Posts by Cassius

Social Media Postings - I am going to try to do this as a series - go through the quotes that are pulled out and included in the "Foundations" video and produce a series of basic graphics which link back here to the discussion of each one at EpicureanFriends.com. This is the source that I will work to expand to put these in final format and provide a citation.

I need to find a way to automate this but to get started they can be done manually.

https://twitter.com/NewEpicurean (Twitter)

https://epicureanworldview.com/@cassius (Fediverse / Mastodon / Pleroma / etc.) This is the new "fediverse" server that I've set up experimentally. Because it is the open source activitypub format, it can be accessed with many free phone apps such as Fedilab for Android and any "mastodon" app for IOS. The fediverse has far fewer participants than Twitter, but the big advantage is that the site is owned by EpicureanFriends and can't be deplatformed if Twitter decides one day it doesn't like hard-hitting Epicurean philosophy.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Epicure…27836567265272/ (Facebook Epicurean Philosophy Group)

At a time when human life - before the eye of all - lay foully prostrate upon the Earth, crushed down under the weight of Religion, which showed its head from the quarters of heaven with hideous aspect, glowering down upon men, it was a man of Hellas who was the first to venture to lift up his mortal eyes, and stand up to Religion, face to face. (Lucretius Book 1, Line 62)

It's interesting how that little bit of natural science speculation in Lucretius (that fire could be produced by trees rubbing together) could "spark' so much interest.

I'm trying to think of what other almost offhand comments are similarly memorable -

We've recently had that interesting comment in the middle of the discussion of using fighting animals in war, all of a sudden turning to how that same thing might have happened on some other planet elsewhere in the universe.

Maybe we'll also find something similarly memorable when we finally get to the discussion of magnetism which must be coming up pretty soon, in the first half of book six, unless I somehow missed it in what we've covered already. At any rate I am certainly looking forward to Martin 's thoughts on that section when we get to it, as even today magnetism seems almost like magic. I glanced at the wikipedia article on magnetism and its seems a lot more like 'description' rather than an explanation of the mechanism, even today, suggesting that it will be interesting to discuss what Lucretius had to say in comparison with this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetism…in_of_magnetism

So the real connection is maybe not so much Philodemus but Caesar's father in law , right? I would think he would be productive to research himself and not just passed over as "the father-in-law". Presumably that means Caesar's wife was well raised herself. I bet there is more than a little we could have fun assembling on that family, all the way down to the contention that Caesar himself was to some degree Epicurean (as Cicero accused him of being due to his opposition to the death penalty in the Catalina affair)

It is very interesting to think about how much of what we are seeing us epiurean-influenced whether we realize it or not.

I have made some significant progress on this idea and should be ready to launch soon. I think I have figured out that I can use the NewEpicurean WordPress site to schedule posts that can then be posted out to RSS readers, Twitter, and the Fediverse at one time.

The original idea is pretty much as simple as one or perhaps two posts per day, probably just a short quote with some kind of graphic and link back here to the forum to a discussion appropriate to the quote.

I will get started with the prototype soon and update you here.

One premise of this being worthwhile is that I am thinking that there are numbers of people like me who use Twitter and/or a Fediverse compatible app and/or an RSS reader to manage their newsgathering. Ultimately I want to have what amounts to a news service that people can customize to their tastes but still have a heavy dose of Epicurean material. Possibly this won't do much other than for a few people on Twitter and those who subscribe to the Facebook group, but it ought to be helpful to at least a few.

Here is EricR's profile at MeWe:

https://mewe.com/i/ericrmusing.

I don't have a profile there myself but anyone who is a member here and also there would likely be well served to follow Eric there.

I don't have a presence there myself, but EricR, a long time friend and member of this group has a page at Thinkspot which I suspect most here would find to their liking:

Mindmuser

I enjoy writing music and blogging. I share ideas I've found interesting and web content that has stimulated my thinking.

www.thinkspot.com

Oh it's also worth mentioning this similar article discussed previously -

Thread

Silicon Valley, Big Tech, And Stoicism

epicureanfriends.com/wcf/attachment/287/ A very concerning aspect of Silicon Valley - and a reason that Epicurean platforms should not depend on Big Tech.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/sty…ley-stoics.html

(1) "An ancient Greek school of thought, Stoicism argued that the only real treasures in life were inner virtues, like self-mastery and courage. The Stoics offered tactics to endure pain and pleasure without complaint."

Tactics to ENDURE PLEASURE WITHOUT COMPLAINT???? This writer admits…

Cassius

March 30, 2019 at 9:06 AM

Great find and thank you Don. Another occasion to examine the recurring issue!

Here are some initial comments:

I can quite believe that Elizabeth Holmes was using Stoicism to justify her fraudulent behavior at Theranos!

I question whether it was "designed for the masses" but I don't doubt the "machiavellian" attitude of Stoics in dumbing it down for popularity's sake. That certainly was not Epicurus' viewpoint on his own philosophy.

Sounds like a method we could usefully learn from.

This is definitely an observation we hear made over and over and I believe to be true.

That may be true for some "light" stoics, but according to the info in David Sedley's "the ethics of Brutus and Cassius" it was by no means true of them all and was in fact used to justify doing nothing in the face of emperical tyranny.

Very true!

I suppose this is true as one conclusion of virtue extremism. It should also serve to show how different Stoicism is from what Epicurus taught.

There's much more in the article worthy of comment. Again - thanks Don!

michelepinto when you get a chance to give us any updates please let us know here. Hope it is going well!

I wonder what other Latin roots that resembles. I tend to think de- tends to be God or divine, but not so be-

Thanks for the references, I always recoil in distaste at reading that, especially

Quote

¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.....

Few doctrines are as life-destroying.

So the word Beatitude (or its root beatus?) is the Latin equivalent of blessed?

What does beatus mean in Latin?

English words for beatus include blessed, prosperous, wealthy, fortunate, blissful, blessed creature, blithe, righteous, saint and excellent. Find more Latin…

www.wordhippo.com

I see these for imperishable:

How to say imperishable in Latin

Latin words for imperishable include incorruptibilis, incorruptivus, inconruptus, inconruptorius, inconruptivus, incorruptorius, aeviternus, inviolabilis,…

www.wordhippo.com

Quote from Paquin

I feel I am being prepared for a dangerous philosophical world out there, full of potential traps and false detours

i am not sure that we in the podcast are able to do more than point this out, but I am sure that Epicurus is the best friend I have found in facing that!

Quote from Paquin

solvitur ambulando

i had never heard that phrase but I love Latin so thank you - that is very memorable.

It seems to me that among the possible references here is that we know that the elemental particles are too small to see, and that regardless of whether we can see them or not, they have no color, so none of that is relevant until the particles and void come together as bodies, so that the precincts or shores of light could be a reference to our human sphere of perception and action, as opposed to the atomic level from which all things are really generated.

So that phrases like "shores of light" might be a way of referring to "the human level of experience* or something similar - our "dimension" or our perspective on the universe.

So in this case the 1743 might *not* be the best here-. Though I don't think we should forget the very first allusion in the opening praise of Epicurus in book one -

"Humans, ante oculus........".

So maybe "in a clear light" is in fact a good way of conveying the point.

Well then this is a job for Martin

Regardless, I appreciate him mentioning us!

I'll betray my zero knowledge of Portuguese. That last name presumably indicates Jacob--something. What's a "muschel" in Portugese?

Thank you! Very interesting! What language is that? I don't recognize the names but I surely appreciate them mentioning us!

While I am working on the text of this episode one thing catches my eye: I see that Book Five ends with what I have observed to be mentioned several times as an interesting allusion that probably has deeper meaning that meets the eye - the "Shores of light" allusion. My bet is that this is some kind of allusion that derives from the Epicurean physics, and was a commonplace to them but unfamiliar to us, just like we mentioned recently how out of nowhere Lucretius referenced that the use of animals in warfare might seem more likely to have happened to another race of men on other worlds than this one.

Here's the reference in context; I know it appears at least one and probably several other places, but I don't have those cites at hand:

Munro: [1448] Ships and tillage, walls, laws, arms, roads, dress, and all such like things, all the prizes, all the elegancies too of life without exception, poems, pictures, and the chiseling of fine-wrought statues, all these things practice together with the acquired knowledge of the untiring mind taught men by slow degrees as they advanced on the way step by step. Thus time by degrees brings each several thing forth before men’s eyes and reason raises it up into the borders of light; for things must be brought to light one after the other and in due order in the different arts until these have reached their highest point of development.

Bailey: [1448] Ships and the tilling of the land, walls, laws, weapons, roads, dress, and all things of this kind, all the prizes, and the luxuries of life, one and all, songs and pictures, and the polishing of quaintly-wrought statues, practice and therewith the experience of the eager mind taught them little by little, as they went forward step by step. So, little by little, time brings out each several thing into view, and reason raises it up into the coasts of light. For they saw one thing after another grow clear in their mind, until by their arts they reached the topmost pinnacle.

I have made the comment before that I frequently prefer the unique renderings of the 1743 edition over those of later additions. I've never focused on this variation before, but this may be another such time (it would be interesting to go back to find those prior references to see if the 1743 translated this phrase the same way then too):

1743: Use therefore, and the experience of an inquiring mind, led men by degrees into the knowledge of navigation, of agriculture; taught them to build walls, to make laws, arms, public ways, garments, and other things of the same nature; made them acquainted with poetry, painting, and statuary. Thus time gradually produces every thing into use, and reason shows it in a clear light. One art, we observe, is refined and polished by another, till they arrive at the highest point of perfection.