Posts by stpeter

Hi Cassius thanks for including me in this thread. As you've noted, there are countless chat technologies, each with its good points and bad points. Much depends on what we're trying to accomplish, how many people need to use the system, what security properties we want it to have, etc. If it's simply a backup system for administrators to use for coordination purposes during forum outages, something like Signal seems fine to me. If it's to be used for more frequent communication among a wider array of forum participants, perhaps even as a replacement for the forum, then I'm not convinced that *any* of the systems you've mentioned would fit the bill (see https://philosopher.coach/2023/07/31/the…lic-of-letters/ for related musings). Over time I've become less enamored of what we used to jokingly call "interruptive messaging" (IM). A forum interface strikes me as a healthy balance between immediacy and reflection, plus it's easy to use and doesn't force people to install a new app. Then again, some people only have a smartphone and perhaps the web forum doesn't work so well on a phone. There are tradeoffs on all sides...

During the extensive research I've performed in preparation for writing a book about Aristotle's conception of human flourishing, I skimmed Gosling & Taylor's book. I did not agree at all with their interpretation of Aristotle, which makes me skeptical about their interpretation of Epicurus, but I'll need to read their chapter on Epicurus because I skipped it the first time around since my focus was purely on Aristotle at that time.

Cassius Thanks for the pointer to the paper by Boris Nikolsky - that's new to me and I'll read it soon.

Thanks, Cassius ... as you know, I've already written an epistolary dialogue on Epicurus entitled Letters on Happiness, although I am also slowly working on a more complete translation of his writings on how to live. Too many projects.

For what it's worth, many years ago I wrote an essay entitled Epicurean Pleasure and the Objectivist Good (replying to an article by Ray Shelton). Full disclosure: I was much more under the influence of Rand back then...

P.S. I also plan to write a novel about Pyrrho.

Because I'm writing a book on Aristotle's conception of human fulfillment (in the same series as my books on Epicurus, Thoreau, Nietzsche, and Rand), I have opinions about the Aristotelian category. After a great deal of research and reflection, I see Aristotle's ethics as very much influenced by his foundational work in biology. His idea of "virtue" is not free-floating like that of Christianity or Kantianism, but derives from his views about human nature and society - about what it means to thrive as a human being. The full treatment will be forthcoming in my book, provisionally entitled Complete Thyself.

Don You are spot on about the recurrence of ἀπολαύσει[s] in sections 131 and 132. This leads me to change one other word in my translation: from "enjoying boys and women" to "bedding boys and women". This picks up on my "lying in a bed of desire" and has a tinge of your "taking advantage" without committing wholeheartedly to that etymology of ἀπολαύσει, which it feels somewhat far-fetched at first glance.

Quote from Don

the inadequacy of relying on a single translator or translation

Oh yes indeed! Translators can never be completely trusted, and I say that as a translator myself.

Kalosyni Thanks for the kind words. I had no idea this forum existed, so I'll definitely tarry awhile.

Preliminary and somewhat poetic modification: I think I'll change "the enjoyment of sleep" to "lying in a bed of desire", which echoes the roundabout wording in the original Greek.

Thanks to Kalosyni for raising this issue!

Heh, that saint-andre.com website only has some rough recordings of music I wrote long ago. More relevant sites are at stpeter.im and philosopher.coach ...

Thanks, Cassius! I plan to continue with my Epicurus translations, but I got sidetracked by writing a book about Aristotle.

Hi all, it's good to have discovered this discussion forum. And thanks to Don for inviting me!

Upon reflection, I think Little Rocker is onto something with his suggestion that τὰς ἐν ἀπολαύσει κειμένας might mean "lying down in pleasure" - i.e., an oblique reference to the kinetic pleasures of sex. Recall that contemporaries accused the denizens of the Garden of indulging in wild orgies simply because Epicurus allowed women into his philosophical community.

I'll continue to ponder the matter and reply further in this thread once I look more closely at the Greek.