Welcome C. Florius Lupus!

    Thank you for the warm welcome.

    I learned about Epicurus first in our philosophy class in school. However our philosophy teacher, although a wise man otherwise, was no friend of Epicurean philosophy and used to disprove him from the viewpoint of Christian theology, which in itself is inspired by Stoicism.

    So it took me many years to rediscover Epicurus, to a not insignificant part thanks to your books, Cassius.

    To me Epicurus is the most amazing of all Greek and even modern philosophers. He makes no arbitrary assumptions like the Stoics or Platonists. Everything is based on empirics and logical deduction.

    This is not only important for Epicurean ethics, but especially for physics. Epicurus is the only one of the ancient philosopher whose teachings about physics have not become obsolete with modern scientific discoveries. He did not only foresee modern particle physics, but also quantum mechanics with no other tools than precise observation and applied reason.

    Epicurus' ethics that does not rely on transcendental premises could serve as a smallest common denominator for all human beings to agree upon and live peaceful and in harmony without fanaticism, which results from ambitious, but unprovable assumptions.

    This is what I find so fascinating about Epicurus.

    So far I have only read an English translation of Lucretius' "De Rerum Natura" many years ago, but I have improved my knowledge in Latin meanwhile, so that I will try to read it in the original version, as soon as I find time.

    I am happy that I have found likeminded people here in this forum.

    P.S.: My user name is the Latinized version of my name. It was given to me when joining Nova Roma some years ago.

    Yes again welcome Florius. I hope you'll let us know if there are any particular aspects of what you see here that you might be particularly interested in. For example, we are having a live chat tomorrow morning at 10 AM eastern on Discord, and there should be at least four or five of us present. Our topic is Chapter 12 of the DeWitt book, but I am sure the discussion will be mostly a general discussion of the nature of pleasure, so even if you have not read that it should still be of interest. But in general, if you see any particular area of interest in which you'd like to participate, please be sure to let us know.

    Florius Lupus, a big Hello from Hellas/Greece, and a warm welcome from me too. I hope our discussions will be very beneficial for leading us to the epicurean friendship, and the purpose of pleasure.

    Beauty and virtue and such are worthy of honor, if they bring pleasure; but if not then bid them farewell!

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