I started my activist phase almost ten years ago, mostly on facebook, and at one point I was sending out a weekly summary of the most important posts and developments on the facebook forum, with additional commentary and links to other places for Epicurean resources. I think some of those newsletters are probably stored here in this new forum too.
I now see from the forum software people the rudimentary procedure for sending a newsletter. I am going to test that in just am moment.
Oscar take a look at this page: https://www.epicureanfriends.com/wcf/index.php?…ation-settings/
Are you currently receiving any email notifications at all? Come to think of it I am not myself, except for notification of new users. Let me look into the default settings.
Also, at times past I put together a "newsletter" format at my wordpress blog, http://www.NewEpicurean.com, but I have not done that for several years. I need to look at restarting that and seeing what can be done through the forum software.
Is there an option whereby members can register for a digest of the forum. Perhaps, now I'm thinking, not just forum but also media (gallery), and other things relevant to Epicurus and Epicureanism?
The forum software definitely allows that through the notification system, but I am sure I have not done enough to set it up and publicize it. In fact let me look at that right now before I reply further.
Of course I agree, Oscar!
The key is "Facebook is no substitute." It works as an advertising tool (one among many) but it is not suited to real teamwork on a project like this, and to the extent that it encourages "drive-by philosophy" with easy-in easy-out, there is actually a certain demoralizing aspect to it -- and that's not to mention the huge privacy and potential censorship issues.
There are no doubt many ways to go about a project like this. Do you have specific thoughts on ways to approach it and how to organize it?
We got this far through interaction on Facebook (most of our core existing relationships came from there) but Facebook isn't going to take us to the next level. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thank you Oscar!1
Thank you Oscar! i am sort of thinking that something like this is on PDF somewhere in some collection to which the universities subscribe, but for which they charge exorbitant rates to non-students. I know I was able to find the Stanley translation of Gassendi that way at my university library. It wasn't in JSTOR but it was in some sort of generic antique document collection.
(Of course it goes probably without saying that Martin would have no issue with the original German, if we can find it, even though that would be next to useless to me personally.)
Seems to me I recall someone saying that they worked in an office without much light. Dark is great there and I use it at home, but my office is fairly bright and i can't see the dark as well there, so I guess it is a good thing it is easy to change!
Wow that sounds like a lot of trouble but if you are so inclined when you have the chance, that would be great. Maybe we can group-source this and perhaps if someone has library access to a PDF download we could eventually get it that way. One thing I really miss about being in a university town is good access to a library with on-line resources.
You are certainly right as to the drawbacks of Meetup. Unfortunately for the present we are only a small group, but we have to start somewhere.
Actually I now remember, if I recall correctly, that EricR is from Canada. It's a big country but I'll tag Eric to say hello to him, and maybe he'll have a comment on Toronto.
Martin I have made some progress.
The first cite is to this work:
65. Clark, Iron Kingdom, p. 187.
That is a cite to:
Clark, Christopher, Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600–1947 (London, 2006)
There, in Iron Kingdom, I find:
"Throughout his life, Frederick displayed a remarkable disregard for the conventional pieties of his era. He was vehemently irreligious: in the Political Testament of 1768, he described Christianity as ‘an old metaphysical fiction, stuffed with miracles, contradictions and absurdities, which was spawned in the fevered imaginations of the Orientals and then spread to our Europe, where some fanatics espoused it, some intriguers pretended to be convinced by it and some imbeciles actually believed it.’9"
That reference is as follows:
Does that help? We may now be at a a dead end on that "Political Testament" but maybe not (?)
Thank you Martin. That book I linked originally had a cite but it was not visible for free. I will dig further because I hate passing spurious quotes. If I find anything I will report back.
Oscar it's possible that the best way to organize is through Meetup.com. Do you have any experience with that site? You'll see we have some info here:
Yes Oscar I have that noted in the side bar on the home page, but maybe I need to feature it more prominently. Just for my info what design are you finding best for you? Dark or light?
Thank you Oscar! You have just made your first major contribution to organization of the forum. I already had a forum and threads set up for discussion of each chapter as part of our online discussion meetings, but your question caused me to realize that I needed to reorganize that into a category and subforums for each chapter.
In my view there is not likely to be in many years a book so important as this one, and if we are going to use it as an organization method for discussing the philosophy (and I think it is the best one extant) then we want people to start new threads and not just respond to existing ones. So I am setting that up now and you will find it here: Norman DeWitt's "Epicurus And His Philosophy"
I will have it fully set up, with existing threads moved to the new location, before the day is over.
Thank you!
Very good Oscar. As you know I push that book pretty hard because I think it gives an excellent overview without getting bogged down in too much comparative criticism.
But even as I push it as important, I like nothing better than to hear commentary from others as they read it and compare it to what they have read elsewhere. No doubt DeWitt's take is not in line with the conventional outlook in many ways, and I like to hear the reaction of people whether they agree or disagree, so I hope you'll post comments as you read it.
I would love to see the Getty Villa! Seems like a really underappreciated resource for people with a connection to something that is sort of Roman-revivalist - like Epicurean philosophy.
Oscar we've had some degree of success in having online discussions, and we'll probably schedule another one soon. We've been going through the Norman Dewitt book, as that is a highly organized presentation of the whole philosophy.
Do you happen to have read DeWitt's book?
where's the annual symposium?? lol
That is definitely a question that we need to answer! If they can have an symposium in Athens, and if Thessaloniki can have regular meetings too, then our goal certainly ought to to match that. We can make some headway through on-line discussion, but in the end there's no substitute for in-person meetings.
Oscar thank you very much for the kind of offer of support. I think Hiram has a patreon entry, so you might want to consider that, but I have not put one up myself. Over time and as the site grows I will revisit that, because I do think it encourages camaraderie even to make small donations, and we definitely want to encourage teamwork.
You have certainly hit on the main purpose and benefit of this site. I have typed more words than I can count on Facebook that are forever lost, but here each word we type is findable and hopefully helps build a base from which we can work toward active Epicurean cooperation.
The best way you can help is to start threads of your own, contributing to existing ones where you can, and also helping us spread the word to other friends of Epicurus who haven't yet heard of the site.
Thanks again!
I think our friend here Martin, who is from Germany, is much more on top of this than I am, but it is very interesting story - especially the statue aspect. I bet there is a lot more to find over time.
Great post, Oscar, and I personally absolutely feel the same way. That kind of feeling oozes out of every section of Lucretius - how can we not ascribe supreme importance to our connection to the work of a man who had the courage and wisdom to stand against so much of the world in the way that he did - and showed us how to do the same!
