Blog Articles

Elayne's Articles
On Pain, Pleasure, and Happiness (Original Version, Superceded by Version 2)
cup.pngThis is a draft article, and end notes are not complete yet
Not "absence of pain" as a full statement of the goal of life, but “the Feelings are two, pleasure and pain” and “Pleasure is the beginning and the end of a happy life.”




Brief: The feelings are only two, pleasure and pain—there is no true third state such as neutral, except after death. Because there is no neutral, removing all pain in life is only possible with maximal pleasure. The extent of pleasure can be maximized by…


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Elayne
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Elli's Articles
Epicurean Philosophy or Epicureanism?

Epicurean Philosophy or Epicureanism?

In a recent conversation to the Garden of Thessaloniki, a question was raised whether the Epicureans could participate as a party to the political scene of the Country. The friend George Kaplanis replied that this could not be done, because Epicurean philosophy is not an ideology, and as a philosophy is or should be in the background of politics, in the same way that philosophy, although not a science, is in the background of all sciences.

If philosophy…


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elli
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Elli's Articles
"The Canon of Epicurus In Everyday Life"

"The Canon of Epicurus In Everyday Life"

The purpose of this proposition is a brief introduction to the Canon of Epicurus that will help us to use it in our everyday life. There are, of course, studies on logical issues, which are very advanced and are based on studies of brain function, mathematical formulas etc. These are extremely important issues, but we, who do not study Logic in universities, should have help in our everyday life on this field.

When we were at school, we used to call…


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elli
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Elli's Articles
“Online Communication With Cassius”

“Online Communication With Cassius”

For the 6th Panhellenic Symposium of Epicurean Philosophy that was held by the Epicurean Gardens of Athens and Thessaloniki, February 2018


1.     (OPENING - TWO MINUTES VIDEO WITH FAVORITE MELODIES)

I wonder how one starts up an online communication and how he can introduce himself...
You Tarzan, me Jane ! Primitive stuff…
You an American, me an Hellene ! Nationalities, countries, races, origins, roots ... tangle!
You Cassius, me Elli. OK, some nicknames…


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elli
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Featured
Elli's Articles
"Free Will In Epicurean Philosophy" - by Dimitris Liarmakopoulos

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PREFACE 1.

We often confuse the issue of the possibility of free will exercising with the issue of its existence. When we are unable to exercise it we say with sloppiness that it does not exist. This "I want but I can’t or I don’t want but I am forced" puts into testing our individual self-esteem. But any coercion and enforcement exists precisely because there is free will and some of the people have the power to exercise it, usually at the expense of the others.

We have extreme…


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elli
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Elli's Articles
Positive Mental Health And Well-Being - Epicurus's Use Of The Greek Word "EUDAEMONIA"

Positive Mental Health And Well-Being - Epicurus's Use Of The Greek Word "EUDAEMONIA"


Hi to all the epicurean friends ,

To a Greek website called as "psychology now. gr" I found an interesting article that I translated into english.

Since 2012 Nordic countries have been ranked steadily as the happiest countries in the world, and there are not just a few times when other countries are often look to them for guidance when it comes to nurturing the well-being of their people. But are the…


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elli
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Elli's Articles
We And The Stoics Today - Or: “To Those from the Stoa”

WE AND THE STOICS TODAY, or “To Those from the Stoa”

by Dimitris Liarmakopoulos, member of the Epicurean Garden in Thessaloniki
27.11.2015





A proposition about Stoicism on an Epicurean website causes at least reasonable questions. At a minimum, when an informal agreement in the Garden is in place, and silently applied to the eight years of its progress, we should not make propositions about the rival philosophical schools, but only sporadic references to the need of epicureans’ better…


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elli
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Articles On Ethics
Genetics and Bioethics - A Philosophical Approach - By Christois Yapijakis

Genetics and Bioethics - A Philosophical Approach - By Christois Yapijakis




Selection_604.pngChristos Yapijakis recently presented a seminar on Genetics and Bioethics about 10 days ago at the University of Cyprus postgraduate program in Biological Sciences. The context of the presentation was the news of the recent gene-edited babies born due to a Chinese scientist.

Please click here for a PDF of the full presentation


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Cassius
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Articles Topics of General Interest
Christos Yapijakis: "Mistakes of Cognitive Perception and Epicurean Prudence"

Christos Yapijakis: "Mistakes of Cognitive Perception and Epicurean Prudence"


From Christos Yapijakis: I have translated for you and our international friends my Greek presentation slides at the 9th Panhellenic Symposium of Epicurean Philosophy. [The title is "Mistakes of Cognitive Perception and Epicurean Prudence.] This is exactly what I presented (colors, images, citations, except with Greek text). As you will see my presentations aims at a wide audience, but at the same time…


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Cassius
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Articles Topics of General Interest
Christos Yapijakis: "Epicurean Philosophy, Modern Science, and Life" - A Presentation With Question Answer Session.

Epicurean Philosophy, Modern Science, and Life

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Source for the following article:  Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

A live conversation between Christos Yapijakis, geneticist and philosopher, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece and Stefano Cianfarani, University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Italy Transcribed from the live conversation by Uri Klempner With contributions by Ze’ev Hochberg, Alan Rogol, George Werther and Jesús Argente

Originally posted…


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Cassius
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Recent Articles From Our EpicureanFriends Blogs

Elayne's Articles
A New Personal Philosophy: Hedonic Pragmatics
Friends, recent discussions have prompted me to finally get around to clarifying my own take on Epicurean Philosophy, which I have named "Hedonic Pragmatics"-- a new philosophy that is still closely connected to Epicurean Philosophy. I think what I've said would be fully supported by Epicurus, but I can't prove that. The major point of difference is that I have moved prolepses out of the Canon and into a group of processing functions of the brain.

I needed to lay out the fundamentals in my…


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Elayne
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Articles Topics of General Interest
Parsing The Wikipedia Introduction To Epicurus As Of February 6, 2020
Below is the Wikipedia introduction to Epicurus as of 02/06/20. I will highlight in red, and add a footnote to each statement which I contend is in serious need of correction or amplification.

(Quote)

[1] Calling Epicurus a "sage" adds nothing, but injects confusion, suggesting that this term denotes some status that is important the reader should know about in this context, which is not correct.

[2] Eating simple means and discussing a wide variety of philosophical subject is what they were…


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Cassius
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Featured
Articles On Canonics
"Challenging Ataraxia" - By Haris Dimitriadis
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Haris Dimitriadis is author of “The Pleasant Life – The Philosophy of Epicurus.” Born in Greece, Haris studied Mathematics at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki as well as Economics at the London School of Economics. His career spanned the business and banking industries and has settled into retirement. Through climbing the corporate ladder he found it brought little peace of mind and turned his attention to the philosophy of Epicurus. Haris can be
…


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Cassius