Quote from Godfrey

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For many if not most modern American Christians, their beliefs about the Christian god are in fact one of their greatest sources of comfort and not distress (burninglights)

Ditto for an afterlife: there are people, not limited to Christians, who take great comfort in their belief in an afterlife.

It occurs to me that the comforting aspects of Epicureanism could have gotten lost as time went on.

Is it only in Lucretius that we see the metaphor of honey on the rim of wormwood? And I would say that this is a subjective evaluation anyway -- and it puts a dark twist on things that isn't needed.

Perhaps Epicurus originally had a much more comforting message in his emphasis in friendship - PD29 and in feeling secure - PD 39. But as time went on this somehow got overshadowed, and at the time of Horace there is the emphasis on pleasure itself ("Epicuri de grege porcus") more than the requisites of a pleasurable life. Subtle things like these two issues could lead to Epicureanism becoming less useful and less helpful. It could be that the "big picture" understanding was lost, and that also contributed to the decline.

A small possible cause for decline...if Epicurus wrote in Greek but eventually Latin took over? We don't know if all of his scrolls were translated into Latin? Also, the use of pamplets was popular in Epicurus' time, but perhaps that dropped away at some point?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Ca…s_(consul_58_BC)

The beautiful ancient house discovered in the ashes

The luxurious Villa of the Papyri was revealed by excavators in the 18th Century – and its many treasures are now on display in Los Angeles. Daisy Dunn takes a…

www.bbc.com

Next week for our final episode of our podcast series on Norman DeWitt's book we what to close with a discussion on the reasons the Epicurean movement crested around the time of Lucretius and began a long decline. We also want to cover the obstacles to the resurgence of an organized Epicurean movement in the intervening years up through today.

There are probably many causes of each, and we would like to know your thoughts so we can consider including them in the final episode.

Break-out of the items from the above section:

1. Injuries are done among men either because of hatred, envy, or contempt, all which the wise man overcomes by reason

2. When once a man has attained wisdom he no longer has any contrary tendency to it, nor does he willingly pretend that he has. He will be more deeply moved by feelings than others, but this will not prove to be an obstacle to wisdom.

3. A man cannot become wise in every kind of physical constitution, or in every nation.

4. Even if the wise man were to be put to torture, he would still be happy.

5. The wise man shows gratitude, and constantly speaks well of his friends whether they present or absent.
6. The wise man will not groan and howl when he is put to the torture.

7. The wise man will not have intercourse with any woman whom the laws forbid, as Diogenes says, in his epitome of the Ethical Maxims of Epicurus.

8. The wise man will not punish his servants, but will rather pity them and forgive any that are deserving.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy had a good section on Philodemus and Canonics:

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2.2.5.2 Canonics

Epicurus was perhaps the originator of the Hellenistic debates over the nature and existence of a ‘criterion of truth’, which allows us to separate true from doubtful or false beliefs. This debate, conducted by both philosophers and medical writers, also concerned methods of proof and sign-inference to extend knowledge beyond our immediate perceptions (overview in Allen 2001).

The final portion of On Signs III is all we have of the work, the full title of which was apparently On Phenomena and Sign-inferences (sêmeiôseôn). It comprises four sections (labeled here §§1–4, followed by column and line numbers from DeLacy and DeLacy 1978) and reports the ways in which three Epicureans responded to criticisms of their theory of sign-inference. First is Philodemus’ teacher, Zeno (§1, §2); then Demetrius Laco (§3, xxviii 13–xxix 19), whose interest in proof is known from Sextus (M 8.348); and finally another, unnamed, colleague (§4, xxix 20–xxxviii 22). The authors of the initial criticisms are unknown, but probably include the Dionysius who is named as author of replies to the Epicurean rebuttals of the first round of criticisms (§1, vii 5–viii 21; Zeno’s replies occupy viii 21–ix 26), and he may be a Stoic or Peripatetic. On the other hand, the method favored by the opponents, EM or the elimination mode (anaskeuê, which is not the same as contraposition, as scholars used to think), is not positively attested as Stoic.

Both the EM and the Epicurean similarity mode (SM) of sign-inference move to the non-evident from the evident. We do not know how the opponents defined what is evident, but the SM starts from empirical generalisations that have been, in their turn, built up from individual observations, and, ultimately, from perceptions and feelings, these being two of the standard Epicurean criteria. The experiences of others (if reliable), accessed through research (historia), as well as things proved earlier, may also furnish suitable starting-points for the construction (sunthesis) of inferential transitions (metabaseis) to the non-evident. All this empirical input is most often referred to as ‘things hereabouts’ (ta par’ hêmin), and it stands in opposition both to perceptible things outside our experience, e.g., from living things here to those in chilly ‘Britain, if any’ (§1, v 35–6), and also to those that are in principle imperceptible, as from moving things hereabouts to atoms moving in the void.

Epicurus himself had appealed to what is evident to provide positive ‘attestation’ (epimarturêsis) of true beliefs about perceptibles ‘hereabouts’, and ‘contestation’ (antimarturêsis) of false beliefs about theoretical items such as atoms, and about extremely distant perceptible objects; always provided it is explanatorily adequate, lack of evidence of any kind against a theoretical belief is sufficient grounds for taking it to be true, (Ep. Herodot. 80, Ep. Pythocles 86–88; each such belief will constitute a true explanation of this type of phenomenon in one or other of the infinite number of world-systems in the universe). In On Signs, in contrast, what phenomena ‘conflict’ (antipiptein, makhesthai) with, if they do, are empirical generalizations, which are thereby falsified (e.g., §1, xvii 28–xviii 16). Thus while Epicurus argues that the non-existence of void is contested by the phenomenon of movement, these Epicureans argue that nothing evident contests the local generalization that moving things hereabouts all move through empty spaces.

Such localized empirical generalizations are produced by the Epicureans’ method of ‘applied reasoning’ (epilogismos), i.e., reasoning applied to experience: similarities (homoiotêtes) and differences among things in our experience are collected and scrutinized so as to identify properties belonging to all, or all observed, local members of some kind or group without exception. These properties can then safely be projected, by sign-inference, to all or any other members of the kind, as, for example, it is inferred that mortality belongs to all human beings everywhere (e.g., §4, xxxiii 24–32)—a type of sign-inference that the Epicureans claim is simply not captured by the EM (e.g., §1, xvii 8–11). While local generalizations are all constructed by the detection of similarities, in the case of imperceptibles property-projection will rather be by analogy (§4, xxxvii 24–xxxviii 8, the DeLacys’ unfortunate translation of homoiotês as ‘analogy’ notwithstanding): atoms, e.g., are analogous, but not identical, to macroscopic bodies in their property of solidity.

Epilogismos must be conducted with due diligence and caution (e.g., §3, xxix 1–4), but this seems an inadequate defense against the possibility raised by their opponents that counter-examples to generalizations—unique individuals or rare species—may always exist undiscovered. More convincing is the response that, since freaks and rarities were discovered empirically, to project the existence of such things into unknown realms is simply to apply the SM (e.g., §3, xxviii 29–37). While this does not prove that the EM is superfluous, it does raise another unsettled question, whether all these Epicureans believe that there is only one mode of sign-inference, the SM, or two (as suggested by Zeno in §1, e.g., xii 2–31). It is probably helpful to see this problem in light of a basic disagreement that emerges in On Signs between the Epicureans and their opponents: that the Epicureans are mainly concerned, not with arriving, somehow or other, at true beliefs, but with how we can be certain that our beliefs are true, experience being the only secure foundation for any property-projection. Sign-inferences here and in other sources often take the form of a conditional (sunêmmenon), such as: ‘If there is smoke, there is fire’, or a para-conditional (parasunêmmenon), such as ‘Since there is smoke, there is fire’ (equivalent to a conditional plus its antecedent), and the EM is built around a criterion of truth for conditionals: the antecedent must be ‘eliminated’, or negated, simply by the ‘elimination’ of the consequent (§1, xii 1–14). In the void/movement case, then, if movement is a sign of void, elimination of void thereby eliminates movement, and the inference seems to be valid by the EM.

But the author of §4, at any rate, insists that it is only because we have observed that moving things hereabouts, despite other differences, all share the property of moving through empty spaces, that we affirm that the same thing holds without exception in non-evident places too (xxxv 36–xxxvi 7). The full form of this sign-inference would therefore run: “Since moving things hereabouts all move through empty space, all moving things move through empty spaces; and since all moving things move through empty space, and there are moving things, there is such a thing as empty space”. But if assurance (diabebaiôsis) that the conclusion is true is produced in all cases by experience of similar cases (xxxvii 31–35), whether a sign is similar to what it signifies—as with the revelation that all human beings are mortal by their being so hereabouts—or it is not, as with movement’s being a sign of void (xxxi 1–7), then there will indeed be only one mode of sign-inference, and the EM, which does not proceed in this way, will be excluded.

A second major disagreement is that the Epicureans apparently claimed that SM sign-inferences had a ‘necessitating’ (anankastikos) character, which their opponents denied (e.g., §1, iv 5–37; §2, xxvi 25–6). There has been modern debate over whether the Epicureans meant that the premisses of SM sign-inferences necessitate their conclusions, as in deductive arguments (Barnes 1988: 107–111), or that SM sign-inferences are ‘cogent’ and ‘demand assent’ and may be thought of as inductive arguments, which antiquity called epagôgê and in which the premisses do not necessitate the conclusions (Long 1988: 136–40).

Perhaps, however, the important point is rather that SM sign-inference is concerned with the relation between an individual object and its properties, a relation of metaphysical necessity (e.g., §1, viii 32–6; §4, xxxiii 35, xxxv 22–9). It is these necessary properties that epilogismos seeks to identify (e.g., §1, xvii 3–11; §4, xxxv 4–31) and that sign-inference should project: they help constitute the nature of a thing (cf. §1, xv 11–12; §3, xxiv 6–8). When he rebuts the opponents’ objection that SM sign-inferences are not necessitating, therefore, Zeno adduces the kind of property from which a sign-inference should proceed. Thus whatever necessity an SM sign-inference has comes from the metaphysical necessity of a property-property pairing, which is expressed in a qua truth: “For when we say that, since those hereabouts are such, those in the unknown realm are also such, insofar as those hereabouts are such, in this way we believe that something unknown is conjoined with them. For example: since humans hereabouts, qua humans, are mortal, then if there are humans anywhere, they too are mortal” (§4, xxxiii 24–32). Each of the four senses of ‘qua’ discussed in the next lines joins properties with the force of necessity and is used in sign-inferences (xxxiii 24–29).

The Epicureans are epistemological realists who postulate that we naturally form conceptions corresponding to types of object and property in our experience. The metaphysical necessity of property-property pairing explains why the best test of a conditional or of a particular sign is that it is inconceivable that the antecedent exists and the consequent does not (§4, xxxiii 1–7), why someone making a sign-inference on the basis of the evident “locks away in inconceivability” the proposition that things hereabouts are such, but things elsewhere are not such (§1, xv 37–39).

As with On Signs, what remains of a badly damaged treatise on the senses attributed to Philodemus (PHerc. 19/698, ed. Monet 1996) takes the Epicurean theory of perception, with its description of the atomic basis of the senses and their irrationality, as a background against which to discuss developments of the theory due to the confrontation with opponents, in this instance Stoics and Aristotelians. Of special concern are: the unity of sensation (I-VIII) and the ‘common sense’ (XX-XXVII) as opposed to the particular objects of each sense (XXVIII-XXIX); and the rejection of Stoic ‘grasping’ (katalêpsis) once one admits the Epicurean theory of ‘affection’ (pathos), which includes both perceiving and perceiving that one is perceiving (IX-XVII).

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Philodemus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Here is a good excerpt leading up to a short explanation of exempli gratia, in the scrolls of Philodemus, from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, which brings up more questions, regarding what is thought to be actually written by Philodemus (perhaps this is addressed somewhere else in the forum).

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2.2.3 Early Publications and Modern Reading of the Papyri

These delays conspired with what many observers at the time considered the uninspiring nature of the works preserved in the papyri to dampen wider interest in and notice of them, despite their unique status. This state-of-affairs persisted until the unification of Italy (1861), when a new series of publications of facsimiles of the papyrus texts, engravings of drawings (Italian: disegni) made soon after the rolls were opened, appeared in quick succession (see the Bibliographical Note, infra). Now the texts of Philodemus finally became objects of sustained study by scholars interested in Epicureanism.

Nonetheless, numerous editions of Philodemus’ works, especially early ones, are unreliable. Many were not based on a reading of the papyri themselves, but rather on the disegni, which are frequently wrong, and this led editors to be bolder about changing the texts presented in these copies, filling in gaps, and interpreting the results than they might have been had they read the papyri instead. In many such cases, better reading of the papyrus has shown that the text ran very differently indeed from the conjectures that have commonly served as the basis of reconstructions of the views of Philodemus and others. One common problem has been the mistaking of what turns out to be a citation of an opponent for something Philodemus himself maintains (and vice versa).

There are other serious obstacles to understanding, especially the condition of the papyri themselves. The books were written on sheets of papyrus pasted together into lengths of, say, 8–16 meters, which were rolled up from right to left and therefore read from left to right, beginning to end. The texts are arranged in parallel columns, at times well over 200 of them, of 20–45 lines, each consisting of 16–40 letters; the numbers of lines and letters are fairly uniform in each roll.

There are holes (‘lacunae’) of varying size; surfaces may have been badly abraded in the process of unrolling; ink may have faded, or even vanished altogether; glues used to hold the papyri together and mount them have in some cases penetrated and darkened them. Significant advances in reading the papyri have been made, however, especially by the use of microscopes (first in 1970, then, from 1995, with built-in illumination) and, from 2000, of digital photographs taken mostly in the near-infrared region (‘multi-spectral images’). The problems of continuity posed by the way in which the papyri were opened and read have also recently been addressed in a systematic way. Guglielmo Cavallo’s study (1983) of the scribal hands used in the papyri allowed the texts to be grouped and dated, and it allowed the recognition that numerous pieces had once belonged to the same roll. These technical and philological advances, which have dramatically improved and extended our access to Philodemus’ thought, now require the re-edition of all texts of Herculaneum papyri. There are also newer technical methods which may soon change the situation again by providing three-dimensional images of opened papyri or even reading still rolled-up pieces without opening them.

2.2.4 Reconstructing Philodemus’ philosophical oeuvre

2.2.4.1 Titles

In many texts we have lost the pages placed at the end of a roll, on which a scribe would write the work’s author and title (and sometimes more information too, such as the number of columns or standard lines the bookroll contained); nearly all the title-pages from the beginnings of the rolls have been lost, as well. Many such orphaned rolls have been assigned to Philodemus indirectly, on the basis of the nature of the bookroll and of the hand in which it was copied, and of the work’s style and content. Scholars have also given titles to some works based on their content and, in some cases, relying on references to such titles in other works of Philodemus’. A related difficulty is posed by the possibility that titles may have taken various forms, as in the papyri of On Vices, where the title-pages at the beginning of the rolls seem to have had a somewhat fuller title, those at the ends of the rolls a shorter version. The point is relevant because Philodemus’ philosophical production can of course be rightly described and evaluated only on the basis of an accurate list of his writings. Most attributions of works to Philodemus are generally accepted by scholars; conjectured titles, however, should often be understood as exempli gratia.

Philodemus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Don Thank you!

I would guess that probably only a few frequent and/or core members would be interested in being notified whenever the forum is down with an alternative mode of communication. If something were to happen and the forum was down for 3 days, probably some of us would want to communicate. I could begin with compiling a list of active members and then next step would be to verify email addresses.

This one: (which isn't listed in the poll):

“Some men have desired to gain reputation and to be well regarded, thinking in this way to gain protection from other people. If the lives of such men are secure, they have acquired a natural blessing; but if they are not, they do not possess what they originally reached for by natural instinct.” Strodach (2012)

Tomorrow Night at 8pm ET - We will discuss the Vatican Sayings - 20 and 21 - Open to forum members - message me if you need the Zoom link.

Bailey translation:

VS20. Of our desires some are natural and necessary, others are natural but not necessary; and others are neither natural nor necessary, but are due to groundless opinion.

VS21. We must not force Nature but persuade her. We shall persuade her if we satisfy the necessary desires, and also those bodily desires that do not harm us, while sternly checking those that are harmful.

St. Andre translation:

VS 21: Nature must be persuaded, not forced. And we will persuade nature by fulfilling the necessary desires, and the natural desires too if they cause no harm, but sharply rejecting the harmful desires.

My take on this one:

For most people when they rest they are either sleeping or in a state of drowsiness, and when they are active then they are rushing around frantically trying to get as much done as possible. So then a much more pleasant state is to calmly take action in a deliberate and focused manner (neither in a dull state of mind nor a in frantic state of mind).

Quote from Don

Not necessarily that they're not taking time for leisure purposefully, but that they're "pre-occupied" with the daily grind.

Occupied by activities which pull one away from the fullness of enjoying life - these could be activities of the mind or actual activities which feel unfulfilling. If your mind is always processing all the little things you need to do next, in a subtle kind of "worry"..."I've got to do this, I've got to do that"...and these thoughts make it difficult to savor the present moment. It is almost as if joy is a very subtle experience and the complexities of civilization are so much more noisy and make it difficult to look for and see joy. If you combine this one with Vatican Saying 11, then it fleshes it out a bit more (at least in my mind).

AaronSF Welcome to the forum!

Thanks Little Rocker ..."blow up your TV" . Good thing it was "throw away your papers" and not your books! Also liked the line "try to find Jesus on your own". The equivalent might be find Epicurus on your own (It's not possible to start a meet-up group unless you are in a big enough city).

But the true reality of living out in the country these days is it can be hard to (or expensive) to get internet, or good quality internet. (Starlink can be spotty and slow).

Although, living out in the country could include "blowing up your internet" ...but I couldn't live without it!

Here is the text of the presentation I gave this evening:

What do Happy People Do?

Vatican Saying 14 says: "We are born only once and cannot be born twice, and must forever live no more. You don't control tomorrow, yet you postpone joy. Life is ruined by putting things off, and each of us dies without truly living."

This brings up the idea of "carpe diem", since it reminds us not to postpone joy. But I don't think that this is the kind of carpe diem mentality that simply reminds us that we better go take that vacation that we've been putting off.

In another Vatican Saying (Vatican Saying 52): "Friendship dances around the world, announcing to each of us that we must awaken to happiness."

When is comes to happiness, positive psychology authors and researchers all seem to have their own favorite recipe for how to become happier. Some of the ingredients are the same and others are different. They are often "masters of the obvious", and studies often contain disclaimers such as this: "Additional research is needed to test whether these results replicate and generalize to other samples and situations."

Positive psychology is a relatively new branch of psychology which began in the 1990's and focuses on eudaimonia - the pursuit of happiness and the good life.

Recently I found an article titled: "What happy people do: The behavioral correlates of happiness in everyday situations". A study was done on the subjective versus the objective evaluation of happiness while observing participants being interviewed about themselves, and secondly, they were observed while participating in a social interaction with strangers. The patterns of observed behaviors associated with happiness were highly similar between the two situations. Happier people smiled more frequently, acted playful and behaved cheerfully, while unhappy people expressed criticism or guilt, or acted irritated or anxious. "Overall, the greater positive affect and more enjoyable experiences that happier people have in their daily lives is to a considerable degree reflected in their observable behaviors."

In another article titled "The number one thing to change to be happier" - Dr. Robert Waldinger, author of "The Good Life: Lessons from the world's longest scientific study of happiness", says the single most important thing to do to increase your level of happiness is to prioritize and invest in relationships with other people.

I have only just scratched the tip of the iceberg, in presenting some ways to increase happiness. In the reading that I have done over the past week, I've seen referenced many aspects of life that are touted as important to happiness: exercise or physical activity, optimism, self-confidence, and emotional resilience are all thought to be important.

Action for happiness.org - Has a page titled "10 Keys to Happier Living. Their homepage states: "Everyone's path to happiness is different. Based on the latest research, we have identified 10 keys to happier living that consistently tend to make life happier and more fulfilling." (I'll add emphasis onto the word "tend").

And it lists the following:

Giving - do kind things for others

Relating - connect with other people

Exercising - take care of your body

Awareness - live life mindfully

Trying out - keep learning new things

Direction - have goals to look forward to

Resilience - find ways to bounce back

Emotions - look for what's good

Acceptance - be comfortable with who you are

Meaning - be part of something bigger

It's important to remember that everyone's recipe for happiness is going to be slightly different, and we have to decide for ourselves what works for us.

As Epicureans, we take the art of taking pleasure seriously. Our recipe for happiness and joy includes paying attention to what our senses tell us, and using our mind's ability to imagine and plan for the best outcome, through our wise choices and avoidances.

And as Epicurus already knew, over 2300 years ago:

"Of all the things that wisdom provides for the complete happiness of one's entire life, by far the greatest is friendship." (PD27)

As for actionable steps, from the first two of the positive psychology studies that I referenced above...smile more and consider all the ways you can improve the quality of your interactions with people, and be sure to make it a top priority to schedule time with your family and friends.

Sources:

What happy people do: The behavioral correlates of happiness in everyday situations

What's the one thing to change to be happier

10 Keys to Happier Living

Godfrey Thanks for let us know!

I'll post the text of my presentation after the meeting (it is about 5 minutes long).

Hopefully the power will stay on tonight (thunderstorm rolling in with a potential for high winds).

There is a strong thunderstorm on its way, and just in case I can't present tonight during our Happy Hour Zoom, here are some slides:

I've been editing post 1 above, so a few added points, (so re-read post 1) and if anyone has anything else to add, would enjoy any additional ideas.

What would be some competencies of understanding, which could be broken down into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels? This could also be used for Epicurus College and the "Seven Steps to Epicurus" program.

Here are just a few ideas to get the ball rolling (lots more needs to be added still).

Beginning competencies:

Who was Epicurus?

What is pleasure according to Epicurus?

What is the guide of life?

What are the three parts of Epicurean philosophy?

What are the extant texts of Epicurus?

Intermediate competencies:

What is the talos according to Epicurus?

How does the guide of life differ from the goal of life?

What are the core themes covered in Epicurean ethics?

Why has Epicurus' philosophy been considered controversial?

How can we begin to apply Epicurean philosophy to our own lives?

Advanced competencies:

What are the Epicurean canonics and why are they important?

Why do we believe there is no life after death and no afterlife?

Why do we believe there are no supernatural God(s)?

Why do we believe we have free will?

What are the differences between Epicureanism and modern Stoicism?

What are the differences between modern Western culture and the Epicurean worldview?

How do we develop a proper understanding toward death?

According to Epicurus, how does a wise person live?

What is the correct way to use pleasure in our "choices and avoidances"?

Do I consider myself an Epicurean, and why?