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PASSAGES FROM A WORLD WHERE

NOTHING COMES FROM NOTHING

A TOPICAL REFERENCE SOURCE

❧ COMPILED BY JOSHUA ELBERT

Understanding Epicurus takes considerable effort, but not because the doctrines are always difficult. One problem is that Epicurean philosophy has been heavily criticized for more than two thousand years, and most of the articles and commentary that have been produced over that time are by people who are critical of it and have no desire to present the philosophy clearly and fully.

The following table of major issues within Epicurean philosophy are an attempt to help you navigate those confusing waters. A longer narrative blog post on the topic can be found here. The issues listed in the table are frequent topics of discussion on the internet, and this table lets you know that there are at least two sides to each of these questions. From at least as far back as the time of Cicero, opponents of Epicurus have employed the tactic of taking particular Epicurean passages out of context and torturing them into narrow conclusions that appear - and are - absurd. Opponents of Epicurus have no interest in providing the full context and showing how the pieces fit together, and as a result Epicurean philosophy is portrayed as confusing at best and incomprehensible at worst. It is therefore helpful for you to know as soon as possible in your reading of Epicurus that you are going to run into these issues so you can be ready for them. Posts and articles on the issues listed here are particularly welcome, and articles on these topics are prime candidates for the "Featured Articles" on the Home page of this website.

It would also be helpful to do another chart along the lines of "Where Epicurean Philosophy Disagrees with Other Philosophies" but that is not the focus of this chart. This one focuses on controversies within and among commentators on Epicurean philosophy about what Epicurus taught, not whether Epicurus was right or wrong.

Edits and contributions to this table by Level 3 or above participants at EpicureanFriends.com are welcome. If you attempt to edit and do not have access, please message a moderator.

The purpose of this page is to present a table of major passages from the core texts for which there are translation controversies and as to the real meaning. In many or most cases, the issue involved is controversial, and the choice of words used to translate the text assumes that one among various possibilities is correct. The purpose here is to highlight the ambiguity and the various possibilities so as not to obscure the difficulty, but make it possible to explore the difficulty more deeply, in the spirit of PD24.

PD24. If you reject any single sensation, and fail to distinguish between the conclusion of opinion, as to the appearance awaiting confirmation, and that which is actually given by the sensation or feeling, or each intuitive apprehension of the mind, you will confound all other sensations, as well, with the same groundless opinion, so that you will reject every standard of judgment. And if among the mental images created by your opinion you affirm both that which awaits confirmation, and that which does not, you will not escape error, since you will have preserved the whole cause of doubt in every judgment between what is right and what is wrong.

Edits and contributions to this table by Level 3 or above participants at EpicureanFriends.com are welcome. If you attempt to edit and do not have access, please message a moderator.

This lexicon entry replaces the old entry located here: Table of Texts With Translation or Corruption Difficulties

Calculations of the best modern calendar date that corresponds with Epicurus' actual birthday under the ancient Geek calendar.

A member who would like to get a book from the list sends a private message to the owner to ask for the book and to write the address to where the book should be shipped. Then, the owner sends the book, pays the shipping fee and removes the book from the list, and the requestor gets it for free and becomes the new owner of the book. It is up to the owner and the requestor to negotiate different terms.

Preferably, the content of books on the list should be philosophy, science, history, self-help or non-trivial fiction, but there are no restrictions on the content except for spam, partisan politics and material which is restricted by law in some countries such as pornography, calls to commit a crime, or political propaganda of any kind (which is beyond the scope of the EpicureanFriends.com community rules of discussion).

This book has a lot of good information about Epicurean ethics, because it is an exchange in which Cicero dispute's Torquatus' statement of Epicurean ethics. Unfortunately we don't talk about it nearly as much as we talk about Book One. Part of the reason it is less referenced is that rather than being a straightforward narrative by Torquatus, this section is a question / answer dialog as in Plato's works. Unfortunately, the standard texts do not break the exchanges down by speaker, so the text is hard to follow in the standard editions. This page has been set up to prepare a version that is broken down into dialog presentation form and is therefore easier to read.

If anyone would like to help edit this text, or knows of a printed version where we can more easily pull out the changes in speakers, please let Cassius know.

This is a work in process. The place where editing stops is marked with a horizontal line divider, but it's easy to tell also because the names of the speakers stop appearing.

I propose that ΦAΝTAΣTΙΚΗΝ EΠΙΒΟΛΗΝ TΗΣ ΔΙAΝΟΙAΣ is used as a placeholder in KD24 for ΠPOΛEΠΣIΣ.

Philebus contains Plato's major arguments against considering pleasure to be the goal of life / highest good. This article provides an outline and overview of Plato's attack.

Tyndall - Address at Belfast

VS63. Frugality too has a limit, and the man who disregards it is like him who errs through excess.

Reid Translation PDF at Archive.org

You can view the up-to-date Kanban Board of current significant projects here. If you wish to make changes to the board use this link. The following graphic is for illustration only and does not reflect the most recent version.

"We must laugh and philosophize at the same time, and do our household duties, and employ our other faculties, and never cease proclaiming the sayings of the true philosophy." Epicurus VS41 (Bailey)

"For I would certainly prefer, as I study Nature, to announce frankly what is beneficial to all people, even if none agrees with me, rather than to compromise with common opinions, and thus reap the frequent praise of the many." - Epicurus VS29. (Bailey)

Boris Nikolsky is the author of the article "Epicurus on Pleasure"which explains that the kinetic / katastematic distinction was not of significance to Epicurus and was a much later non-Epicurean accretion.

"As many as possess the power to procure complete immunity from their neighbours, these also live most pleasantly with one another, since they have the most certain pledge of security, and, after they have enjoyed the fullest intimacy, they do not lament the previous departure of a dead friend, as though he were to be pitied." Epicurus PD40 (Bailey)

"The man who has best ordered the element of disquiet arising from external circumstances has made those things that he could akin to himself, and the rest at least not alien; but with all to which he could not do even this, he has refrained from mixing, and has expelled from his life all which it was of advantage to treat thus." Epicurus PD39 (Bailey)

Bailey: 38. Where, provided the circumstances have not been altered, actions which were considered just have been shown not to accord with the general concept, in actual practice, then they are not just. But where, when circumstances have changed, the same actions which were sanctioned as just no longer lead to advantage, they were just at the time, when they were of advantage for the dealings of fellow-citizens with one another, but subsequently they are no longer just, when no longer of advantage.

Bailey: 37. Among actions which are sanctioned as just by law, that which is proved, on examination, to be of advantage, in the requirements of men's dealings with one another, has the guarantee of justice, whether it is the same for all or not. But if a man makes a law, and it does not turn out to lead to advantage in men's dealings with each other, then it no longer has the essential nature of justice. And even if the advantage in the matter of justice shifts from one side to the other, but for a while accords with the general concept, it is nonetheless just for that period, in the eyes of those who do not confound themselves with empty sounds, but look to the actual facts.

Bailey: 36. In its general aspect, justice is the same for all, for it is a kind of mutual advantage in the dealings of men with one another; but with reference to the individual peculiarities of a country, or any other circumstances, the same thing does not turn out to be just for all.

Bailey: 35. It is not possible for one who acts in secret contravention of the terms of the compact not to harm or be harmed to be confident that he will escape detection, even if, at present, he escapes a thousand times. For up to the time of death it cannot be certain that he will indeed escape.

Bailey: 34. Injustice is not an evil in itself, but only in consequence of the fear which attaches to the apprehension of being unable to escape those appointed to punish such actions.

Bailey: 33. Justice never is anything in itself, but in the dealings of men with one another, in any place whatever, and at any time, it is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed.

Bailey: 32. For all living things which have not been able to make compacts not to harm one another, or be harmed, nothing ever is either just or unjust; and likewise, too, for all tribes of men which have been unable, or unwilling, to make compacts not to harm or be harmed.

Bailey: 31. The justice which arises from nature is a pledge of mutual advantage, to restrain men from harming one another, and save them from being harmed.

Bailey: 30. Wherever, in the case of desires which are physical, but do not lead to a sense of pain if they are not fulfilled, the effort is intense, such pleasures are due to idle imagination; and it is not owing to their own nature that they fail to be dispelled, but owing to the empty imaginings of the man.

Bailey: 29. Among desires, some are natural (and necessary, some natural) but not necessary, and others neither natural nor necessary, but due to idle imagination.

Essential Epicurus (Eugene O'Connor): 28. The same knowledge that makes one confident that nothing dreadful is eternal or long-lasting also recognizes, in the face of these limited evils, the security afforded by friendship.

Bailey: 27. Of all the things which wisdom acquires to produce the blessedness of the complete life, far the greatest is the possession of friendship.

Bailey: 26. Of desires, all that do not lead to a sense of pain, if they are not satisfied, are not necessary, but involve a craving which is easily dispelled when the object is hard to procure, or they seem likely to produce harm.

Bailey: 25. If on each occasion, instead of referring your actions to the end of nature, you turn to some other, nearer, standard, when you are making a choice or an avoidance, your actions will not be consistent with your principles.

Bailey: 24. If you reject any single sensation, and fail to distinguish between the conclusion of opinion, as to the appearance awaiting confirmation, and that which is actually given by the sensation or feeling, or each intuitive apprehension of the mind, you will confound all other sensations, as well, with the same groundless opinion, so that you will reject every standard of judgment. And if among the mental images created by your opinion you affirm both that which awaits confirmation, and that which does not, you will not escape error, since you will have preserved the whole cause of doubt in every judgment between what is right and what is wrong.

Bailey: 23. If you fight against all sensations, you will have no standard by which to judge even those of them which you say are false.

Bailey: 22. We must consider both the real purpose, and all the evidence of direct perception, to which we always refer the conclusions of opinion; otherwise, all will be full of doubt and confusion.

Bailey: 21. He who has learned the limits of life knows that that which removes the pain due to want, and makes the whole of life complete, is easy to obtain, so that there is no need of actions which involve competition.

Bailey: 20. The flesh perceives the limits of pleasure as unlimited, and unlimited time is required to supply it. But the mind, having attained a reasoned understanding of the ultimate good of the flesh and its limits, and having dissipated the fears concerning the time to come, supplies us with the complete life, and we have no further need of infinite time; but neither does the mind shun pleasure, nor, when circumstances begin to bring about the departure from life, does it approach its end as though it fell short, in any way, of the best life.

Bailey: 19. Infinite time contains no greater pleasure than limited time, if one measures, by reason, the limits of pleasure.

Bailey: 18. The pleasure in the flesh is not increased when once the pain due to want is removed, but is only varied: and the limit as regards pleasure in the mind is begotten by the reasoned understanding of these very pleasures, and of the emotions akin to them, which used to cause the greatest fear to the mind.

Bailey: 17. The just man is most free from trouble; the unjust most full of trouble.

Bailey: 16. In but few things chance hinders a wise man, but the greatest and most important matters, reason has ordained, and throughout the whole period of life does and will ordain.

Bailey: 15. The wealth demanded by nature is both limited and easily procured; that demanded by idle imaginings stretches on to infinity.

Bailey: 13. There is no profit in securing protection in relation to men, if things above, and things beneath the earth, and indeed all in the boundless universe, remain matters of suspicion.

Bailey: 12. A man cannot dispel his fear about the most important matters if he does not know what is the nature of the universe, but suspects the truth of some mythical story. So that, without natural science, it is not possible to attain our pleasures unalloyed.

Bailey: 11. If we were not troubled by our suspicions of the phenomena of the sky, and about death, fearing that it concerns us, and also by our failure to grasp the limits of pains and desires, we should have no need of natural science.

"If the things that produce the pleasures of profligates could dispel the fears of the mind about the phenomena of the sky, and death, and its pains, and also teach the limits of desires (and of pains), we should never have cause to blame them: for they would be filling themselves full, with pleasures from every source, and never have pain of body or mind, which is the evil of life." Epicurus PD10 (Bailey)

"If every pleasure could be intensified so that it lasted, and influenced the whole organism or the most essential parts of our nature, pleasures would never differ from one another." Epicurus PD9 (Bailey)

"No pleasure is a bad thing in itself; but the means which produce some pleasures bring with them disturbances many times greater than the pleasures." Epicurus PD8 (Bailey)