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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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Kalosyni
January 27, 2026 at 1:44 PM Replied to the thread What kinds of goals do Epicureans set for themselves?.Post[…]
I see now that the referred to object of the pronoun "they" that I used was unclear, and I had intended it to be read this way:
The investigation of nature is important so that one understands that god/gods are not creating all the phenomenon of the… -
Kalosyni
January 27, 2026 at 1:37 PM Posted the thread First-Beginnings in Lucretius Compared to Buddhist Dependent Origination.ThreadThere are quite a few passages in Lucretius' De Rerum Natura (more than just these) which describe dependent origination, but here is one section, Bailey translation:1-803
‘But,’ you say, ‘the facts show clearly that all things are nourished and… -
Godfrey
January 27, 2026 at 1:28 PM Replied to the thread What kinds of goals do Epicureans set for themselves?.Post[…]
Unrelated to the subject of this thread (with my apologies), I like the way that you worded this Kalosyni . The wording that you've used here can include both the physical processes by which gods (godlike beings?) exist, as illustrated by the… -
Cassius
January 27, 2026 at 12:53 PM Replied to the thread Thomas Nail - Returning to Lucretius.PostThat's very helpful additional research Patrikios - thank you! -
Patrikios
January 27, 2026 at 12:29 PM Replied to the thread Thomas Nail - Returning to Lucretius.Post[…]
Thank you Bryan for further educating us on this translation and interpretation from Thomas Nail. I find that your analysis is more historically accurate. But to better understand more of what Thomas Nail was attempting to convey, I consulted… -
Cassius
January 27, 2026 at 11:57 AM Replied to the thread Episode 319 - EATAQ1 - Epicurean Answers To Academic Questions - Not Yet Recorded.PostI have prepared an outline for our use in keeping track of where we are and where we are going as we go through Academic Questions. I am crossposting the current version into the Academic Questions thread here, but that version will fall out of date… -
Cassius
January 27, 2026 at 11:53 AM Replied to the thread Cicero's "Academic Questions".PostThe following is an outline I have prepared for our use in the upcoming series of Lucretius Today podcasts devoted to exploring Epicurean Canonics through Cicero's Academic Questions. The following version of this outline is going to be updated so over… -
DaveT
January 27, 2026 at 11:50 AM Replied to the thread What does modern neuroscience say about the perception of reality vs Epicurus?.PostI enjoy these kinds of topics. It seems to me the wonders of nature always seem to be one step ahead of us as we consciously think about ourselves and our relations to nature and to each other. We can catch up on our perceptions and predictions to some… -
Kalosyni
ThreadJanuary 27, 2026 at 10:47 AM The topic of whether or not we can accurately perceive reality is very important, especially if some people may be more prone to errors of perception. And it does seem that modern neuroscience has made great advancements in understanding compared to the… -
Kalosyni
January 27, 2026 at 8:39 AM Replied to the thread What kinds of goals do Epicureans set for themselves?.PostAnother goal that I believe an Epicurean would set for themselves is to make and maintain friendships, based on this Principal Doctrine:
27. "Of all the things which wisdom acquires to produce the blessedness of the complete life, far the greatest is the… -
Bryan
PostJanuary 26, 2026 at 10:05 PM My highest expectation, hope, and desire is for personal peace -- and a similar well-being of peace for my friends: what greater thing could be desired?
This is not a low expectation, but a very high one -- and one which our philosophy supports very well.… -
Cassius
PostJanuary 26, 2026 at 4:36 PM Good comments and they iliustrate why phrased it the way I did 🙂 -
Joshua
PostJanuary 26, 2026 at 3:43 PM Usener 135
Johannes Stobaeus, Anthology, 3.17.24:
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The question in the thread title is far too broad to be meaningful, but this and other quotes seem relevant. -
Kalosyni
PostJanuary 26, 2026 at 2:29 PM The wording of this doesn't quite work for me. An internal feeling of disappointment happens because a mental expectation was not fulfilled. But if you understand the nature of the world well, you will know which situations come with a higher probability… -
Kalosyni
January 26, 2026 at 1:50 PM Posted the thread What kinds of goals do Epicureans set for themselves?.ThreadI've just come up with this question: "What kinds of goals do Epicureans set for themselves?"
This could be within general categories or specific things.
If we look to the Principal Doctrines , Vatican Sayings, Letter to Menoeceus, etc.
And in the Letter… -
Cassius
ThreadJanuary 26, 2026 at 1:38 PM Please vote and then explain. -
Cassius
January 26, 2026 at 9:24 AM Replied to the thread Inferential Foundations of Epicurean Ethics - Article By David Sedley.PostKey Excerpts From "The inferential Foundations of Epicurean Ethics"
- This article makes important points about how Epicurus’ position that there are only two feelings (Pleasure and Pain) parallels his argument that there are only two ultimate
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Kalosyni
January 26, 2026 at 7:55 AM Replied to the thread Improving Website Navigation and User Interface.PostJust a head-up, that the sub-forum "Sunday Zoom Meetings" has been moved, and is now located under the Welcome threads in the very top forum. (Fourth Sunday is open to all members and Weekly Sundays is Level 3 ...and Level 2 by moderator approval.)
You… -
Bryan
January 25, 2026 at 10:39 PM Replied to the thread New "TWENTIERS" Website.PostYes, you have made the most of what we have for this text! As we know, the context, in part, will certainly be Plato's view of triangular planes as the basis for the material world, which he explains in the Timaeus, and which our school rejected as… -
Eikadistes
January 25, 2026 at 8:42 PM Replied to the thread New "TWENTIERS" Website.PostI also attempted a translation of Dēmētrio's On Geometry with a diagram (P.Herc. 1061). He spends most of it defending a proof about the relational equalities of an isosceles triangle.
I'm not sure exactly what the context is, philosophically-speaking.…
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