EpicureanFriends Wiki

1. How would you live if you were certain that there are no supernatural gods and no life after death?

That's what we explore here at Epicureanfriends.com, the internet home of Classical Epicurean Philosophy. EpicureanFriends was established in 2015 by a group of friends interested in the study of Epicurus freed from the intrusion of contemporary politics, Stoicism, Platonism, Humanism, and other "isms" with which many seek to combine it. You'll find our primary organizational documents, including our Community Standards, our Not Neo-Epicurean, But Epicurean statement, and our Key Posting Policy statement, in this section of the wiki.

2. The Fundamentals of Epicurean Philosophy

We have an outline of eleven key aspects of Classical Epicurean Philosophy to familiarize you with the central points, and a longer Foundations of Epicurean Philosophy document with more detail about the nature of the universe, the nature of truth, and the nature of how best to live.

Forum Organization

Posters are invited to start in the General Discussion forum, or any of our many Special Topic forums. For a selection of our most significant discussions check our Featured Forum Threads page. If you're looking for something you don't see, use the Search function at the top of each page. You can also search by Popular Tags or review our Full List of Tags. We also have many hyperlinked Outlines that will assist in navigating through the forum structure, along with a list of Forum Short-Cuts to help you find the most popular forums. You can view the most recent posting from across the site at our Latest Posts page.

Frequently Asked Questions

We have a FAQ to answer many of the questions that normally come up during study. (If you have an account and find something missing, let us know and we'll add to it).

Our collection of core Epicurean Texts

We keep a curated online collection of Ancient Epicurean Texts, including Diogenes Laertus Book 10 and many others.

The two books we most recommend

We most recommend Epicurus and His Philosophy by Norman DeWitt, and Living For Pleasure: An Epicurean Guide to Life by Emily Austin. Austin's book provides an attractive and practical introduction geared toward those who are just starting with the philosophy, and DeWitt's book provides a sweeping overview of the philosophy with many additional details.

The Lucretius Today Podcast

Our podcast series now extends to well over 200 episodes since we started with Episode One in 2020. Episodes of special note include Lucretius Today Interviews Dr. Emily Austin, Letter to Menoeceus, The Canon, Reason, and Nature, Epicurus and His Philosophy: The New Hedonism, and especially Episode 200 (our anniversary episode discussing our past and future plans for the podcast). Joshua as a selection of Quotes that he has used in the podcast here.

Our Articles Section

We curate a number of selected Articles written by participants at EpicureanFriends which discuss Epicurus from the perspective of Classical Epicurean Philosophy.

Our Epicurean Friends Youtube Page

We have a selection of useful videos produced over the years. Of special note are our Seven Steps With Epicurus slideshow and our Foundations of Epicurean Philosophy presentation.

Our Special Resources

Our Special Resources Page provides a variety of informative items prepared by our forum members.

Our Recommended Reading Page

In addition to the two books we recommend the most, referenced above, we have a full Recommended Reading List of additional books and articles.

Our Image Gallery

Our Images section provides a collection of images, graphics, and memes by EpicureanFriends forum members. A special selection of our Featured Images is here.

Personal Outlines of Epicurean philosophy

As suggested by Epicurus to Herodotus, and as in the example Thomas Jefferson left to us in his personal writings, one of the best ways to internalize Epicurean Philosophy is to write it out in outline forum. See our resources here for sample outlines that help you navigate this site, and work with others who have posted for us their own outlines here.

Our Quiz section

We have begun composing self-study quizzes and hope to produce many more.

Epicurean Week

In the future we hope to offer you an organized Epicurean Week program. For now, our material on that are here.

Zoom meetings

Those who register an account and establish a pattern of productive participation will be invited to our First Monday Meet And Greet meeting, which we conduct on the first Monday of each month. Those who continue thereafter to participate productively will eventually be invited to become “Established Members,” and to join our Wednesday night Zoom study groups and our monthly Twentieth Meeting, and participate in sections of our discussion forum which are limited to Established Members.

Site Map

Our side map has a listing of all major sections of this site. If you have questions, please feel free to ask any member of our Moderator Team.