Recent Updates From Across EpicureanFriends.com
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Godfrey
January 31, 2026 at 12:49 PM Replied to the thread Summarizing Epicurean Answers to Tusculan Questions.PostMy understanding is that it's essential not to separate virtues from living pleasantly, and that in PD05 Epicurus spells out the key virtues. We all agree that EP is a philosophy of personal responsibility and not of absolutes, and this must be kept in… -
Kalosyni
January 31, 2026 at 12:22 PM Replied to the thread Summarizing Epicurean Answers to Tusculan Questions.Post[…]
Perfectionism and black-and-white thinking (and other problems). -
Kalosyni
January 31, 2026 at 11:46 AM Replied to the thread Summarizing Epicurean Answers to Tusculan Questions.Post[…]
I think that comparing and contrasting between ancient schools provides a lens for learning about Epicurean philosophy and there are still aspects of Platonism/Aristotelian thinking in the modern world -- and by thinking through things at the abstract… -
DaveT
January 31, 2026 at 9:32 AM Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.PostAgreed. I know we each are not what we do for a living, but rather we're people who do work or study or other pastimes that influence how we think. I like hearing other perspectives in the forum and knowing a bit more about other participants enhances my… -
DaveT
January 31, 2026 at 9:26 AM Replied to the thread Summarizing Epicurean Answers to Tusculan Questions.Post -
Cassius
PostJanuary 31, 2026 at 8:30 AM Episode 318 of the Lucretius Today Podcast is now available. This week our episode is entitled: "In the End It Is Pleasure - Not Virtue - That Gives Meaning To A Happy Life."
[media]https://www.spreaker.com/episode/69707702/media -
Cassius
January 31, 2026 at 4:05 AM Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.PostHappy Birthday to Ulfilas! Learn more about Ulfilas and say happy birthday on Ulfilas's timeline: Ulfilas -
Kalosyni
January 30, 2026 at 7:45 PM Replied to the thread Summarizing Epicurean Answers to Tusculan Questions.Post[…]
I don't think that even in the US there is just one absolute definition of what these are. And these labels are only understood in contrast to their opposites, as well as requiring an examination of specific actions and specific situations. For an… -
Cassius
January 30, 2026 at 2:33 PM Replied to the thread Summarizing Epicurean Answers to Tusculan Questions.PostThis is exactly the kind of conversation I'd like to have here to help us prepare for when we record the summary, so this is a fine place for it. I may need to ask you to be a little more clear as to what you are saying however. I picked out this… -
DaveT
January 30, 2026 at 2:20 PM Replied to the thread Summarizing Epicurean Answers to Tusculan Questions.PostCassius This closing item in the post seems so important to me. I'd like to pose questions on it BUT since you asked for comments on your summary, perhaps my reply ought to be somewhere else. Please move it if you think appropriate
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Understanding… -
Cassius
January 30, 2026 at 1:56 PM Replied to the thread Episode 319 - EATAQ1 - Epicurean Answers To Academic Questions - Not Yet Recorded.PostI am going to be trying to review the text from a couple of different perspectives, and to assist in that I've prepared a text-to-speech edition which I can listen to while traveling or at other opportunities.
At this stage I have done only minimal review… -
Cassius
January 30, 2026 at 10:15 AM Posted the thread Summarizing Epicurean Answers to Tusculan Questions.ThreadAs I write this on January 30 we are planning to proceed with Episode 319 as an opening introduction to Cicero's Academic Questions. I note however that in Episode 318 we read and commented to the end of Tusculan Disputations, but we did not attempt to… -
Cassius
January 30, 2026 at 4:52 AM Replied to the thread Thomas Nail - Returning to Lucretius.Post1. I read this a long time ago and was not impressed, but that was so long ago I may well have failed to appreciate its significance. Seems like this has come up a number of times and we need to find a good source for the text and start a new thread on… -
DaveT
January 29, 2026 at 9:25 PM Replied to the thread Thomas Nail - Returning to Lucretius.PostCassius I understand what you are saying and completely agree with your statements. Can I conclude that Prof Nail's essay under consideration here is not relevant to whether Lucretius ignored Epicurus' atomism? I think the answer is that it is not.
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Cassius
January 29, 2026 at 3:16 PM Replied to the thread Thomas Nail - Returning to Lucretius.Post[…]
This is a very good question and being able to answer it thoroughly is what this forum is all about.
There are many aspects to it beyond those relating to whether Lucretius intentionally or accidentally deviated from Epicurus. That's important in… -
Kalosyni
January 29, 2026 at 2:23 PM Replied to the thread Thomas Nail - Returning to Lucretius.Post[…]
Perhaps because it is a body of writing that has transcended time, and that has given it a bit of a "special quality" that is different than just some "Joe-shmo". There is also the presentation of many ideas which are the basis for cognizing the… -
DaveT
January 29, 2026 at 1:48 PM Replied to the thread Thomas Nail - Returning to Lucretius.PostI’ve read all the posts above. And I have a question that I’d like clarification from any/all among us.
First my question, and then my reasons for asking it.
Question: Why should anyone dwell on whether Lucretius accurately interpreted Epicurus’ book… -
Cassius
January 29, 2026 at 4:07 AM Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.PostHappy Birthday to GnothiSeauton! Learn more about GnothiSeauton and say happy birthday on GnothiSeauton's timeline: GnothiSeauton -
Cleveland Okie
January 28, 2026 at 11:51 PM Replied to the thread The "Suggested Further Reading" in "Living for Pleasure".PostThank you for the suggestion, TauPhi! Appreciate it. -
Patrikios
January 28, 2026 at 9:19 PM Replied to the thread Thomas Nail - Returning to Lucretius.Post -
Onenski
PostJanuary 28, 2026 at 8:03 PM In my opinion, the phrase makes much more sense within the framework of Stoicism, where, in the effort to secure peace of mind, one seeks to adjust desires to the actual state of the world. The Stoic aims to wish that the world be exactly as it is (and… -
Joshua
January 28, 2026 at 8:00 PM Replied to the thread Episode 319 - EATAQ1 - Epicurean Answers To Academic Questions - Not Yet Recorded.PostI'm going to have a lot to say about causes in the coming episode, and I'll start gathering citations here with this passage from William Paley's Natural Theology published in 1809;
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We will, I think, begin to better understand the ancient Academic… -
Cassius
January 28, 2026 at 3:44 PM Replied to the thread Episode 319 - EATAQ1 - Epicurean Answers To Academic Questions - Not Yet Recorded.PostThat will be of GREAT help! Even just the table of contents indicates what we are up against, as it shows how the book starts in the middle with discussion of opposing schools. Someone who doesn't know that and doesn't already know the Epicurean… -
Bryan
January 28, 2026 at 3:24 PM Replied to the thread Episode 319 - EATAQ1 - Epicurean Answers To Academic Questions - Not Yet Recorded.Post[…]
I'm not sure if it will be much help, but a few years ago I took the existing translation and tried to organize it, and also put all the opposing arguments in red. (link here). -
Cassius
January 27, 2026 at 7:57 PM Replied to the thread Thomas Nail - Returning to Lucretius.PostGreat catches Joshua. This is one of the ways going through Academic Questions and then to Philodemus "On Signs" is going to help us.
E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-i-N-G depends upon this intersection of canonics / epistemology and physics.
Is the universe (1) natural as… -
Joshua
January 27, 2026 at 7:18 PM Replied to the thread Thomas Nail - Returning to Lucretius.PostI haven't read the article, but I notice that we are going to be encountering related ideas in Academic Questions, Book 1, section 2 this weekend;
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And I also recall that Alfred Tennyson in Lucretius makes reference to 'streams' of atoms;
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Apart from… -
Kalosyni
PostJanuary 27, 2026 at 6:02 PM From Torquatus:
"More, any pains that the Wise Man may encounter are never so severe but that he has more cause for gladness than for sorrow. Again, it is a fine saying of Epicurus that 'the Wise Man is but little interfered with by fortune: the great… -
wbernys
PostJanuary 27, 2026 at 3:45 PM […]
I originally awnsered yes but I think I would change my awnser to the third option. I think Philodemus's quote of Metrodorus best exemplifies the Epicurean viewpoint on this qoute. Essentially An Epicurean would wish that that statement was true, and… -
Cassius
January 27, 2026 at 2:59 PM Replied to the thread What kinds of goals do Epicureans set for themselves?.PostHa - the correction backtracks from what Godfrey praised but his point still stands that it's a good way of talking about gods
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Kalosyni
January 27, 2026 at 2:14 PM Replied to the thread First-Beginnings in Lucretius Compared to Buddhist Dependent Origination.PostThe following on similarities and differences, from Google AI:
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