Posts by Elli
Listen to the latest Lucretius Today Podcast! Episode 226 is now available. We begin (with the help of Cicero's Epicurean spokesman) the first of a series of episodes to analyze the Epicurean view of the nature of the gods.
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And now the real truth what means to connect the word eudeamonia with Aristotelean terms.
Epicurus addressing to Aristotle :
Fg. 423. “What brings unsurpassed joy is the removal of a great evil; and this is the nature of the good, if you apply your mind rightly and then stand firm and do not stroll about chattering emptily”.
And now please simply connect the above fg 423 with the epicurean saying 42 and then read the next, in the list, sayings to realize what Epicurus means with the word eudaemonia :
Fg 423 <==> ES 42. The same span of time embraces both the beginning and the end of the greatest good.
...and Epicurus continues pulling out the mask and revealing what means Aristotle with his "eudaemonia" when he connects this word with "prosperity", "flourishing" and the like.
ES 43. : Hey Aristotle, the love of money, if unjustly gained, is impious, and, if justly gained, is shameful; for it is unseemly to be parsimonious even with justice on one’s side.
ES 44. Hey Aristotle, the wise man, when he has accommodated himself to straits knows better how to give than to receive, so great is the treasure of self-sufficiency which he has discovered.
Do you see the clarity of the word self-sufficiency which means the generosity of a man?
Well guys, eudaemonia means the freedom to be generous sharing and feelings and things. Generous means also the brave. But when you are stingy and in feelings and in things you will never understand Epicurus' philosophy. And now, hide to your caves little and coward aristotelean kittens. You will never be the pride, generous and brave epicurean lions who know how to share their food. their feelings, and their ultimate goal in life !
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Although Epicurus begins his letter to Meneoceus mentioning the greek word "eudaemonia" for which its accurate translation in english is "bliss" and has for its synonym word "makariotita", he continues describing this word so clearly like the clear water springs from a natural fountain on the mountain of Olympus. More high, more clear and more accurate meaning in this word "eudaemonia" that is bonded firmly with pleasure, no any other philosopher gave or will give it in all the eternities.
I insist our philosophy is not spiritual it is physical, as the body and soul is one and the same thing. And as Nietzsche who was influenced by Epicurus said it : "There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy".
Lucretius in book III remarks : "The mind is a part of the body. It is not a harmony, but has a specific physical location". As he also says and unites the physics/science with ethics : "Mind and spirit are corporeal – they are also made up of atoms, but extremely smooth, round and small ones".
Yes, do not be amazing, in these passages Lucretius describes the molecules, the cells. And as in that article there is mentioning of health, in the near future Bio-genetics will offer many beneficial results/cures for the most of the diseases. I imagine the doctors of tomorrow who with their prescription with medicines they will offer the book by Norman DeWitt saying : Hey men, read this book that is for Epicurus' philosophy. Do not fear god and death and enjoy the pleasures of life. These fears and your ignorance what is your ultimate goal in life led your molecules more quickly to cancers, to coronary artery disease, the prostate etc etc.
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I’ve been stuck to the word [deamon] that in this article is translated as "spirit". And then, maybe we will invoke the spirit of the great Pan or Zeus to save us in despair? What a tangle, sorry but I do not agree with all these. Our philosophy is not spiritual. It is physical, since it starts from the body and ends to the body that is sacred for Epicurus as the soul and body is one and the same thing.
For this Epicurus declares in this important saying that includes the greek word "eudeamonia" :
XXXIII.(33) Σαρκὸς φωνῇ τὸ μὴ πεινῆν, τὸ μὴ διψῆν, τὸ μὴ ῥιγουν ταὐτὰ γὰρ ἔχων τις καὶ ἐλπίζων ἕξειν κἀν <Διὶ> ὑπὲρ εὐδαιμονίας μαχέσαιτο.
The flesh cries out to be saved from hunger, thirst, and cold. For if a man possess this safety and hope to possess it, he might rival even Zeus in eudaemonia.
A real hope to possess the safety gives us also the friendship that when we will be in a great need our trusted friends will help us, as we help them in the same way through self-sufficiency which means generosity.
Since the basis and the first principles of friendship is the common benefit that leads the friends to the goal of “ηδέως ζην» [hdeos zin] which means = living pleasantly and not to the “ευ ζην» [eu zin] that means = living well.
Living well with the meaning of prosperity and flourishing are Aristotelean terms that are connected to political and economical definitions that we see with our own eyes where they led and still lead us. And of course, eudaemonia for Aristotle has the virtue as the goal, and above all the contemplation of God. But for us, the epicureans, virtue is not the goal is just a mean, and the contemplation of God is an issue for the querulous old women.
How many times we from those “epicurean circles” will declare all these ? I do not know. Do we use the Canon to realize that there is no any "happiness calculation" but the hedonic calculation with which a natural human being measures among natural main feelings pleasure and pain to lead to the positive of pleasure ? Finally, please when you use greek words, you have to go and be in consistency of the Epicurean Canon <==> Ethics <==> Physics.
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With the usage of the words...
Sorry, but we must not cling in the accurate translations by the academicians like Bailey et.al., but we have to deepen into the whole of Epicurean philosophy as we go with the consistency of the Canon, Physics and Ethics just to realize how Epicurus used the greek words and how clarity they have.
Who said that "άφθαρτος" [aphthartos] has only the meaning of the immortal? There are synonym words that are used in greek language for [aphthartos]. What Epicurus meant when he used this greek word "άφθαρτος" that has the same synonym words in greek and in english ? And here is the whole point that Epicurus wants to point out.
greek : 1) "αδιάφθορος", the incorruptible, incorrupt
adj means the morally pure, the honest, the decent.
e.g. He is one of the few incorruptible politicians.
2) "ανέπαφος" , the untouchable something that can't be touched.
e.g. Nowadays, comedians seem to consider no subject untouchable i.e. something that can't be touched be judged and be discussed.
Here is how it goes the PD1 : The [makarion=blessed] and [aphtharton =the morally pure and the untouchable] being knows no trouble itself nor causes trouble to any other, so that it is never constrained by anger or favor. For all such things exist only in the weak.
"Keep in touch" we say this phrase in english and greek, and means "keep our communication, our discussions etc".
The "untouchable" means that kind of a being that we are not able to have any touch/communication/discussions at all. Here is why Epicurus placed the gods between the Cosmoi.
And the incorruptible also means morally pure. Morally pure is that being that has achieved the pure pleasure, which means a being that has no similarity with humans' morals/customs and virtues, since due to our fear of god and death the corruption, the hatred, the pains and the fighting to each other, are issues till nowadays.
And from Epicurus letter to Meneoceus we read : "And the impious man is not he who popularly denies the gods of the many, but he who attaches to the gods the beliefs of the many. For the statements of the many about the gods are not conceptions derived from sensation, but false suppositions, according to which the greatest misfortunes befall the wicked and the greatest blessings (the good) by the gift of the gods. For men being accustomed always to their own virtues welcome those like themselves, but regard all that is not of their nature as alien".
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"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰".
I consider this sentence by Pericles to be very important. He says the pleasure that we 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 feel helps us to banish sorrow. Yes, this is clear and obvious when many people in a society feel sorrow and melancholy are due to their fears of god, of death and are the same issues that lead to loneliness and depression these persons in this society. In this society people are not participating with gladness in common affairs political or religious. They are not creative. They are the fatalists for being suspicious to each other. And they vote for leaders like themselves, who think that are like the axis of Earth for spinning around the universe. Because if the common affairs (philosophical, political and religious) became boring, we may think and this : Is there any virus in these peoples' life that provoke to them an illness as a great plague? Is there something that is going against to these peoples' nature?
IF the 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 things and issues, in any society, bring to people the painful feelings of sorrow, stress, agony, depression and melancholy, this society is doomed to be dissolved because these feelings lead to suspicion and disastrous actions among them. This society has no coherence anymore. And as a greek idiom says : "in any disaster, only the carnivorous wolves are feeling happy".
And here from Meneoceus : "I (Epicurus) have abolished the Necessity that is introduced by some thinkers as the mistress of all things, for it were better to subscribe to the myths concerning the gods than to be a slave to the Destiny of the physicists, because the former presumes a hope of mercy through worship but the latter assumes Necessity to be inexorable".
And that means for being united with the others in my society I will put all the probabilities on the table for doing the hedonic calculation and according to the right study of Nature and my nature, and even to subscribe worshiping with others our common gods. Because for being bliss and happy I will use all the tools that lead myself and my society living our unique life in pleasure. Since we all 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 that there is no other life nowhere else. But when these tools do not bring us pleasure anymore e.g. worshiping some gods, we are able to change and even the image of those gods because we are 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 to choose whatever brings to us pleasure. And when we say we are free, we are also 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 . And that means we are responsible and capable to give all the laws by ourselves and for ourselves since, we do not accept that the laws are given by some leaders or by any god that were proved harmful. We are able to change and the laws, and the leaders and the gods when they do not bring to us any 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 in our daily common affairs. But what the new greeks are doing now in Epicurus homeland? They insist to vote the same stupid leaders. They insist to follow stupid religious leaders who are spreading the same image of a foreign stupid god.
I want back again all the 30 thousand ancient greek gods that their image was given clearly by Epicurus as natural beings that were living in bliss and pleasure that is according to the natural and not the unnatural. I want back that Democracy of Pericles that is all described of how can be achieved in his epitaph. I want hundreds of epicurean Gardens to be established in the cities of Epicurus homeland. I want epicurean philosophy to be taught properly inside the schools and academies. This choice and option is against the new greeks' sorrow and melancholy that became higher after the financial crisis. No, thrice NO in Greece the crisis 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥. The crisis is in all the values that have been turned upside down. The means i.e. virtues became an abstract goal and the real goal i.e. the pleasure, and its proclaimer Epicurus, is hidden and be slandered for centuries and centuries till our days.
𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘄!
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Against the celebrations and the fiesta of life we have the opposite with this :
"On Sundays and in the feasts, neither you play nor you dance, because the games and the dances are works of Devil. The Hellenes (Greeks), the atheists and the deceived, were those who did not believe in God, they did not hope in the resurrection and Crisis, those were that did those things and they danced, and drunk and they enjoyed the games". Ioannis of Damaskos (A "holy father" of the orthodox christian church).
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I have the impression that Epicurus and the epicureans in general, on the issue of gods have realize it on the basis of social common affairs and specifically about the customs with celebrations concerning the gods. As we know any fiesta/party is something that produce pleasure to the people. If Epicurus would be against the customs and all the annual celebrations concerning the gods, and all these things that unite the people he would be against the social coherence of his polis Athens. Epicurus wants to eliminate from people the fears and superstitions for studying the Nature properly and living pleasantly. So, the clear image about the gods is such an issue that has to produce union, friendship, creative things and pleasure to the people of a society. And that's all.
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And as Diogenis of Oinoanda also said : "The important point to take from the study of physics is that the universe did not arise at random from chaos, nor was it created, or is it controlled, by any gods. But do not take from this that we Epicureans are impious, or that we fail to have sympathy for those who have false opinions about the gods. Men who experience false visions, but who are unable to understand how they are produced, are understandably apprehensive, and they convince themselves that these visions were created by the gods. Such men vehemently denounce even the most pious men as atheists. As we proceed, it will become evident to you that it is not the Epicureans, who deny the true gods, but those who hold false opinions about the gods. For we Epicureans are not like those philosophers who categorically assert that the gods do not exist, and who attack those who hold otherwise. Nor are we like Protagoras of Abdera, who said that he did not know whether gods exist, for that is the same as saying that he knew that they do not exist. Nor do we agree with Homer, who portrayed the gods as adulterers, and as angry with those who are prosperous. In contrast, we hold that the statues of the gods should be made genial and smiling, so that we may smile back at them, rather than be afraid of them.
Let us reverence the gods, and observe the customs of our fathers, but let us not impute to the gods any concepts that are not worthy of divinity. For example, it is false to believe that the gods, who are perfect, created this world because they had need of a city, or needed fellow-citizens. Nor did the gods create the world because they needed a place to live. To those who say such naive things, we ask in turn: “Where were the gods living beforehand?”
Those men who hold that this world was created uniquely by the gods, as a place for the gods to live, of course have no answer to this question. By their view, the gods were destitute and roaming about at random for an infinite time before the creation of this world, like an unfortunate man, without a country, who had neither city nor fellow citizens! It is absurd to argue that a divine nature created the world for the sake of the world itself, and it is even more absurd to argue that the gods created men for the gods’ own sake. There are too many things wrong, with both the world and with men, for them to have been created by gods!
Let us now turn our attention from gods to men.
Many men pursue philosophy for the sake of wealth and power, with the aim of procuring these either from private individuals, or from kings, who deem philosophy to be a great and precious possession.
Well, it is not in order to gain wealth or power that we Epicureans pursue philosophy! We pursue philosophy so that we may enjoy happiness through attainment of the goal craved by Nature".
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You're welcome Cassius.
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First causes :
Fear of God
Fear of Death
“Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum” ." From Lucretius' De Rerum Natura, Book I, 101.
And that means : "To such heights of evil has religion been able to drive men”.
The Akathist Hymn and Small Compline to virgin Mary are two services which are sung in orthodox churches around the world on the first five Fridays during Great Lent.
Here is a small excerpt of the Akathist Hymn (that includes insults against Greeks) in the parenthesis are some of my notes. The worse thing is that this hymn is heard and sung by the people in Greece who they called themselves as GREEKS !! Interesting eh?!
Here it is :
Priest : All Angels were quite amazed by the great deed of Your incarnation. For they beheld the once inaccessible God accessible to all as- a man living among us, while hearing from everyone: Alleluia.
People : Alleluia.
Priest : Eloquent rhetors we see mute as fish before you O Theotokos (this means "Birth-giver to a god named as Jesus Christ). For they are at a loss to explain how you had the power to give birth and yet remained a virgin. But we the faithful marveling at the mystery cry out with faith:
Rejoice, you who has redeemed us from the pagan religion. (Here they mean the ancient greek religion)
Rejoice, you who has rescued us from the works of mire. (They call the works of greeks as mire).
Rejoice, you who ceased the worship of fire. (Fire worship in Graeco-Roman tradition had two separate forms: fire of the hearth and fire of the forge. Hearth worship was maintained in Rome by the Vestal Virgins, who served the goddess Vesta, protector of the home, who had a sacred flame as the symbol of her presence in the city. The Greek equivalent of the goddess was Hestia, whose worship took place more commonly within the household. The fire of the forge was associated with the Greek god Hephaestus and the Roman equivalent Vulcan. These two seem to have served both as craft-guild patrons and as protectors against accidental fires in cities. Also associated with fire is the titanic god Prometheus, who stole fire for humans from the gods).
And they continue the insults for the purpose to transvaluate all the values and any healthy social system :
Rejoice, you who saves us from the flames of passions. (Here are against the main two emotions that Epicurus called them as “Πάθη-Passions”, and that means they are against the hedonic calculation and the positive result that is the goal of pleasure)
Rejoice, vessel of God's wisdom; (No comment!)
Rejoice, storehouse of God's providence. (Here are against Epicurus and all the epicureans who do not believe in god’s providence).
Rejoice, revealer of philosophers as fools; (Here are against to ALL the greek philosophers characterizing them as FOOL).
Rejoice, exposer of the technologists as irrational. (Here are against all the sciences and the scientists/technologists characterizing them as irrational).
Rejoice, for the fierce debaters are made foolish; (Here are against the debaters on philosophy, as the virgin Mary made them all to look like foolish).
Rejoice, for the creators of the myths have wilted. (Here are against Homer, Hesiod etc).
Rejoice, breaker of the webs of the Athenians' logic; (Here are against ancient Athenian philosophers and whatever they said are webs= fairytales)
Rejoice, filler of the nets of the fishermen. (virgin Mary fills with fish the nets of fishermen. Fishermen are doing anything at all, this is the same with the manna-food that dropped from heavens. Please see and the following text by Dimitris Liantinis).
Rejoice, drawer of many from the abyss of ignorance; (they mean drawer of many of knowledge).
Rejoice, enlightener of many with knowledge. (they mean enlightener of many with ignorance).
Rejoice, ship for those wishing salvation; (salvation ? See the following text by Liantinis)
Rejoice, harbor for life's navigators. (navigators ? No way, they mean andrapoda = slaves)
People (i.e. the andrapoda=slaves) : Rejoice, O Bride unwedded.
“The transvaluation of the system” (from Liantinis’ book TA HELLINIKA)
Christians in life's gifts they proposed death and sacrifice. In the world of senses and tangible things, their counter-proposal was the chaos of imagination and hypothetical assumptions.
In health, they proposed weak and illness. In the events of the Gospels, protagonists are the blind and the deaf, the lunar and the paralytic, the lepers, the damn and the mummies of dead.
The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deafs are hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Wealth struck poverty. The sister and the nymph of Saint Francis. The desert camel does not pass through the needle's hole, they said.
In honor and glory, they responded with obscurity and humility. The end will be the first, they said. And the servants' purses of purple and crown. Hail the king of the Jews.In pride and the love of honor, they showed humiliation and shame. Blessed are you when you insult you and persecute you, they said.
In the grace of mouth and in the delicious food they answered with fasting and Lents.
In the care and welfare of the wise, in the responsibility of the state for tomorrow's demands, and in the wise commission of Prometheus, they responded with the voices of the birds and the signals of the trees. See the fallen from the sky, they said. They neither sow nor reap. And nighttime they sing.
In the beauty of sentiments and in the pleasure of life they responded with the remorse of the flesh, and the dying of bodily expression. They sheltered the flower of youth. They have born from virginity and purity the neurosis. And the tender feelings of the bodies thundered to the devils' banquets and to the windbreak of the second cycle of Hell.
In strength they responded by resignation. The "thank you" of the weak made it a pouch as a sword of the mighty savage. When they slap you on your cheek, they said, kiss their hand. Blessed are the good ones.
In the joy and shine of the world, in the mist of the spring and the heroic white of snow, they replied with the gloom and blackness of the widow. Blessed are the mourners, they said.
The virtue and the catalysts of the power of knowledge responded with ignorance and darkness. They declared a general strike of the mind for all. Blessed are the poor in spirit, they said. And they brought the Middle Ages, which for many brought people back to the cave-man of Tanzania and Java. And the worst came the Sacred Examination, and a barrage of fire and a haze of darkness was set up against the humanity and light of George Brenos and the Galileans.
Finally, hunger and thirst they baptized them as the longing for an unwise justice, and the hunger of the hungry with fog and dream. Blessed are the hungry and thirsty for justice, they said. i.e. cunning and skirmishes. Because hunger and thirst first mean stomach and mouth. And then everything else. No one ever saw men without heads speaking in the Greek Agora and judging in the Roman Pretoria.
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Just two greek words that have the same root and these are the "farmako" which means the <<pill>> and the "farmaki" which means the <<poison>>.
"Frugalix" the newly invented medicine that a doctor gives to all of his patients without to examine the first causes and the details of the causes i.e. the symptoms of each one of his patient's illnesses. And then this doctor thinks that he gave the right farmako=pill that for many will be transformed into farmaki=poison. Sorry, but this one is not a doctor, he is a charlatan.
The letter to Meneoceus has such a strong structure that can't be unstructured by any charlatan because it is in accordance with the right study of Nature and the methodology of the Canon.
First thing first is that when someone has the desire to speak in public for EP, he has to examine what are the first causes that make the people for being greed, unfriendly and consumers without prudence. First, we examine the General Picture that is Nature, then we examine the causes, the details of the causes, the things akin to them and then we speak about the consequences. (see the ending paragraph to Pythocles)
The main causes
Fear of god
Fear of death
some details of the causes
Fear of pain
Fear to accept and withstand the reality
Fear to be responsible
Fear to be free
Fear to give and get on the basis of the common benefit that is the basis of friendship.
Fear or embarrassment to accept finally that pleasure is the goal in life as Nature has set for us.
And the tool/methodology
Ignorance of what is the tool/methodology and how Epicurus uses it for making the hedonic calculation that lead to the liberation of those fears.
The main causes and some details of the causes that make someone to be greed, unfriendly, lonely, harsh, arrogant, depressed and a consumer without prudence and that means also that the selling and buying of useless things is the placebo pill to cover the fear of death that is the most important fear that leads to the vicious circle of the mentioned as above fears that are decoded with behaviors that lead to the incoherence of a society and finally its decadence.
Epicurus in his letter to Meneoceus says to us for what purpose and how we can philosophize. He brings and is connecting all the concepts in real life for being experiences and for not being as abstractions and words without meaning. Then he examines the main causes i.e. the fears, some details of the causes and then he examines the consequences for giving his proposals e.g. the algorithm on the desires that lead the people to the : self-sufficiency that is connected with the right study of Nature that is connected with the generosity that is connected with freedom that is connected with prudence and all these that spring from the inner self that possesses eudaemonia which means that when someone possess eudaemonia he possesses himself i.e. he is FREE and that means also that he is not compromised and subordinated to his masters for living like andrapodo=slave.
And all these according to the circumstances of the experiences in the reality that measured rightly and prudently through the hedonic calculation for leading to the natural goal that is pure pleasure.
ES 49. It is impossible for someone to dispel his fears about the most important matters if he does not know the Nature of the universe but still gives some credence to myths. So without the study of Nature there is no enjoyment of pure pleasure. (see Principle Doctrine 12).
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The Greeks were not teachers with the narrow sense of the meticulous and the poor-speaker. They never advised as the grumble old women do. Neither did they come down to the people as the agents of the Law and austere rulers, to play it as panaceas and the leading experts of the Earth.
Artists cautiously disheveled, night-time hearers and observers of stars, bright speakers, improvised debaters on the sacred road to Eleusis, ephemeral athletes, life-long lovers and lovers of eros. These were the Greeks at their base. They sacrificed in beauty, as flowers are sacrificing in the sun. I mean they stun the air with their colors and smells, and the next day they wilt.
The Greeks were generous in their poorness, cruel in their persistence, and happy in their melancholy. We find them to prefer today's waste of time than to save for an ulterior motive of tomorrow. And here they are different from the Jews and other Orientalists of religions and dogmas.
A banquet rich of philosophical discussions, with drinks and players of pipes, the Greek did not exchange it for even nine months more time of his life."
("Polychronion – Stoa and Rome" by Dimitris Liantinis).
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Nice speech indeed. I would like to repeat these phrases of the speech :
"Only five years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels"...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... [Kennedy's speech maker forgot to mention something important between the centuries/years].........."Christianity began less than two years ago".
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And the author mr Mike says : "So Spinoza defined good as what we perceive as pleasure and bad as that which brings pain. Like Epicurus he recognised that people do experience pleasure in the pleasure of others and ultimately in the well-being of all nature".
Epicurus recognized that people do experience pleasure in the pleasure of others ....yes, but WHO ARE THOSE OTHERS ?!
That means that when Plato wrote all of his nonsense and he was pleased, Epicurus had had to be pleased too saying : Wow, Plato is pleased, so I feel pleased too. Plato said it all... and since ataraxia and aponia is my goal, I rest my case.
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<<kinetic pleasures are not only physical but also include, for example, holding discussions with friends, and solving problems>>.
The distinction of pleasures as kinetic and static and as lower and higher is a totally false idea that comes from the methodology of dialectics and particularly is an invention by Aristotle. The only distinction that Epicurus makes on pleasures is only in the duration of time and the variety, but Epicurus did not mention anywhere the pleasures as higher or lower. For Epicurus all pleasures are good. And when Epicurus says that prudence is higher than philosophy he connects and the prudence which teaches us how to live a pleasant life "ηδέως ζην" [hedeos zin].
Example how misleading is the distinction on pleasures : I have a meal with my friends, and I discuss with them during the time of that meal...what the heck of pleasure is that ? a lower kinetic pleasure or a higher static pleasure or something third ?
As the author remarks kinetic pleasures are not only physical i.e. "holding discussions with friends are not physical pleasures" and that means that when you discuss with your friends this happens without your bodies like to be ghosts (see photo)
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Who is that caricature on the left Dalai Lama ?