As part of our collaborative work toward an "Epicurean Week" we have come up with a series of "power-point" slides which introduce the philosophy in seven simple steps. The formulation here may change over time as we fine tune this as part of our course materials. This will eventually be expanded into a "7 Weeks with Epicurus". Questions and comments are welcome. Click here for the presentation or you can just click on the graphic above to begin the presentation.
Seven Steps With Epicurus - A Slide Presentation
-
Nice work.
I'd add mention of Philodemus in Step 2.
-
Good outline and nice presentation!
In Step 3, #3, I would prefer "laws", not "law" of nature.
-
Incredible work! Just excellent, well-written: well-presented.
-
Nice work.
I'd add mention of Philodemus in Step 2.
PS. Suggested draft:
Texts continue to be discovered among the scrolls that were buried by Vesuvius in Herculaneum including works by Epicurus himself and Philodemus, a 1st century BCE Epicurean philosopher, poet, and student of Zeno of Sidon who was the head of the Garden in Athens at the time.
Revise as needed
-
Great plan, and great presentation, I really like it, you're very good.
-
Tech question: Do you have to be running Linux to edit Obsidian projects?
-
No - Obsidian is an electron app which is cross-platform and therefore runs on windows, linux, and apple. There are even smartphone versions.
Sweet! I'm going to have to investigate. I have several applications of that cross-platform ability in mind. Thanks!!
-
And to sort of bring this back to what would be the most productive use of the thread, I am thinking about it in context that the best way to learn something is to study it enough to present it to other people.
It's pretty easy nowadays to put together things like this, and what really needs to be the next step is a "voice-over" talking through the points, which could of course be done in many different ways.
So having a platform that is easy to change and update and then use is a strong advantage to have. Customizing an outline has been something we've talked about for a long time:
Creating an outline, adding a narrative voice, and uploading to youtube is an obvious next step.
-
In Step 2, "about the same time as the founding of the Stoic school" should better be replaced by "before the founding of the Stoic school".
DeWitt indicates that there has been a misconception that Epicurus' philosophy was a response to Stoicism. Therefore, we should be clear in the historic timeline.
-
Zeno of Citium ,the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC. Zeno began teaching in the colonnade in the Agora of Athens known as the Stoa Poikile (Greek Στοὰ Ποικίλη) in 301 BC. His disciples were initially called "Zenonians," but eventually they came to be known as "Stoics," a name previously applied to poets who congregated in the Stoa Poikile.
Bornc . 334 BCE Citium, Cyprus
Died c. 262 BC (aged 71–72) Athens
***
Epicurus bought his house and garden in Athens in 306 BCE after teaching in Mytilene and Lampsacus for years. His philosophy was already nearing maturity when he came to Athens.
Born 341 BC Samos, Greece
Died 270 BC (aged about 72) Athens, Greece
***
Epicurus's philosophy was not in response to Stoicism. Stoicism wasn't developed enough to be a real rival to his philosophy until later in the history of the Garden. The philosophies became true rivals by the time of Cicero and Philodemus.
Epicurus's texts shouldn't be read in reference to Stoicism, but the later texts need to be read with Stoics in mind.
That's my perspective.
So... Timeline
Epicurus Born 341 BCE Samos, Greece
Zeno Born c . 334 BCE Citium, Cyprus
Epicurus established Garden 306 BCE
Zeno *begins* teaching in the Stoa 300 BCE
Epicurus Died 270 BC (aged about 72) Athens
Zeno Died c. 262 BC (aged 71–72) Athens
-
so at least five years - maybe more (?)
Zeno was about 7 years younger than Epicurus.
The significance of the timeline is that Epicurus was establishing a mature school in his own property six years before Zeno even began teaching in the Stoa.
Wikipedia:
Apart from Crates, Zeno studied under the philosophers of the Megarian school, including Stilpo, and the dialecticians Diodorus Cronus, and Philo. He is also said to have studied Platonist philosophy under the direction of Xenocrates, and Polemo.
Summary: I would characterize Epicureanism and Stoicism as siblings, with the former being the older one and with all the stereotypical sibling rivalry that goes along with that metaphor. The siblings are not close.
-
Step 4 title is now changed to:
Free Yourself From Supernatural Gods, Fatalism, and Fear Of Death
....Although I am not fully settled on that exact wording.
We still need to add in something about Philodemus and also something about the Vatican Sayings, in Step 2 Key Sources.
-
Cassius
July 4, 2023 at 2:47 PM Changed the title of the thread from “New Slide Presentation - Seven Steps With Epicurus” to “Seven Steps With Epicurus - A Slide Presentation”.
