Tonight we are dividing time between:
1 - The Vatican Sayings:
VS08. The wealth required by Nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity.
VS09. Necessity is an evil, but there is no necessity to live under the control of necessity.
2 - Our Special Topic
Tonight I suggest we think about and discuss a continuing question: Is there anything in Epicurean philosophy that tells a particular person what particular pleasure to choose (or pain to avoid) at any particular time. In other words, this is a variation of the old question: "Is one pleasure better than another?" And the goal should be to come up with some kind of coherent analysis of how we would recommend a particular person at a particular time to proceed. Is all we can say is "It's contextual and up to you!" Or is there more for which we can find justification in the Epicurean texts?
I am starting this thread after a couple of comments have come in already:
Godfrey wrote: " Lucretius writes in Book 3 about the fear of death. The desires and behaviors that he lists, to me, fall into the unnatural/vain/toxic desires category, which would apply to VS08. Things such as wanting statues of yourself, pursuing political fame and the like." (Primarily lines 59-93.)
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