Posts by Jo.

I was tempted to vote Yes because some social media I use gives me the chance to be undestood in a way people don't usually do offline, and to exchange opinions about stuff no one I know cares about. But honestly I don't even have to use certain social media for it to bring me pain. The data privacy of many of these things is so abysmal that you can go your life without ever visiting the website but they still have information about you, gathered from your friends who shared e.g. their contacts with Meta.

I also think it really depends which social media we are talking about. The culture on twitter, for example, is an amazing example of why you should "live unknown".

Quote from Peter Konstans

How would an Epicurean society raise and educate its kids? Since school is so horrendously boring, tedious and unpleasant to children (school is also the only place other than prison where people are quite likely to be bullied and tortured) how would an Epicurean society deal with the problem of educating the new generation?

I think that much of what makes school boring and unpleasant for children is their lack of choice in what exactly they are learning.

This isn't exactly a new approach but I think that giving kids the freedom to study what they are actually interested in, once they've got the essentials down, could very much make the whole "school" thing compatible with Epicureanism, without it being much of a dilemma at all. This could ensure that the children are actually happy to learn and that attending school causes them much less pain.

Bullying is of course a bit trickier. In my experience talking to people about these issues and having an authority figure (who actually knows what they are doing) appeal to the bully's sense of compassion is helpful, though I wouldn't presume my experience to be the only one. However I do believe that talking about it is always good and in the worst cases changing schools is definitely for the best.

The child would know that removing their pain is the top priority (and that this is more effective than comforting themselves by satisfying unnecessary desires). They might conclude that they should endure the potential pain of pointing out their troubles to avoid the greater pains of bullying or the fact that it interferes with their studying, which could cause them much pain later in life, should they fall behind in class.

Muschel means seashell! Jakobsmuschel is a kind of clam, scallop in English I believe

I started listening to this podcast yesterday (have only heard this episode so far) and think I'm going to enjoy it very much! It's nice to hear other people's thoughts on such things (especially if they're more educated on this stuff than I am), I appreciated the comparison of different translations and the atmosphere is sympathetic.

I must confess I haven't really gotten around to reading or listening to On The Nature Of Things, since that sort of heavy wordy stuff can be hard to understand for me (I'll read it eventually tho). The discussion helped me understand the text a bit better, much appreciated.

Just downloaded the pdf. Thank you for the recommendation! :^)

Thank you for having me. I've been browsing different sites about Epicureanism, translations & co. since January and frankly came upon this site through Wikipedia. I've found Epicurus' teachings to be very beneficial to me, since I've had big issues with death anxiety and getting into too much petty discourse etc. His philosophy has seemed attractive to me since high school (especially since I've always believed happiness and friendship are what makes life worth living) and upon researching it more carefully I have to say that I agree with almost everything he says.

Glad to be here!