Replied to the thread What would Epicurus have thought of going to the moon?.PostThis is a fine place for this question and thank you for posting it. i may designate it so it appears in an Ehics section as well.
I expect some highly perceptive answers, and I think the issue is important enough that I don't want anyone to hold back… -
ReiWolfWoman
April 10, 2026 at 11:36 PM Posted the thread What would Epicurus have thought of going to the moon?.ThreadI didn’t know where else to post this, so if Cassius or Anyone wants to delete and redirect me I’d welcome it…
What do you think Epicurus would have thought of going to the moon? Would it be extraneous to friendship and community and pleasure, and… -
wbernys
April 10, 2026 at 10:40 PM Replied to the thread M. Dango's personal outline.Post[…]
This to me is decently easy to explain. With these experiments it doesn't actually cause a true sharp pain but we instead just feel fear and all of the discomfort that fear brings out of the false belief that our hand has been struck and injured. Same… -
ReiWolfWoman
April 10, 2026 at 10:17 PM Replied to the thread Welcome ReiWolfWoman!.Post[…]
Thank you! That’s an interesting way of looking at it. Outside of pure logic, I think all rationality is based on a desired end. Even when it claims to be objective, it usually has a motive. That’s one reason I appreciate Epicurus, for professing… -
m.dango
April 10, 2026 at 8:02 PM Has solved the quiz Basic Epicurean Ethics.Quiz -
m.dango
April 10, 2026 at 7:55 PM Posted the thread M. Dango's personal outline.ThreadEpicurean philosophy has been an intriguing topic for me to read on so far. I have admittedly found it a little unsettling in that I've yet to come across anything in particular I strongly disagree with or find objectionable?On the nature of the
… -
Cassius
April 10, 2026 at 7:29 PM Replied to the thread Epicurus Was Not an Atomist (...sort of).PostThanks Bryan - it's a shame that we do focus on the term "atom" as if he were concerned about a particular object, when what he really was concerned about the logical imperative that there must be a limit to a division of both bodies and space!
It's so… -
Cassius
PostApril 10, 2026 at 5:57 PM Episode 328 of the Lucretius Today Podcast is now available. This week our episode is entitled: "Sensation - While Neither Right Or Wrong - As The Touchstone Of Reality"
[media]https://www.spreaker.com/episode/71242274/media -
Bryan
April 10, 2026 at 4:49 PM Replied to the thread Epicurus Was Not an Atomist (...sort of).PostAnother idea in support of this argument is that atomic space (i.e., an indivisible magnitude of space) is just as important as atomic matter (i.e., an indivisible magnitude of matter).
"Therefore it is pleasing to those around Epicurus that all [primary… -
Cassius
April 10, 2026 at 4:04 PM Replied to the thread Discussion of Article - 25 Mind Viruses Cured By Epicurean Philosophy.PostThere are several major omissions in the existing list and I will eventually revise it. In the meantime and while I think about the existing structure and consider any incoming comments, here are four more that I am going to add:
…
26. A life that does not -
Cassius
April 10, 2026 at 12:43 PM Replied to the thread Discussion of Article - 25 Mind Viruses Cured By Epicurean Philosophy.Post -
Cassius
April 10, 2026 at 11:45 AM Posted the thread Discussion of Article - 25 Mind Viruses Cured By Epicurean Philosophy.ThreadThis thread will be used for discussion of the new beginner-friendly article: Mind Viruses Cured By Epicurean Philosophy. Please add comments, suggestions, etc. here.
epicureanfriends.com/wcf/article/14/ -
Cassius
April 10, 2026 at 11:39 AM Wrote the article 25 Mind Viruses Cured By Epicurean Philosophy.ArticleView on substack here.
Throughout history, philosophers, priests, and political authorities have promoted ideas about life, reality, and human nature that sound profound but are in fact deeply mistaken — and whose effect, whether intended or not, is to make ordinary people feel guilty, fearful, and dependent on outside authorities for guidance. These ideas spread from generation to generation the way a virus spreads through a population: not because they are true, but because they are… -
Martin
April 10, 2026 at 1:50 AM Replied to the thread Welcome ReiWolfWoman!.PostWelcome ReiWolfWoman! -
Joshua
April 9, 2026 at 11:09 PM Replied to the thread Welcome ReiWolfWoman!.Post[…]
I probably wouldn't express it the following way normally, but since you have posed an interesting question and it can be helpful to think out loud sometimes, I might answer it this way:
I suggest that Epicurus advocated not moderation, but what modern… -
Eikadistes
April 9, 2026 at 8:16 PM Replied to the thread Epicurus vs Kant and Modern Idealism - Introduction.PostI also don't mean to imply that any of the Greeks (besides Pýrrhōn), or Descartes, Spinoza, Berkeley or Kant were inspired by Indian philosophies; they just provide interesting parallels. Maybe some were of which I am not aware, but primarily… -
Eikadistes
April 9, 2026 at 8:09 PM Replied to the thread Epicurus vs Kant and Modern Idealism - Introduction.Post[…]
Yeah, I think I got their birth year right, more-or-less. -
Cassius
April 9, 2026 at 7:49 PM Replied to the thread Epicurus vs Kant and Modern Idealism - Introduction.PostVery useful Eikadistes! n They are arranged in chronological order? -
ReiWolfWoman
April 9, 2026 at 6:22 PM Replied to the thread Welcome ReiWolfWoman!.PostI’m still figuring out this quote function…
My undergrad course barely touched on Epicureanism and I actually learned more about it in a graduate rhetoric class where it was more respected. My undergrad professor was clearly a mix of Aristotelian and… -
ReiWolfWoman
April 9, 2026 at 6:17 PM Replied to the thread Welcome ReiWolfWoman!.Post[…]
[…] -
ReiWolfWoman
April 9, 2026 at 6:02 PM Replied to the thread Welcome ReiWolfWoman!.PostHi All,
My interest in Epicurus was prompted by his physics, really. I was impressed by the (disregard) for the gods and (belief) in multiple causes for life. It seemed quite intuitive for me. As I read on, I found his approach to life mature and… -
Cassius
PostApril 9, 2026 at 4:27 PM I don't know that we used it in this episode, but there's another phrase that we should probably be referring to more often in this discusion: "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" - which has to be explained as a natural phenomena rather… -
Eikadistes
April 9, 2026 at 4:19 PM Replied to the thread Epicurus vs Kant and Modern Idealism - Introduction.PostThese are by no means precise, just a general overview of some relevant comparisons:… -
Cassius
PostApril 9, 2026 at 4:18 PM At around the 20 minute mark in this episode Joshua refers to an important David Sedley observation, but we did not have the quote at hand. Here is the full section, from his "Epicurus' Refutation of Determinism," with the main part Joshua was… -
Cassius
April 9, 2026 at 11:52 AM Replied to the thread Epicurus vs Kant and Modern Idealism - Introduction.Post[…]
It's a constant stuggle to decide how much diving into the details is sufficient. However it seems pretty clear to me that the ultimate goal is being sure that we have a grasp of the "big picture" regardless of the twists and turns of how some of… -
Eikadistes
April 9, 2026 at 11:19 AM Replied to the thread Epicurus vs Kant and Modern Idealism - Introduction.Post[…]
I think in a survey of the history of philosophy, Berkeley is one of the best examples of an Idealist. Whereas, for Plátōn, the world of matter that traps souls in cages in not made of mind.
[…]
To my knowledge, Kant isn't arguing for either. In fact,… -
Cassius
April 9, 2026 at 10:20 AM Posted the thread Against "Castles In the Air".ThreadI just ran a search of this forum and after more than ten years of activity I don't see a single mention of the phrase "castles in the air." It is highly irritating to me that the first use of this very appropriate characterization of anti-Epicurean… -
Cassius
April 9, 2026 at 9:31 AM Replied to the thread Epicurus vs Kant and Modern Idealism - Introduction.PostGeorge Berkeley is relevant to this discussion, so here's a summary of the issue there:
Berkeley's Subjective Idealism ("esse est percipi")
Berkeley attacks the very foundation Epicurus stands on — the reliability of sensation as a guide to external…
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