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  • As part of the work that Kalosyni is putting together for "Epicurus Week," the first section is devoted to quotes of famous men *about* the significance of Epicurus.


    I am surprised to say that I don't think we have put together such a list before, but I know that many of us have favorite quotes from figures in later history that we ought to include. We've started with just two, but please help us add to the list, as doubtless we will use it many times. I know there are other great quotes from Homer, Ovid, potentially Virgil, and many many others which are either outright admiring or at least grudgingly recognizing the impact that Epicurus had. Please help us add to this list and eventually we'll probably put it together in a Nate style collection -- unless Nate himself has done so already and I have forgoten!


    1. Thomas Jefferson - As you say of yourself, I too am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral
  • Living for Pleasure by Emily A Austin – an Epicurean guide to happiness
    A timely guide to the Greek philosopher – and rival to the Stoics – who saw freedom from anxiety as the ultimate goal
    www.theguardian.com


    I see it doesn't take the reviewer longer than four paragraphs to give the perennial "BUT" and make the common complaint about tranquility. But the fact that he gives three positive paragraphs first is good!


    Quote

    Epicurus’s distinctive feature is his insistence that pleasure is the source of all happiness and is the only truly good thing. Hence the modern use of “epicurean” to mean gourmand. But Epicurus was no debauched hedonist. He thought the greatest pleasure was ataraxia: a state of tranquility in which we are free from anxiety. This raises the suspicion of false advertising – freedom from anxiety may be nice, but few would say it is positively pleasurable.


    The conclusion is high praise

  • Greetings, friends. As I mentioned in another post, Hiram inspired me a while ago to begin working on an Epicurean equivalent to the "Verses when you're feeling..." section found at the end of selected copies of the Christian New Testament.


    The intention of this document is to be used as a functional instrument toward reinforcing the health of one's soul.


    I am looking for feedback (ask yourself, if this were re-arranged differently, what changes could be help my own, personal needs?). I am looking for suggestions to (a) rename emotions I have selected, (b) merge sections, for example, "Guilty" and "Regretful" are similar and there is an argument in my head to be made that they can be merged; still, I chose to keep them separate; you will notice others that are similar, (c) Omitting misleading or inappropriate quotations, (d) moving quotations beneath a different emotional category, (e) general formatting notes, bookmarks, hyperlinks, margins, etc.


    This is just a First Draft and I hope

  • I just found out today about the new book released by Christos Yapijakis and several other contributors from the Garden of Athens in Greece. Here is a link to the Amazon page with table of contents and preview. I haven't had a chance to purchase much less start to read, but I hope if people here are interested and go through it they will comment in the thread below. Also below is the Table of Contents:






  • Charles has mentioned several times Julien Offray de La Mettrie -




    In recent reading in the work of David Glidden on Epicurean Thought and Anticipations, this reference to La Mettrie occurs:





    I don't know much about La Mettrie at all, but Charles apparently does, so this is at thread to use to document how La Mettrie may deepen our understanding of what Epicurus was saying about the physics of thought.

  • Fernando brought up the work of Dr. Frans de Waal in the discussions on primates and the prolepsis of justice, which I wanted to start a thread about since we didn't get into it on the call.


    Moral behavior in animals
    What happens when two monkeys are paid unequally? Fairness, reciprocity, empathy, cooperation -- caring about the well-being of others seems like a very human…
    www.ted.com


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    We've been talking about this recently and I haven't been properly crediting the source, so thank you Fernando!

  • This may not seem like a lot in comparison to Facebook or other locations, but I wanted to note that I don't think I have ever seen our "Online in the Last 24 hours" count fill up three whole lines and most of a fourth. Almost certainly we have lots of lurkers as well, but this represents participating "users" who have taken the step of creating an account so they can fully engage. Thanks again to everyone who is participating, because the more input and interaction we have the more we all get out of this.