Second Edition of Haris Dimitriadis' "Epicurus And the Pleasant Life" Now Released


  • It has just come to my attention that Haris has released a second edition of his "Epicurus and the Pleasant Life." His detailed preface is available on his website here. The following is an excerpt:



    I have been an appreciative fan of Haris for the many years that I have been in (unfortunately sporadic) communication with him over at Facebook. In fact we have at least one article from him featured here on Epicureanfriends:



    I think we have missed too long being more engaged with Haris and his work, and I'm going to try to work to remedy that in the coming months. With the recent release of Emily Austin's "Living for Pleasure," 2022 has turned into a landmark year for publication of accessible introductions to Epicurus.


    For any of you who are so inclined I hope you will join me in looking over Haris' book and even more, let's try to engage with him more closely over the coming months and years. I am embarrassed to say that I am not sure whether Haris has an account here or not, but if he doesn't I will try to talk him into dropping in every so often.

  • In case you haven't checked out his website in a while, Haris has two music videos and two presentation videos there:


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  • This is so embarrassing -- to have Haris work available for years and not to have taken more advantage of it. To anyone so inclined - please help me fix that.

  • Haris has two music videos and two presentation videos

    So far I have listened to the first music video, which is sort of good, and yet when it says "When we have someone reassure us then we can live like Epicurus" then I feel a little hesitant because to me it seems that so much of the Epicurean philosophy is about using the power of your own mind to understand the true nature of things, so we don't depend on someone reassuring us.


    So I would need to look into this a bit more to see what else is in his presentation of Epicureanism, before I would be fully on-board.

  • Haris' release of a second edition shows that he is interested in working to always improve. I am pretty sure that overall you'll agree with his approach.

  • Another section of the updated preface worth highlighting:


  • I just discovered that I'm not as late in talking about this as I thought. It appears that Haris has just recently updated the book on Amazon, and I am finding that when I try to read it they still have the old version rather than the second edition.


    I have messaged Haris about this and he tells me he is working on it -- -I will update here when fixed.

  • After some initial issues in downloading the new version, I am happy to report that I now have it and can read it. If you downloaded in the recent past be sure you have the most recent copy.

  • and yet when it says "When we have someone reassure us then we can live like Epicurus" then I feel a little hesitant because to me it seems that so much of the Epicurean philosophy is about using the power of your own mind to understand the true nature of things, so we don't depend on someone reassuring us

    I think epicureans can accept, more easily than a stoic, that we depend on others. That's why Epicurus insists so much on the importance of a community of reliable friends. At least that's what I've observed in Emily Austin's interpretation in Living for pleasure, which I think is very reasonable. In some parts of the book, for example, she points out the role of friends in enjoying daily life (ch. 18) or facing adversity (including the death of loved ones) (ch. 15, 21).
    I guess the song takes the important role of friends in an epicurean life, but without explicitly say the word "friend". :D

  • Thanks Onenski for bumping this thread and bringing it to my attention!


    Another book to read (or re-read, I have the original, but it sounds like the updates were substantial).