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Todd
May 20, 2026 at 12:24 PM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.Post[…]
I wasn't aware of that, but if true, I would say it is an example of a more general phenomenon that is not specific to scholars of Epicurus.
Ever since the vernacular languages displaced Latin as a common language for intellectuals, there have been… -
Cassius
May 20, 2026 at 11:03 AM Replied to the thread Discussion of Blog Article.PostIt is gratifying to have a generally appreciative comment on this post from Greg Sadler, whose videos I have frequently watched, and who views I very much respect.
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Griffin
May 20, 2026 at 10:57 AM Replied to the thread Happy Twentieth of May 2026!.PostHappy Twentieth!
VS27 is a beautiful reminder of why this philosophy is different from everything else. The pleasure isn't deferred until after you've learned something. It's happening right now in the act of learning itself. -
Cassius
May 20, 2026 at 10:56 AM Posted the thread Discussion of Blog Article.ThreadThis thread is for discussion of: "Why It Is Incorrect to Say Epicurean Philosophy Is Primarily About 'Absence of Pain'"
epicureanfriends.com/wcf/blog/entry/75/ -
Cassius
May 20, 2026 at 10:54 AM Wrote the blog article Why It Is Incorrect to Say Epicurean Philosophy Is Primarily About 'Absence of Pain'.Blog ArticleThe Claim and Why It Matters
The claim that Epicurean philosophy is “primarily about the absence of pain” — that the Epicurean goal is a passive, featureless neutral state free from disturbance — is one of the most consequential misreadings in the… -
Eikadistes
May 20, 2026 at 9:31 AM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.PostBe on the look out for AI-generated material, guys.
Those of us who used to be graphic designers and authors have lost our agency. -
Titus
May 20, 2026 at 8:45 AM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.Post[…]
I meant an "English speaker" thing. Sometimes the interpretation of topics is related to the use of a language, which influences their interpretations. I corrected my original post to "English speaker thing". -
Cassius
May 20, 2026 at 8:32 AM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.Post[…]
I don't know that it is limited to England by any means, but I'd say that England seems to produce the highest concentration of it. Further, it goes deeper than the "stiff upper lip" and "keep calm and carry on" style of Stoicism that became… -
Titus
May 20, 2026 at 8:22 AM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.Post[…]
My interpretation has always been that of the natural desires being key factors to focus on. I somewhat would agree that they are "innate" in the sense that they are indiscutible and inherently connected with our being. Not caring for one's health and… -
Cassius
May 20, 2026 at 8:10 AM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.PostI've posted the list of arguments on substack:
https://open.substack.com/pub/epicureanf…omeOnShare=true -
Kalosyni
May 20, 2026 at 7:56 AM Posted the thread Happy Twentieth of May 2026!.Thread
Happy Twentieth Everyone!
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Cassius
May 19, 2026 at 3:43 PM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.PostI should have realized when I came up with an odd number of nine arguments that i was missing something.
I have now added in a tenth, which I actually think is one of the most compelling of all. I should not have forgotten it. -
Cassius
May 19, 2026 at 2:08 PM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.PostSo I can keep track of it I have added an easier-to-read format of it here. This is the version I will be updating going forward:
https://epicurustoday.com/02-key-sources/notabsenceofpain/ -
Cassius
May 19, 2026 at 1:45 PM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.PostGood luck Don. Always good to try when there is any hope of success. Here is a summary of the major arguments that appear scattered in many places on this site:
[…]
"Why It Is Incorrect to Say Epicurean Philosophy Is Primarily About 'Absence of Pain'"The
… -
Don
May 19, 2026 at 1:23 PM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.PostSo, here's the question: Do we engage with the author at his Substack comments? Is it useful to do so?
Okay. I waded into the fray at the Substack for better or worse. -
Cassius
May 19, 2026 at 12:34 PM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.PostAlso (and there are many other arguments) it is not proper to take a single sentence and not consider it in the context of the full analysis of pleasure as to whether it has a limit, which is what Plato had argued in Philebus . The main reason to… -
Cassius
May 19, 2026 at 12:05 PM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.PostBecause he is ignoring the well documented point, stressed by Torquayus as well, that there are only two feelings, pleasure and pain, and that the absence of one is the presence of the other.
He is talking as if less pain is something different and… -
Patrikios
May 19, 2026 at 10:38 AM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.Post -
Eikadistes
May 18, 2026 at 9:16 PM Replied to the thread Superstition Ain't the Way.Post[…]
You're reading me perfectly.
They told me to completely bail on the first 80%, and then amp up my hyper-political examples for the latter 20%. When I realized that I ran past their word limit with reckless abandon (and was just going to re-present it… -
Cassius
May 18, 2026 at 7:34 PM Replied to the thread Sidgwickianism - Henry Sidgwick and Utilitarian Analysis vs. Epicurus.Post -
Cassius
May 18, 2026 at 7:29 PM Commented on the file No Politics*.Comment (File) -
Cassius
May 18, 2026 at 7:27 PM Posted the thread Eikadistes Article Discussion - 'No Politics'.Thread -
Eikadistes
May 18, 2026 at 6:25 PM Added the file No Politics*.FileI was inspired to dig deeper into fragments on law, justice, and society.
In particular, I'm tried to summarize Philódēmos' advice in On Frank Criticism and Hérmarkhos' observations about law and the function of legislation in Against Empedoklḗs. I… -
Eikadistes
May 18, 2026 at 6:04 PM Posted the thread Did People Naturally Want to F—k Deities?.ThreadI know. It’s something you’ve been asking yourself for a long time. I’ve only recently come across this consideration.
Here are a few points the Boys considered in the extant works:- They are natural beings.
- Their form is human.
- Their image is human.
- They are
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Kalosyni
May 18, 2026 at 2:16 PM Replied to the thread Welcome RoseQuartzAxolotl!.PostWelcome to the forum! RoseQuartzAxolotl -
Cassius
May 18, 2026 at 5:19 AM Posted the thread Sidgwickianism - Henry Sidgwick and Utilitarian Analysis vs. Epicurus.ThreadSince the terms psychological hedonism and ethical hedonism are of great interest to some, and those terms appear to originate with Henry Sidgwick, it's probably helpful to have a thread on who Sidgwick was and what he was doing with his categories, and… -
Martin
May 18, 2026 at 1:47 AM Replied to the thread Welcome RoseQuartzAxolotl!.PostWelcome RoseQuartzAxolotl! -
wbernys
May 17, 2026 at 7:54 PM Replied to the thread Welcome RoseQuartzAxolotl!.PostHappy to have you here RoseQuartzAxolotl ! -
RoseQuartzAxolotl
May 17, 2026 at 4:56 PM Replied to the thread Welcome RoseQuartzAxolotl!.PostThank you Cassius, I am glad to be here. -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 4:53 PM Replied to the thread Welcome RoseQuartzAxolotl!.PostThat's a great opening email. You are very welcome here! -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 4:53 PM Replied to the thread Welcome RoseQuartzAxolotl!.PostRoseQuartzAxolotl (that's quite a user name!) tells us this:
Hello Cassius and all!
I'm 34 and I live in the Chicagoland area with my husband and our Shetland Sheepdog. I work on the systems side of education.
I grew up fairly conservative and fundamental… -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 4:51 PM Posted the thread Welcome RoseQuartzAxolotl!.ThreadWelcome RoseQuartzAxolotl
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… -
Raphael Raul
May 17, 2026 at 12:23 PM Replied to a comment by TauPhi on the image The Nature of Existence is Atoms and Void..Reply (Image/Video)Thank you, Tau Phi, for the information on the quantity of Epicurean writings we have: it amounts to only 1-2%, or about 10,000 words. In comparison, of the 38 plays that Shakepears wrote, it would be like only having half of "A Midsummer Night's Dream",… -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 12:20 PM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostI cross-posted with Bryan and just now see his #12
[…]
This sentence covers a lot but I would think it would be true thaL
"judgment is ESTABLISHED in the senses" means more like "judgment is validated by or is tested against the perceptions of the senses ,… -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 11:32 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostOk we just finished recording and I am not sure that we hit your precise point Patrikios but I think you will be pleased with this episode and we can come back to that next week. The section we are in is very deep and what you are raising is definitely… -
Bryan
May 17, 2026 at 11:32 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostWe can review Zeno of Citium's "Analogy of the Closing Hand" for contrast (from Academica 2.145):
1. An open hand represents φαντασία (an appearance)
2. Partially closed fingers represent συγκατάθεσις (assent that the appearance is true)
3. A closed fist… -
Patrikios
May 17, 2026 at 11:06 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.Post[…]
Cassius ,
I was trying to better understand the difference between katalepsis and prolepsis. I recall reading this paper from David Glidden on Epicurean Prolepsis. Glidden researches Diogenes Laertius and Cicero, when he explains this aspect.
[…]
… -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 7:54 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostSo it seems I've been repeating the Epicurean formulation " all sensations are true " for many years without fully appreciating that some people (the Stoics) say that some sensations are true and others are false.
I think I've tended to flip back and… -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 7:49 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostI can't find a good authoritative page I can screen clip but at the hazard of it being wrong here is chatgpt:
VII.46 is where Diogenes is summarizing Stoic epistemology. The Greek wording varies slightly by edition, but the key line containing katalepsis… -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 7:37 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostHere's the Perseus link from which we can look for variations of katalepsis:
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?do….perseus-grc1:7 -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 7:30 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostApparently katalepsis is in here somewhere:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lives_of_…ers/Book_VII#45
45. The study of syllogisms they declare to be of the greatest service, as showing us what is capable of yielding demonstration; and this contributes much… -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 7:23 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostThanks Don. By the time of DL he'd have been inundated by the Stoic v Skeptic debate and surely would have compared Stoic vs Epicurean views on prolepsis. "A sort of" presumably indicates parallels but not exactly the same (?)
I want to go looking for… -
Don
May 17, 2026 at 7:10 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostFWIW, katalepsis shows up in Diogenes Laertius:
33] By preconception they mean a sort of apprehension or a right opinion or notion, or universal idea stored in the mind ; that is, a recollection of an external object often presented,
Τὴν δὲ… -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 6:39 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostFor comparison, the key section of Diogenes Laertius 12:
https://handbook.epicureanfriends.com/sbsdlx/#31
I'll quote here the HICKS version just to highlight how the underlined part is a very critical section to look at closely. Bailey and Yonge say here… -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 6:30 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostThis short section from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on "Ancient Greek Skepticism" is also right on point:
ii. Attack on the Stoics
In general, the Stoics were the ideal target for the skeptics; for, their confidence in the areas of… -
Cassius
May 17, 2026 at 6:23 AM Replied to the thread Episode 334 - Not Yet Rcorded.PostIn today's episode I want us to take the time to read Wikipedia's definition of "kataleptsis" as I think it's going to help us to keep this in mind as we proceed further:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katalepsis
The current version is relatively short and… -
Cassius
May 16, 2026 at 9:22 PM Replied to the thread Discussion of "Untroubled" - Epicurean-Focused Substack.PostI just realized that I forgot to include something that I always try to mention when the subject of Tim O'Keefe or any other professor comes up.
I try not to judge Tim O'Keefe or really even Emily Austin as primarily advocates for Epicurean philosophy. As… -
TauPhi
May 16, 2026 at 4:58 PM Commented on the image The Nature of Existence is Atoms and Void..Comment (Image/Video)Based on David Sedley's 'Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom' (1988), one book of 'On Nature' was equivalent to 80 pages of modern book. That's around 20k words. 'On Nature' in total would be around 3000 pages today. Meaningful fragments of… -
Todd
May 16, 2026 at 4:56 PM Replied to a comment by Raphael Raul on the image The Nature of Existence is Atoms and Void..Reply (Image/Video) -
Raphael Raul
May 16, 2026 at 3:56 PM Commented on the image The Nature of Existence is Atoms and Void..Comment (Image/Video)Here is an illustration using a segment of a painting of mine that depicts the statement, "The Nature of Existence is Atoms and Void," a citation from Plutarch, taken from either of two lost texts of Epicurus: "On Nature" or "On atoms and the Void."…
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