Posts by Godfrey

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One thing which I found interesting came later in the video as Thomas gave a heartfelt take on why the gods and religion are important: personal consolation and civic cohesion (my paraphrase). He feels that religion is necessary even if it's not actually true, and for these two reasons in particular.

What I found illuminating, and disappointing in that the speakers seem to be completely unaware of it, is that Epicurus' take on religion addresses both of these points and attempts to improve upon them by incorporating truth as well. Although the typical discussion is whether the Epicurean view of the gods is realist or idealist, the point of view of Thomas introduces a different take, which I might call "functionalist." By removing the capricious and terrifying aspects of the gods, Epicurus makes them capable of consolation. Not by having them answer our prayers, but by serving as an example. This is pretty much the idealist view, just in the context of giving us a way to look at dealing with troubles. Encouraging his followers to attend the festivals and such serves to promote social cohesion, in addition to the potential pleasure obtained. I wouldn't be as cynical as the speakers and say that he did this to save his skin: I would say that Epicurus was aware of and acknowledged the historic role of religion in society and promoted it in his philosophy. In this context the Epicurean treatment of the gods actually isn't as mystifying as it's commonly made out to be.

Birth of Venus could serve as a model for a less neutral color palette, although Kalosyni 's images and palettes above in #6 are quite nice.

This image comes immediately to mind for Epicurean philosophy, although I haven't analyzed the imagery in detail.

Personally I use a dark theme as I find it easier on the eyes.

Sorry for the delay Cassius.... Here are the top and the middle of the page, in Ambience Blue style.

What seems to me to be a much better format for the Getting Started page is a layout similar to Forum - Epicureanfriends.com.

A major drawback for me of the Getting Started page is that the links are buried in text. My opinion is that the much more graphic format of the Forum List page is much more user friendly. In fact, the Forum List already begins with "General Information and Discussion - Start Here."

With all the information in the forums, I think that simplicity of presentation is paramount. With that in mind, maybe even get rid of a separate Getting Started page and just commit to making it the first drop-down item in the forum list, reducing the number of pages and the amount of duplication. Replace "General Information and Discussion - Start Here" with "Getting Started." Perhaps add a drop-down item for "General Discussion" or "General Information and Discussion" but separate "Getting Started" into its own drop-down atop the list. Then perhaps move the "Private Section" down to the bottom of the list. In other words, the Forum List becomes the gateway to everything. It's graphically very clear, and I think it provides a great entry to the forum with everything in one place. I would remove the https://www.epicureanfriends.com/wcf/getting-started/ link on the right side of the page and commit to that residing in the top item of the list.

One thing that I may be misunderstanding is whether the links in the drop-down Forum List have to lead to a list of threads. Can they lead to a list of pages? If so, the pages could be fairly short, with simplified text and with only very specific links (perhaps to the "next step" in the getting started process).

Anyway, I guess I really like the simplicity and clarity of the "Forum List" page. Simplicity! No duplication! That's what works best for my simple brain. I'm sure I'm exposing my ignorance as to how the software actually works, but that's my two cents as a user.

How to Make a Ancient Roman Toga | Getty News

Quote from Little Rocker

pleasure isn't required to produce anything to justify itself. And if you think it does have to produce something, then the pleasure might lose a touch of its luster.

Not only lose some luster, but veer into the realm of virtue/duty ethics!

This doesn't relate to the House of the Bicentenary but to Pompei in general.

Archaeologists Uncover Rare Blue Frescoes of an Ancient Sanctuary and Servant Quarters in Pompeii — Colossal (thisiscolossal.com) The link has some impressive photos and two short videos worth a look, for those interested.

Quote from Don

If those things "washed away the mind's fears about astronomical phenomena and death and suffering, and furthermore if they taught us the limits of our pains and desires" *then* we'd have no problem with them. But those *things* don't wash away the fears. They're pleasurable activities, and Epicurus never denies that. But those things alone won't get us down the road to dispelling fears. It seems to me he's saying you have get the fears dispelled first... then you can enjoy various "delights" unencumbered by those fears.

Another point of view, which I may have expressed sometime since 2020, is that it's possible for pleasures of the prodigal to teach us some of these things. I presume that many of us have stories of pursuing excessive pleasures in our youth, only to begin to discover the limits of our pains and desires in the process. Or for them to teach us about death, or our place in the world pertaining to astronomical phenomena (perhaps a stupidly near-death experience, or staring at the night sky while in a state of inebriation).

To me this can be a description of learning by experience and book learning. As psychological hedonists, this is how we learn (sorry, I couldn't resist tossing that out there 😉). So I don't read this as literally as Don , but I also don't read it as an endorsement of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. More as a description of the way things are. And with the caveat that I'm limited to reading it in English....

Some (most?) of us, for better or for worse, need to make mistakes before we get to a place where the fears are dispelled and replaced with understanding.

Might one also contest the evolutionary biology approach by pointing out that evolution occurs over such a large span of time as to be meaningless for practical human ethics?

"Survival and reproduction" is, of course, an extremely cynical conclusion to reach regarding the value of pain and pleasure: a sledgehammer approach lacking any nuance. And anyone who seriously studies the ethics of pleasure and pain can point out that much of the value is in the nuance.

Perhaps MP's approach could also be analyzed in terms of scale, in this case the scale of time and of numbers. A physical analogy could be the scale of the universe, of man, of atoms. An understanding of the various scales is useful, but it's necessary to have a correct understanding of how the various scales apply to the scale of a human life physically, temporally and numerically in order to make use of the understanding.

Don I like how you slipped "reject" in there in place of "avoid." Your choice of rejection is growing on me...

We can also choose or reject specific desires in addition to the actions related to them. Not all desires though!

For example, years ago I stopped drinking sodas. I desired to stop drinking them, chose the actions involved in not drinking them and thereby, over time eliminated the desire to drink them.

Quote from Julia

(At times like this, it still feels wild how I myself have been blind to this simple truth for so long; how that was even possible despite all the reading and reflection, despite knowing in my gut that “something isn't right”; how completely I was entrenched in what is wrong so obviously.)

You're not alone in feeling that! You've described well what I too have often felt.

No apologies necessary: congratulations for showing up!

Quote

Hedonism, philosophically speaking, is “the ethical theory that pleasure (in the sense of the satisfaction of desires) is the highest good and proper aim of human life.” (Apple Dictionary)

A case can be made that Epicurus was a psychological hedonist. That might negate MP's entire argument, although he seems to be equating that with his evolutionary angle.

Where he is completely missing the boat (at least in the portion up to the pay wall) is by separating pleasure/pain from sensations and anticipations. Epicurus presented these three as a unified group of faculties with which we make decisions, supplemented by reason. By ignoring this fact he's taking the Ciceronian path of argument by omission.

Oops, I thought it was all the same thing

I've downloaded the paper, although I'm not sure when I'll get to it as I've got more pleasurable endeavors lined up.

Alycia LaGuardia-LoBianco and Paul Bloomfeld appear to be the authors, not Pigliucci.

Just spouting off here, but this seems to me to be an example of people with completely different mindsets talking past each other. Committed Stoics seem to be wired to try to live rationally, which to them means to set aside feelings in making choices and avoidances. Whereas committed Epicureans realize that feelings underlie rationality: ignoring them is like swimming upstream with only one arm and one leg.

Quote from Bryan

Living beings that are able to preseve themselves in the manner similar to a god -- but struggle or fail to do so -- no longer fit our anticipation of gods (and therefore are not properly considered to be gods).

I find this statement quite illuminating. We can't exactly preserve ourselves in the manner of gods, but we do have access to remarkable medical advances and a plethora of lifestyle advice (diet, exercise, sleep, stress...) I ofte struggle to maintain a "healthy" lifestyle which perhaps, beyond a certain point, can be counterproductive. Every so often someone dies relatively young, and their friends say "but they were so health conscious!"

So this quote is valuable to think about so that I/we don't lose sight of the proper goal as spelled out by Epicurus. And it's similarly valuable in thinking about our choices and avoidances.

Quote from Josh

I am mostly interested in the topic of living a happy life, and how that is our goal, not by buying more and more stuff, but with Ataraxia.

Knowing this, I would advise against reading Tending The Epicurean Garden for now. Part of the author's interest seems to be to find similarities between Epicureans and other traditions. I read the book early in my Epicurean journey, and many of these proposed similarities were more confusing than useful. The direction that Cassius lays out is a good one, it seems to me.

Josh it seems like there are some interesting books in French if you happen to have any fluency with that. Les Epicureans is the first that comes to mind. Charles probably has additional suggestions.

Of course, if you don't speak French (I don't) just ignore this!