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  • Cassius August 14, 2026 at 6:49 PM

    Thread
    Welcome to Episode 347 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 August 14, 2026 at 5:19 PM

    Post
    It is clear to me that the topic of this thread is a continuing issue that needs regular discussion. Here's the original quote from Bentham in which he compares music and poetry to push-pin. He never says that they are objectively of equal value, he is…

  • Matteng August 14, 2026 at 4:35 PM

    Post
    […]

    Cassius thank you, your post improves my understanding.

    Ok, yes seeing the cup as the whole life makes more sense.

    "more reason for joy than for vexation - having a positive balance of pleasures over pains"

    I first thought: oh that is an opposite…

  • Cassius August 14, 2026 at 8:50 AM

    Post
    Lucretius Today Podcast Episode 346 is now available: "Epicurean Defense of The Senses Against Plato's Cave Analogy" -

    Complete transcript is here:

    https://epicurustoday.com/00-lucretiusto…st/episode_346/



    …

  • Cassius August 14, 2026 at 8:44 AM

    Post
    You are asking great questions Matteng and each of them require detailed response. This is quick start:

    […]

    No, nothing requires you to get the most pleasure you can out of life. Nature allows you free will and you can sit in a cave and eat bread and water…

  • Matteng August 14, 2026 at 8:10 AM

    Post
    Pacatus Nice comparison, see it the same. Life as obvious basis than health and the peak Eudaimonia.

    Is it needed that the Cup „must“ be full ? I think we not only fill the cup with Pleasure but also and that can be an important point: adjust the…

  • Pacatus August 13, 2026 at 3:25 PM

    Post
    […]

    What if we reframed Maslow’s “needs” (re the chart below) as Epicurean desires? Which might fall under the category of (1) "natural and necessary,” which (if any) under (2) “natural but not necessary,” and which (if any) under (3)…

  • Kalosyni August 13, 2026 at 7:54 AM

    Post
    We had a very good discussion in last night's Zoom on this topic - "completeness of pleasure". It would be great if Bryan   Martin   Godfrey   kochiekoch   Cassius could add important comments that were said during last night, to this thread.…

  • Robert August 12, 2026 at 9:59 PM

    Replied to the thread Desires necessary for Happiness..
    Post
    […]

    Thanks, Matteng . I appreciate your perspective on this. Perhaps it's also worth taking into account the political environment of his time.

    This is a bit tangential, but my understanding is that, for several centuries after the fall of Mycenae,…

  • Matteng August 12, 2026 at 1:43 PM

    Replied to the thread Desires necessary for Happiness..
    Post
    Epicurus is frequently criticized because he allegedly advised against political engagement.
    But he teached against unnecessary desires like fame not to engage for better circumstances.

    Epicureans engage in politics when necessary. Why should one engage…

  • Kalosyni August 12, 2026 at 11:24 AM

    Replied to the thread Welcome EpicuriousDavid!.
    Post
    Okay, thanks for letting me know. That is something I want to continue to work on. Cassius' self-paced guide linked above may be much more in depth and covering all aspects, so hope that is of interest.

  • Cassius August 11, 2026 at 11:23 PM

    Replied to the thread Theme Updates For the Website.
    Post
    Thanks again for the comment Patrikios. I think now the other colors are updated so that those major boxes are now matching the respective theme colors. Would not have picked that up without your comment.

  • Cassius August 11, 2026 at 11:21 PM

    Post
    A related question on the issue of fullness-as-a-bucket-list (which I am rejecting) would be:

    - How many years must a person live to have lived a "full life"? If Epicurus had died at 25, which for the sake of argument had allowed him to get his school…

  • Cassius August 11, 2026 at 10:52 PM

    Post
    In fact as another thought in the same direction I would pose the following questions to anyone - whether or not they have read the first word of the Arenson book.

    Probably the most famous reference to the term "fullness of pleasure" comes from the…

  • EpicuriousDavid August 11, 2026 at 10:46 PM

    Replied to the thread Welcome EpicuriousDavid!.
    Post
    'Onlune class epicurus' is what i typed into google. I don't exactly remember which page I was directed to at the time, currently this is the top result:

    Self-Paced Course - Introduction to the Philosophy of Epicurus

  • Cassius August 11, 2026 at 10:43 PM

    Post
    Thanks for this reply Matteng because when I see your reaction I see that there is more I need to say -

    […]


    I read the way you are applying fullness and I think I can see exactly why you are thinking in that direction.

    But I don't think that's the direction…

  • Cassius August 11, 2026 at 10:23 PM

    Replied to the thread Theme Updates For the Website.
    Post
    I see what I failed to do on Inspire Green. I think I've fixed that now, and I will fix the other Inspire colors too. Unfortunately the Lucrretius Today box probably stays blue, but the rest of it should work well

  • Godfrey August 11, 2026 at 8:43 PM

    Post
    […]

    Absolutely! :)

  • Matteng August 11, 2026 at 5:28 PM

    Post
    Fullnes of Pleasure makes sense for me. It is not about avoiding all pain but to fullfill necessary bodily and mental desires. An unfullfilled necessary desire is a pain.

    Only problem could be vulnerability ?
    The vessel doesn‘t stay full, would a small…

  • Patrikios August 11, 2026 at 5:24 PM

    Replied to the thread Theme Updates For the Website.
    Post
    I tried the Inspire Green, which is easier on my eyes on my iPad. However the heading box for LT podcast didn’t show.


    Overall, I like the clean header feel. Good job 👍

  • Bryan August 11, 2026 at 3:38 PM

    Reaction (Blog Article)
    Reflections on Five Years on the EpicureanFriends Forum

    Today is my five year anniversary on the forum, and here are some thoughts and reflections.

    My interest in Epicurean philosophy began five years ago during the summer of 2021, just as Covid was…

  • Kalosyni August 11, 2026 at 1:50 PM

    Post
    I added this to the second image: "What is pleasurable is defined as any feeling which is free from pain, since through philosophical reasoning we come to see that there is no neutral feeling state that exists. Types of pleasure range from removal of…

  • Martin August 11, 2026 at 12:49 PM

    Replied to the thread Welcome EpicuriousDavid!.
    Post
    Welcome David!

  • Cassius August 11, 2026 at 11:54 AM

    Post
    It is very helpful to develop many different versions of these graphics as a way of making them better and better and we want to encourage that.

    At the same time, we have to be careful of overwhelming the web structure with lots of large MB graphics.

    …

  • Kalosyni August 11, 2026 at 11:40 AM

    Post
    I just made a revised version:

    epicureanfriends.com/wcf/galle…-of-epicurean-philosophy/

  • Kalosyni August 11, 2026 at 11:34 AM

    Image/Video
    Three Key Aspects of Epicurean Philosophy

  • Cassius August 11, 2026 at 9:21 AM

    Replied to the thread Welcome Andy!.
    Post
    Andy if it is something you can talk about I feel sure it would be interesting to hear more about your project.

  • Cassius August 11, 2026 at 9:17 AM

    Replied to the thread Welcome Andy!.
    Post
    Andy tells us --

    Hi Cassius,

    my background is in archaeology and cultural/natural heritage. I'm currently working on a project that focuses (at least partly) on Epicurus and I thought the forum might be interesting and useful.

    Regards,

    Andy

  • Kalosyni August 11, 2026 at 9:13 AM

    Replied to the thread Welcome EpicuriousDavid!.
    Post
    EpicuriousDavid You wrote: "I was brought to the forum specifically by searching for 'Epicurus online class', your website showed up and looked very interesting."

    I am curious to know what forum pages your early search took you to? (if you still have…

  • Cassius August 11, 2026 at 7:58 AM

    Replied to the thread Welcome EpicuriousDavid!.
    Post
    Welcome EP -

    1. My only printed editions of Cicero are second-hand copies of the Loeb volumes I picked up years ago, so I don't know about the Cambridge version.
    2. I think the Long & Sedley version is highly useful, but I found my first copy only several years
    …

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