Blog Articles

Articles Topics of General Interest
You Have Been Deceived!

You Have Been Deceived!

You have been deceived.

If you are hearing these words in the early years of the twenty-first century, then you have already wasted much of your life dealing with nonsense.

If you are surrounded by people who are called “religious,” then you have wasted your time dealing with people who claim that a god created the universe; that a god determined the course of your life before you were born; that a god will tell you what to do while you are alive, and that a god…


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Articles On Physics
The Epicurean Critique of Mathematics

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The Epicurean Critique of Mathematics

I just received this link and have not had a chance to read it but the topic seems fascinating ("The Epicurean Critique of Mathematics") and it comes to us through our friends in Greece. Please read and comment when you can either here or at the Facebook group! http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol7/iss2/9/

Update: There's a lot of good information in this article that will be helpful for anyone who wants to read up on the subject. …


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Articles Topics of General Interest
Epicurean Meetings and Conventions

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Epicurean Meetings and Conventions

A new Wiki Page devoted to assisting those who want to set up local Epicurean meetup groups or meetings has now been set up.  It will be easier to update that page as developments occur, so rather than duplicating that post here, click on over to that page for the latest updates on setting up organized Epicurean meetings.

Please see the Forum for special posts on planning and setting up a local Meetup Group.


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Articles Topics of General Interest
A Link From Ancient to Modern Greece – Liantinis' “Gemma”

A Link From Ancient to Modern Greece – Liantinis' “Gemma”

Cassius Amicus 07-8-2017 0 Comments

GemmaCover-202x300.pngThis is a tardy call to attention of a translation of an important Greek work by Dimitris Liantinis, prepared by a participant of the Epicurean Philosophy Facebook group, Yiannis Tsapras). Liantinis can be dense to read, but he falls generally into the Nietzschean tradition with commentary that is often consistent with Epicurus (though I see Epicurus is cited only a few times here). Liantinis had…


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Articles Topics of General Interest
Another Important Step Toward Correcting the Record On Epicurus and Living A Better Life Today - "Epicurus and the Pleasant Life"

Another Important Step Toward Correcting the Record On Epicurus and Living A Better Life Today - Haris Dimitriadis' Epicurus and the Pleasant Life.



By Cassius Amicuson July 6, 2017

Harisbook4.jpgJuly 6, 2017 - I hope to come back to this review and add more detail, but I have now finished reading the book and I don't want to let more time go past without adding my commentary. There are very few books available which convey an accurate and positive summary of Epicurean philosophy and its…


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Articles On Ethics
"When the Gospel of Minimalism Collides With Daily Life"

"When the Gospel of Minimalism Collides With Daily Life" 


New York Times: ".... But those who have tried the minimalist way have found that it’s not always as satisfying as design websites and tiny-house blogs insist. For some people, purging did not bring Shangri-La. Like most things, living minimally is more complicated than it may seem. In fact, some people found that their compact homes and minimalist manifestoes came with different challenges, and that the trade-offs were not always…


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Articles On Ethics
"On Epicurean Extremes" - at the Menoeceus Blog

"On Epicurean Extremes" - at the Menoeceus Blog


"On Epicurean Extremes"   Epicurean Philosophy is a subtle one. Its meant to be a guide to life, and since human existence is a really complex issue, the philosophy has to be as well. There are very few black-and-white issues in the system. It's not even a question of grays. Epicurean Philosophy is a rainbow. On the surface, things seem rather easy. Pleasure, good; Pain, bad. But... and there is always a but... but almost immediately,…


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Articles Topics of General Interest
Reminder - Index To Major Posts At the Epicurean Philosophy Facebook Group
06/28/17 This is just a reminder that an "index" to major posts at the Epicurean Philosophy Facebook page is available here at the EF Wiki. Due to space and time constraints this list does not include every post, but is intended to catch posts with significant original content, and especially those where the discussion goes into detail about a point that might be useful for reference later. If you happen to see a post missing that you would like to see added, just let Cassius know by email…


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Articles Topics of General Interest
Epicurean Basics
Epicurean Basics (Discussion of the Article At the Epicurus Facebook Page)

Epicurean philosophy is best known for its advocacy of “Pleasure” as the guide to life. Epicurus taught that Nature endows humans (and all animate beings) with a faculty of perceiving feelings either of pleasure and pain. There is no natural faculty for directly perceiving “good” and “bad,” “right” and “wrong,” “holy” and “evil,” or even “indifferent.” The only guide to living with…


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Articles On Ethics
Ataraxia And The Issue of Confident Expectation
06/21/17 - The following is excerpted from two posts on the Facebook Group:

I continue to believe that formulations of ataraxia that imply that passivity (all we have to do is suppress pain) is sufficient are overly broad and play into the hand of stoic thinkers, needlessly ceding ground to them that is not theirs to claim. In a total quantify of experience, suppressing pain does not magically equate to pleasure itself without further action, else death would be the equivalent of the best life.…


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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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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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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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