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Pacatus April 29, 2025 at 6:02 PM

Replied to the thread Friendship discussion (moved from 20th conversation).
Post

A main theme of Nehamas’ essay is that φιλιά for the ancient Greeks had a public dimension that modern notions of friendship do not. Epicurus would surely have been aware of that and, although he might not have rejected it out of hand, may have treated…
Pacatus April 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM

Replied to the thread Friendship discussion (moved from 20th conversation).
Post

From page 219 of the Nehamas essay: “Although relationships based on beneﬁt or pleasure are not ideal, they would still be friendships as long as they, too, involved mutual aﬀection and, more important, wishing good things for each other’s own…
Pacatus April 29, 2025 at 5:06 PM

Replied to the thread Epicurean Philosophy In Relation To Gulags and the Rack.
Post

[…]

[…]

This seems to me to point up what I consider to be the major error of the Cyrenaics (as articulated by Aristippus the Younger): that there is a third “neutral” condition that is neither pleasure nor pain. The Epicurean category of katastematic…
Pacatus April 29, 2025 at 3:21 PM

Replied to the thread Friendship discussion (moved from 20th conversation).
Post

Just as an aside (tearing myself briefly from my reading assignment – as my hypertexting brain asserts itself ).

AxA said: “The philosophy encourages applying "common sense" and using "basic meanings" of words, but that can lead to projecting back…
Pacatus April 29, 2025 at 1:07 PM

Replied to the thread Friendship discussion (moved from 20th conversation).
Post

From Don : “I always feel the need in these threads to bring up that Epicurus didn't use the words "friendship/friend." His usual term was φιλιά (philia) which can, of course, be translated into English as "friendship." But both…
Kalosyni April 29, 2025 at 9:24 AM

Posted the thread Friendship discussion (moved from 20th conversation).
Thread

Lots of interesting ideas coming up ( AxA Don Godfrey Cassius and so copied over what was said in that conversation so that we can continue as usual with further discussion (will likely rename the thread at some point).

Here are the posts -…
Godfrey April 29, 2025 at 12:36 AM

Replied to the thread Epicurean philosophy skewing toward elements of Stoicism in the time of Lucretius??.
Post

I believe that in the Voula Tsouna article, "Philodemus and the Therapy of Vice", it's mentioned that an Epicurean vice is a type of action which generally results in pain.
Kalosyni April 28, 2025 at 7:21 PM

Replied to the thread Epicurean philosophy skewing toward elements of Stoicism in the time of Lucretius??.
Post

[…]

What I object to is that how and when a word from "the vice list" is used will change depending on who is using the word.

A Stoic, a Christian, a Buddhist, an Epicurean, etc., - each person will define a "vice" according to what they value (each will…
Patrikios April 28, 2025 at 3:55 PM

Replied to the thread Epicurean philosophy skewing toward elements of Stoicism in the time of Lucretius??.
Post

[…]

Lucretius could also be considering the implications of PD-5:

“It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and honorably and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and honorably and justly without living pleasantly.”

The list of…
Eikadistes April 28, 2025 at 11:49 AM

Replied to the thread Epicurean Communities of the Ancient World.
Post

Just wanted to organize the update here, in addition to the Gallery, for further discussion.
AxA April 28, 2025 at 11:36 AM

Replied to the thread Toronto Canada Meetup Group (Discussion on Implementation).
Post

Here's the message I sent out to all group members after our last gathering, a pot luck on Saturday:

Thank you to all who have been a part of this experiment.

I started this group because talking about the "big questions" has always been one of my…
Don April 27, 2025 at 9:08 PM

Replied to the thread Epicurean Philosophy In Relation To Gulags and the Rack.
Post

FWIW .. Here's my take on that...

https://sites.google.com/view/epicurean…ture?authuser=0

And please remember, it's not "happy happy joy joy" on the rack, the wise one is experiencing εὐδαίμονα (eudaimonia), well-being. See numerous other threads…
Don April 27, 2025 at 9:06 PM

Replied to the thread Sunday April 27, 2025 - EpicureanFriends Western Hemisphere Zoom (At Time More Convenient For Our Friends In Europe and elsewhere).
Post

It sounds like a great experience! Sorry I couldn't make it.
Cassius April 27, 2025 at 8:19 PM

Replied to the thread Sunday April 27, 2025 - EpicureanFriends Western Hemisphere Zoom (At Time More Convenient For Our Friends In Europe and elsewhere).
Post

Yes we had eight people and a good conversation. We will continue to schedule meetings a different times so we can accommodate everyone. If anyone has special needs let us know!
Cassius April 27, 2025 at 7:33 PM

Replied to the thread Epicurean Philosophy In Relation To Gulags and the Rack.
Post

in relation to this topic we also have what Diogenes Laertius recorded about Epicurus' view of the wise man on the rack. i note that Yonge disagrees with Bailey and Hicks as to whether the wise man will cry out in pain (Yonge says that he will not; the…
Kalosyni April 27, 2025 at 2:42 PM

Replied to the thread Sunday April 27, 2025 - EpicureanFriends Western Hemisphere Zoom (At Time More Convenient For Our Friends In Europe and elsewhere).
Post

[…]

We missed you Don

Thank you to everyone who attended. It was a good meeting, and what struck me was how each of us comes from a unique background - having encountered varying ideas in our past (and having read various books) and yet we have all…
Don April 27, 2025 at 12:24 PM

Replied to the thread Sunday April 27, 2025 - EpicureanFriends Western Hemisphere Zoom (At Time More Convenient For Our Friends In Europe and elsewhere).
Post

[…]

Egads. Just finished sweaty yard work. I won't be able to attend. All the best to everyone!!
Patrikios April 27, 2025 at 10:31 AM

Replied to the thread Episode 277 - Platonism Says This World Is Darkness But The Next World Is Light - Epicurus Disagrees!.
Post

In this Episode 277, Cicero appears to make wild leaps, that just by contemplating the beauty of nature, we are supposed to conclude all these supernatural attributions accrue to a manipulative, punitive, personified deity.

“Thus, though you see not…
Bryan April 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM

Replied to the thread Early Epicurean Community - Listing of Known Epicureans Thoughout History.
Post

[…]

Do we know anything else about this particular Eúdēmos ?

There was a man named Eúdēmos [of Pergamon] who wrote commentaries on Epíkouros' work On Nature. However, he was a teacher of Philōnídēs of Laodíkeia (and therefore was active around 180…
Eikadistes April 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM

Replied to the thread Preconceptions and PD24.
Post

All right, so, this is by no means authoritative, but I did my best to try to illustrate what I understand to be the semantic context of these phrases, primarily found in 10.49-52:

"Theories of Vision

49 It is necessary then also to know [that the]…
Cassius April 27, 2025 at 6:54 AM

Posted the thread Welcome Drj72701.
Thread

Welcome drj72701

There is one last step to complete your registration:

All new registrants must post a response to this message here in this welcome thread (we do this in order to minimize spam registrations).

You must post your response within 72 hours,…
Elli April 26, 2025 at 6:04 PM

Replied to the thread The Use of Negation in Epicurean Philosophy Concepts.
Post

Greetings to all epicurean friends,

Nietzsche is ultimately contradictory in many aspects with all philosophers. While in other works he speaks very highly of Epicurus, in his work "The Antichrist" he characterizes Epicurus as "decadent". However,…
Joshua April 26, 2025 at 5:01 PM

Replied to the thread Preconceptions and PD24.
Post

I think David Glidden discusses some of this in his article "Epicurean Prolepsis";

[…]
Eikadistes April 26, 2025 at 3:45 PM

Replied to the thread Preconceptions and PD24.
Post

I'm going to re-visit this, but I need a placeholder.

As I'm translating into 10.50 of the Epistle to Hēródotos, I am finding a shit-ton of employments of phantastikai epibolai tês dianoias as τὴν φαντασίαν, φαντασίαν…
Patrikios April 26, 2025 at 2:27 PM

Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.
Post

[…]

Kalosyni , thanks for the beautiful collage of simple pleasures. BTW, my birthday pleasures included a nice long walk in the sand on beautiful Lido Beach.
Cassius April 26, 2025 at 2:25 PM

Posted the thread Epicurean Philosophy In Relation To Gulags and the Rack.
Thread

I saw the following posted recently, and the comment about gulags prompts me to use it as an exercise in talking about several ongoing issues. For easy of reading I've placed the original post in separate quote blocks, with my comments following each…
Cassius April 26, 2025 at 6:37 AM

Replied to the thread Episode 278.
Post

Yes I agree we can pick up the pace and that outline will be helpful! Most of what needs to be said about death we've covered already, and we have four more major topics to pick up when we're finished with death.
Joshua April 26, 2025 at 12:25 AM

Replied to the thread Episode 278.
Post

It seems to me that we could pick up the pace in the coming sections if we wanted to. The overarching argument in sections XXXII and after is this; They are wrong who think that the soul dies with the body, but even if they were right death still would…
Don April 25, 2025 at 11:13 PM

Replied to the thread Epicurean philosophy skewing toward elements of Stoicism in the time of Lucretius??.
Post

[…]

Okay, now having re-read the proem, I will weigh in from my customary ( Cassius may say predictable ) direction. To me, it seems Lucretius is setting the imaginary hazards against the real hazards of living a pleasurable life. In practical terms,…
TauPhi April 25, 2025 at 6:55 PM

Replied to the thread A Canonics Project - Drawing A Diagram To Illustrate Key Aspects of Epicurean Canonics / Epistemology.
Post

Link to a doctoral thesis on Epicurean epistemology by Ana Gavran Miloš from University of Zagreb. I skimmed through the work and it caught my eye as an in-depth analysis. Might be worth a look for anyone interested in more advanced Epicurean study.…
Cassius April 25, 2025 at 2:34 PM

Replied to the thread Epicurean philosophy skewing toward elements of Stoicism in the time of Lucretius??.
Post

I was thinking Don might weigh in from another direction as well. Don is very strong on PD10 being a reference to reprobate acts being bad because they do in fact lead to pain in most cases. I always insist that it is important to observe that there is…
Don April 25, 2025 at 12:44 PM

Replied to the thread Epicurean philosophy skewing toward elements of Stoicism in the time of Lucretius??.
Post

Wasn't Hercules a favorite of the Stoics? By setting up Epicurus' deeds as greater than those of Hercules, Lucretius would in a way be thumbing his nose at the Stoics.
Rolf April 25, 2025 at 12:41 PM

Replied to the thread Epicurean philosophy skewing toward elements of Stoicism in the time of Lucretius??.
Post

Hmm. On one hand, I suppose all of these could in fact lead to pain. Likely to, even. As Lucretius points out, these vices “tear a man in two” and “trouble his life”, and he laments about “how many disasters they deal”. To me, this points…
Joshua April 25, 2025 at 12:40 PM

Replied to the thread Epicurean philosophy skewing toward elements of Stoicism in the time of Lucretius??.
Post

These lines come from the proem to Book V, and should be understand in that context. The proems of each book show Lucretius at his most poetical, and here in the fifth book he is draping Epicurus with plaudits - the labors of Epicurus in philosophy…
Pacatus April 25, 2025 at 12:20 PM

Replied to the thread Epicurean Philosophy Pub Club or Epicurean Philosophy Coffee Club.
Post

From the article linked by Kalosyni : "In every German village there is the corner bar, and in the corner is a table. It's reserved for the sort of elders or other regulars. And they sit in the corner and they drink their beer and smoke their…
Cassius April 25, 2025 at 10:21 AM

Replied to the thread Epicurean philosophy skewing toward elements of Stoicism in the time of Lucretius??.
Post

I don't agree that this list indicates what you are concerned about, but before I weigh in much more I'd like to hear what others have to say. This should be a good opportunity to talk about where Stoicism and Epicureanism diverge and why.
Kalosyni April 25, 2025 at 8:38 AM

Posted the thread Epicurean philosophy skewing toward elements of Stoicism in the time of Lucretius??.
Thread

The following was contributed elsewhere by forum member Bryan

[…]

I am seeing this as showing some evidence that later Epicureans were skewing toward elements of Stoicism (unless some Christian monks added it in ). This list of vices gives abstractions…
Kalosyni April 25, 2025 at 8:20 AM

Posted the thread Epicurean Philosophy Pub Club or Epicurean Philosophy Coffee Club.
Thread

I found this article which is a fun read about German customs being brought into modern times, and then thought this might be a creative way to jump start ideas about starting Epicurean philosophy groups or clubs.

…
Cassius April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM

Posted the thread Episode 278.
Thread

Welcome to Episode 278 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…
Kalosyni April 24, 2025 at 3:24 PM

Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.
Post

Happy Birthday Patrikios !
Pacatus April 24, 2025 at 2:44 PM

Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.
Post

Happy birthday, Patrikios!
Patrikios April 24, 2025 at 2:08 PM

Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.
Post

[…]

Cassius , thank you for the remembrance. Taking time to read the writings of Epicureans and the Friends of Epicurus here is one of the best gifts I can enjoy on my birthday, and every day.

Peace & Safety
Kalosyni April 24, 2025 at 11:12 AM

Replied to the thread Highly Palatable Foods and Over-eating.
Post

I am going to be using this 6 part model to cope with sugar and carb withdrawl urges, as I've now depleted my highly processed snacks and chocolate stash, and I will start eating more carrots, apples, and vegetables because I want to gain greater health.…
Kalosyni April 24, 2025 at 9:54 AM

Posted the thread Philodemus on the Therapy of Vice - Tsouna Article.
Thread

Vices in this article:

Arrogance, envy, joy at the misfortunes of others, flattery, greed, egocentrism, ingratitude and friendlessness, injustice, irascibility, and superstitious fears.

Link to a PDF of article:

…
Cassius April 24, 2025 at 4:08 AM

Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.
Post

Happy Birthday to Patrikios! Learn more about Patrikios and say happy birthday on Patrikios's timeline: Patrikios
Don April 23, 2025 at 11:51 PM

Replied to the thread Episode 277 - Platonism Says This World Is Darkness But The Next World Is Light - Epicurus Disagrees!.
Post

Great episode everyone. 🎉

One nit to pick: While I realize it's a common English idiom, my contention remains that we have to be careful using phrases like "when we're dead" or "being dead" and so on.

We can't "be" dead. When we are, death is not. When…
Joshua April 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM

Replied to the thread Episode 277 - Platonism Says This World Is Darkness But The Next World Is Light - Epicurus Disagrees!.
Post

Here are the lines from Julius Caesar that I paraphrased. It seems probable that Shakespeare was alluding to Tusculan Disputations in this dialogue.

[…]

Is Cassius Longinus exploiting his knowledge of Platonism to persuade Brutus to rise against Caesar?

[…]
Joshua April 23, 2025 at 8:56 PM

Posted the thread New Article in 'Nature' - April 23rd, 2025.
Thread

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01087-y

"Scans of 18 ancient papyri that were buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius look ‘very promising’, and there are plans to digitally unroll many more."

[…]
Kalosyni April 23, 2025 at 6:57 PM

Replied to the thread BASIC-ph Model of Coping.
Post

Under the category of developing resilience through "beliefs and values" ---> one possible activity for an individual oriented toward the study of the philosophy of Epicurus, would be to create a home altar with either a picture or a bust of Epicurus.…
Joshua April 23, 2025 at 6:34 PM

Replied to the thread Image Sharing Alternatives.
Post

Re: Imgur

"On April 19, 2023, Imgur changed their terms of service and announced that they would delete inactive content that was not tied to an account.

...

The new terms went into effect on May 15, 2023.[10] The move drew significant criticism, as…

Cassius April 17, 2024 at 2:04 PM

Today our Telegram Channel was updated - you can reach it here: https://t.me/EpicureanFriendsOfficial
<p>Today our Telegram Channel was updated - you can reach it here: <a href="https://t.me/EpicureanFriendsOfficial" class="externalURL" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener ugc">https://t.me/EpicureanFriendsOfficial</a></p>
Cassius June 8, 2024 at 8:18 PM

Today we changed the default theme style to "Inspire Blue." If you have any issues with site colors or simply want to go from light to dark, check the "Change Style" button at the bottom of each page.
<p>Today we changed the default theme style to "Inspire Blue." If you have any issues with site colors or simply want to go from light to dark, check the "Change Style" button at the bottom of each page.</p>

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