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Takis Panagiotopoulos has allowed us to share his excellent article on euthanasia here. Thank you Takis! Very well written and very much worth reading!
Euthanasia_Panagiotopoulos_2017.pdf
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3Elli Pensa, Jason Baker and Neo Anderthal
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Cassius Amicus Opening: "At the 5th Symposium, our exceptional friend Professor Evangelos Protopapadakis developed his thesis on euthanasia in Epicurean philosophy, highlighting specific keyaspects. I would like to expand on this after a short introduction.
The philosopher Epicurus is born and bred of the Hellene world. Epicurus had a firm graspon all the Greek ideology of his time, selected the right ideas, elaborated on them,introduced new thoughts and carried philosophy to new heights, proving his philosophyover the passage of time.
Today, as descendants we follow, analyze and apply the philosophy proposed by theEpicureans in order to reach a blissful life. Philosophy is an empty word, if in reality it does not lead to an enjoyable life, if it does not lead away from pain, grief and disappointment. Especially today and especially we, the
people of cities, are far removed from natural life and are full of anxiety, tension and nerves. And in the midst of an economic and humanitarian crisis, in an era of technological advances and conquest of space, we as societies are allowing the return of barbaric customs.
But we move against these times. In our philosophical quest, we determine which choices to make and which to avoid, and all this in our one and only life time, we Epicureans do not avoid talking openly about topics and words that are prohibitive to others. For pleasure which is the basis of life itself, to please both body and soul. To enjoy beautiful forms and Dionysian spectacles. To benefit from friendship. We declare that the natural law is not to harm one another and not to harm ourselves. We dare to say things as they are, without fantasies and allegories. We are not afraid to expose superstitions and all that persecute us from our childhood. And of course we talk comfortably about death as this helps us not fear it, at least not as much as others. Why yes, we fear death as human beings do. But when we overcome this fear, through our mental toil and hardship, as some things need a lot of work to be conquered, then we turn to other matters of concern. On how to reach life’s end and how to make it dignified so we can depart by having told stories on how we lived well for the duration of our life.
Like · Reply · 2 · February 24 at 6:53am · Edited
Cassius Amicus Because Footnote 2 looked to be particularly interesting I asked Takis for a translation, which he kindly provided:
Seneca. For a happy life. "They also say that the Epicurean philosopher Diodorus, who in his last days ended his life with his own hands, did not follow the teachings of Epicurus when he cut his throat. Some perceive this act as insanity, others as recklessness- but he saw it as happy and with complete awareness, testified for his action whilst departing life. He praised the tranquility of his past, anchored in the safety of the port and uttered some words that you will never want to hear, as if you would repeat his same act: "I lived: and saved my life from the path destiny laid out."