Sedley Article: Epicurus And The Mathematicians of Cyzicus -1976 ( On The Issue of Epicurus vs Geometry)

Thanks to Don for this link, which appears to have a lot of good information in it!

Epicurus and the mathematicians of Cyzicus

Epicurus and the mathematicians of Cyzicus

www.academia.edu

Here's the point that appears to me to behind everything:

Given that the only "unchanging reality" in Epicurean terms is at the level of the atoms and void, and that's clearly NOT what Plato was taking about, the contention that our attention should be drawn away from the world around us to "an unchanging reality" that does not exist -- those are fighting words, and a very damaging thing to teach to children or adults! So I would fully expect Epicurus to want to upend the entire issue by drilling down to separate what might be helpful in geometry from what would be a damaging fiction.

I just observed that that article was published in 1976 - forty+ years ago. I still haven't had a chance to read the full thing but the date makes me realize that it would be interesting to know whether David Sedley's attitudes towards Epicurus have changed over the years. I haven't tried to figure out where David Sedley is in life (retired? still teaching?) but it would be interesting to hear from him how, if at all, his views of Epicurean philosophy have changed after a lifetime of study -- especially on an issue like how to approach a question (like Epicurus' views on geometry) where the evidence is often from a hostile tradition, and how he approaches deciding whether those accusations are justified.

For example I am really impressed with the analysis of the "Epicurus on the Size of the Sun" essay by Gellar-Goad as an example of how someone sympathetic to Epicurus can take the big picture and put even the most (apparently) questionable position in a much better light.