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  • Cassius January 10, 2026 at 1:27 PM

    Reacted with Like to Joshua’s post in the thread Updating Of EpicurusToday.com.
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    And to be fair, the failure rate for sea journeys in ancient Greece was also abysmal. Protagoras, Zeno of Citium, and Aristippus were all shipwrecked, and a young Julius Caesar was captured by pirates. I'm sure there are many more such stories!

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    Reacted with Like to the image Epicurus Is My Co-Pilot.
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  • Joshua January 10, 2026 at 10:32 AM

    Replied to the thread Updating Of EpicurusToday.com.
    Post
    And to be fair, the failure rate for sea journeys in ancient Greece was also abysmal. Protagoras, Zeno of Citium, and Aristippus were all shipwrecked, and a young Julius Caesar was captured by pirates. I'm sure there are many more such stories!

  • Cassius January 10, 2026 at 9:57 AM

    Replied to the thread Updating Of EpicurusToday.com.
    Post
    […]

    The odds an astronaut will die are 100% - just like anyone else.

    We all die, but some of us want the maximum pleasure we can get out of life before we do!

    And for some of us, the life of an astronaut would lead to maximizing pleasure.

    The texts are very…

  • Kalosyni January 10, 2026 at 8:33 AM

    Replied to the thread Updating Of EpicurusToday.com.
    Post
    […]

    I am of the few who would say that Epicurus would not engage in spaceflight.

    Just for fun I asked Google AI: In 2026, what are the odds that an astronaut will die?

    Google response:

    There's no precise "odds" for an astronaut death in 2026, but risks are…

  • Cassius January 10, 2026 at 8:20 AM

    Post
    Reading ahead, there is a lot of useful information about Epicurus, and by no means is all of it criticism. We'll take as much time as we need to go through it, because this is some of the most authoritative summary material that survives from the…

  • Cassius January 10, 2026 at 7:59 AM

    Post
    This paragraph is important for many reasons, not the least of which is that (1) Epicurus held that there is "nothing good but pleasure," (2) that it was not Epicurus but Hieronymous who held the good to be "absence of pain," and (3) that the Stoics held…

  • Cassius January 10, 2026 at 7:46 AM

    Reaction (Post)
    […]

    Cassius ,

    Thanks for the Claude (AI) bibliography, which I am finding most thorough and helpful. To answer your key question, "what is happiness", I agree that we cannot afford to wait for perfect clarity before we must act to implement Epicurean…

  • Cassius January 10, 2026 at 7:44 AM

    Thread
    Welcome to Episode 316 of Lucretius Today. This is a podcast dedicated to the poet Lucretius, who wrote "On The Nature of Things," the most complete presentation of Epicurean philosophy left to us from the ancient world. Each week we walk you through the…

  • Cassius January 10, 2026 at 7:39 AM

    Replied to the thread Updating Of EpicurusToday.com.
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    […]

    It's certainly not the only way - but it is one way - to emphasize that Epicurean philosophy applies to everyone, that each of us gets old and eventually dies, and that we want the pleasure while we are alive of thinking that we are helping those who…

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Recent Articles (All Articles Sorted By Date)

The Major Doctrines Of Classical Epicurean Philosophy

This page presents a summary of Classical Epicurean Philosophy . For additional citations to Epicurean texts, click here.


Nothing From Nothing

Nothing Can Be Created From Nothing

Working solely with the science available two thousand years ago, Epicurus observed that nothing ever arises from nothing, and nothing is ever completely destroyed to nothing. From this Epicurus deduced the existence of atoms - elemental particles moving through empty space from which over time all things are made…
Cassius
May 24, 2025 at 3:30 PM

A Gate To Be Burst: "Absence of Pain"

It is interesting to think about what Lucretius had in mind in Book One of “On The Nature of Things” when he spoke about Epicurus "yearning to be the first to burst through the close-set bolts upon the gates of nature." What kind of gates was he talking about? Who bolted them? How do those gates keep us from Nature?

I can't be sure which gates Lucretius had in mind, but I can suggest one "gate" that is particularly in need of bursting, as it stands directly in the way of a better understanding…
Cassius
February 12, 2024 at 1:26 PM
1

Interview With Dr. David Glidden: "Epicurean Prolepsis"

In Episode 166 the Lucretius Today podcasters interviewed Dr. David Glidden, professor emeritus from the University of California - Riverside, about his articles "Epicurean Prolepsis" and "Epicurean Thinking.
Cassius
January 11, 2024 at 8:22 AM
0

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  1. Antiochus IV Epiphanes And Jerusalem

    • Cassius
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  2. Bernier - Gassendi's Three Discourses on Happiness, Virtue, and Liberty

    • Cassius
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    This book is focused on Epicurean philosophy and explaining it in context with other philosophers.
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  3. All Particles Go to Heaven: The Form and Formation of the (Epicurean) Gods

    • Eikadistes
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    "[P]rior to the widespread proliferation of supernatural soap operas, the first peoples contemplated a raw form of divinity, unsullied by mythic adulterants."
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  4. Plutarch's Essays On EpicureanIsm

    • Cassius
    • July 31, 2025 at 7:10 AM
    Plutarch's Essays On EpicureanIsm
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Cassius' Blog

There are as many opinions about happiness as there are people. Everyone has their own idea of what happiness is or should be. Some say that we should look to religion for happiness. Others say that

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Cassius
December 23, 2025 at 3:49 PM
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Elli's Blog - Articles By Elli Pensa And Other Friends of Epicurus in Greece
E.S. XXXVI (36) The life of Epicurus, when compared with that of other philosophers, seems almost legendary thanks to the calmness and self-sufficiency that distinguished him.

-----

In Mytilene, where…


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Elli
December 16, 2025 at 2:56 AM
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Elli's Blog - Articles By Elli Pensa And Other Friends of Epicurus in Greece
An Analysis of a Father’s Death Sentence Against His Own Son - Torquatus and the Roman Recasting of Epicurean Philosophy.

Titus Manlius Torquatus, as portrayed in Cicero’s De Finibus, appears as a…


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Elli
November 18, 2025 at 2:34 PM
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The Uncertainty of Science and the Certainty of Faith

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Elli
May 24, 2025 at 3:47 AM
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"Epicurean Philosophy and the Deception of Modern Globalist Ideologues", by Elli Pensa



When you write a book and reference Epicurean philosophy as if it were nothing more than…“stones, bricks,…


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Elli
May 4, 2025 at 9:56 AM
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Cassius' Blog
It is interesting to think about what Lucretius had in mind in Book One of “On The Nature of Things” when he spoke about Epicurus "yearning to be the first to burst through the close-set bolts upon…


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Cassius
February 11, 2024 at 6:20 AM
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Cassius' Blog
Here is a listing of ten key steps of Epicurean reasoning. There is nothing magic about this grouping but it's an effort to combine a manageable set of key points with important citations supporting…


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Cassius
November 28, 2022 at 8:10 AM
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Several conversations lately have led me to want to produce a new article on what I would contend are some of the most important take-aways from the teachings of Epicurus. These are the points with…


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Cassius
April 20, 2021 at 10:58 AM
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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…


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Elayne
November 22, 2020 at 10:52 AM
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Cassius' Blog
JC:


Hi Cassius. I'm sorry to badger you about this again, but I'm still trying to get my head around the pleasure principle. From my reading, all scholars agree that Epicurus divides pleasure into…


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Cassius
September 26, 2019 at 4:06 PM
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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…


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Elayne
July 15, 2019 at 7:31 PM
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Elli's Blog - Articles By Elli Pensa And Other Friends of Epicurus in Greece

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…


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Elli
June 16, 2019 at 8:41 AM
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"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,…


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Elli
June 16, 2019 at 8:37 AM
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“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…


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Elli
May 31, 2019 at 3:34 PM
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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.…


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Elli
May 17, 2019 at 4:31 PM
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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…


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Elli
April 2, 2019 at 5:54 PM
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A Neighbor And His Dog

I have a story to tell you about a neighbor and his dog, but first I would like to share with you some thoughts on Epicurean Doctrine 40: “As many as possess…


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Cassius
November 5, 2018 at 10:45 AM
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This chart comparing the major features of Stoicism vs Epicurean philosophy is a continuing work in progress! It is currently hosted at a Google Docs page to make editing easier. Feel free to make…


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Cassius
January 20, 2018 at 10:04 AM
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“It is observed too that in his treatise On the Ethical End he writes in these terms : “I know not how to conceive the good, apart from the pleasures of taste, of sex, of sound, and the…


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Cassius
January 20, 2018 at 9:56 AM
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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…


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Cassius
November 23, 2017 at 4:53 PM
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There are as many opinions about happiness as there are people. Everyone has their own idea of what happiness is or should be. Some say that we should look to religion for happiness. Others say that

…


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Cassius
December 23, 2025 at 3:49 PM
0
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Elli's Blog - Articles By Elli Pensa And Other Friends of Epicurus in Greece
E.S. XXXVI (36) The life of Epicurus, when compared with that of other philosophers, seems almost legendary thanks to the calmness and self-sufficiency that distinguished him.

-----

In Mytilene, where…


Read More

Elli
December 16, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Like 2
1
Elli's Blog - Articles By Elli Pensa And Other Friends of Epicurus in Greece
An Analysis of a Father’s Death Sentence Against His Own Son - Torquatus and the Roman Recasting of Epicurean Philosophy.

Titus Manlius Torquatus, as portrayed in Cicero’s De Finibus, appears as a…


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Elli
November 18, 2025 at 2:34 PM
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    2. Episode 315 - TD 42 - Preventing Pain From Destroying Happiness 2

      • Cassius
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    2. Episode 314 - TD41 - Cicero Challenges Epicurus: Can Pleasures Really Overcome Pains? 2

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    2. New Posting Of A Video By Raphael Raul "Our Journey From Atoms To Consiousness"

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    2. Latest Article by Elli Pensa - The Epic of Epicurus - Ithaca and the Garden - Dialectic and The Canon 3

      • Cassius
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Epicurean Philosophy Map

Epicurean Philosophy

Physics ＋ Canonics ⟶ Ethics

Quick Links To Texts: Diogenes Laertius | Lucretius | Torquatus | Velleius | Topical Outline

Clicking on any box below will take you to the corresponding page giving further information about each item.

⚛ Physics: The Nature of the Universe

⚛ Nothing Comes From Nothing or Goes To Nothing. ⚛ The Universe Is Infinite In Size And Eternal In Time And Has No Gods Over It. ⚛ The Nature of Gods (Divinity) Is Incorruptible And Blessed. ⚛ Death Is Nothing To Us. ⚛ There Is No Necessity To Live Under the Control of Necessity.

📐 Canonics: How To Know What Is True

📐 He Who Says Nothing Can Be Known Knows Nothing. 📐 All Sensations Are "True." 📐 The Criteria of Truth Are The Sensations, Anticipations, and Feelings. 📐 Dialectical Logic And Radical Skepticism Are To Be Rejected As Tools Of Truth. 📐 Platonic Ideal Forms, Aristotelian Essences, And Divine Revelation Are False Guides To Truth.

🌿 Ethics: How To Live

🌿 Happiness Is the Goal of Life. A Life Of Happiness Is A Life In Which Pleasure Predominates Over Pain. 🌿 Pleasure - Not Tranquility Or Total Absence of Pain - Is The Guide of Life And The Greatest Good. 🌿 By Pleasure We Mean All Experience That Is Not Painful. 🌿 Virtue Is Not Absolute Or An End In Itself - All Good And Evil Consists In Sensation. 🌿 Life Is Desirable, But Unlimited Time Contains No Greater Pleasure Than Limited Time.