Posts by Martin

Welcome Egghead!

Welcome Darius!

Nice to hear from you, Oscar!

DeWitt's book "Epicurus & his Philosophy" is the most adequate to Epicurus' philosophy, detailed and comprehensive among the secondary literature I have read so far. Except for the exaggerated connections he makes to Christianism, he is usually convincing.

Welcome JLR!

"Without Muhammad, Muslims would perform Salah to Mecca five times a day."

should be

Without Muhammad, Muslims would not perform Salah to Mecca five times a day."

Happy 20th!

In this case, the frame of reference should be the usage in statistics. Basic statistics is part of the school curriculum in math and should thereby be a part of common understanding. It is not required that everybody still knows how to do the calculations after graduation but the understanding should remain.

Except for "suspiciously out of place", the slang usage listed above is close enough to "random" in science and technology to not cause contradictions or misundestandings when applying Epicurus' / Popper's view on how communication works.

I see no point in a generalization like that. We need to go into specifics when applying these adjectives.

E.g., in the described behaviour of animals, "undirected" is distinct from "random".

In popular publications on non-linear physics for laymen, too, "chaotic" has the meaning of "undirected" as above.

When our pleasure depends on a whimsical king, "subject to fortune" sounds adequate.

I agree that the "key is in the definitions of these words".

Quantum uncertainty / the swerve is random in the sense of how "random" is used across specialized disciplines in science and technology.

I avoid "chaotic" because its usage is more controversial but those who use it do so casually as synonym for "random" or in non-linear physics as synonym for "undirected" as visualized in the excerpt.

For me, "not random, but undirected" is not a good high-level summary of the Epicurean position in physics.

Welcome Obscure!

I plan to do that within the next few weeks.

Happy 20th!

Cassius, I guess that in your statement above

"Part of what we always dance around in coming up with formulas is the issue of whether the goal of avoiding pain is somehow entirely separate or more important than that of avoiding pleasure"

you do not mean "avoiding pleasure" but rather finding pleasure.

Welcome wynnho!

There is a size problem with adding this to our profiles. My profile is already at the maximum limit. I had to compress some formulations when I updated it with one more completed reading.

Happy 20th!

Welcome Bob!

"7. ... Use discipline to say no to unnecessary desires. Consciously reduce one's thoughts about unnecessary desires.":

From the context of the surrounding text, I guess you mean unnecessary desires which are not worth the prior or subsequent pain when fulfilled.

With the necessary desires being easy to fulfill for me, I spend most of my effort on unnecessary desires which I expect to bring me the most pleasure (including permanent pleasure from memories of great experiences) for the least pain.

An alternative approach which is often taken by Epicureans is to define necessary or natural desires so widely that those which are left out are only those we should not pursue.

I prefer a much more narrow definition because it helps me in prioritizing in difficult times by focusing on the necessary. When the crisis is resolved, I can expand my effort again on the unnecessary ones which bring great pleasure.

Welcome AZ!