Wednesday Night Zoom - Focusing On Usener's Epicurea

For our Wednesday Zoom of October 2nd, 2024, we will be resuming the Epicurea discussion at [U67] on page 187/188 of the current PDF. For the latest copy, click here and go to the last post in that thread.

The topic of U67 is discussion of references to Epicurus' Work "On The End-Goal," which began at the Section 45 heading on page 186.

While we don't have any surviving copies of "On The End-Goal," this section of Usener collects references which preserve for us some of what Epicurus wrote in that work.

For next Wednesday, October 09, we will wrap up discussion on U67 and the implications of the various recorded statements of Epicurus to the effect of:

• And indeed Epíkouros, while not hiding himself, says loudly "I myself am not able to conceive the good – if I removed the pleasure from flavor, and removed the pleasure from Aphrodisian activities." For this wise man believes that even the life of profligates can be irreproachable – if It should be safe and favorable for one of them! Therefore, the Poets of comedy, who are perhaps disdainful of pleasure and intemperance, call out the Epicureans and Followers.

We are going to focus especially on the first sentence of this passage, but I have left the remainder of the quote so we can see the manner in which it is combined with PD10 for purposes of disparagement. This point "I myself am not able to conceive the good...." will also be a focus to be covered in our "First Monday" meeting of October.

Find the full U67 on page 188 of Bryan's PDF version of Epicurea here:

https://www.epicureanfriends.com/wcf/attachment/4995-epicurea-9-11-pdf/

On October 16 we will start with the following text, which is part of [U67] and on page 191 of the current PDF

Cicero, De Finibus, 2.29

he truly does not see the greatest argument is: that this [kinetic] pleasure – which, when removed, He denies that he understands at all what the good is(but he nevertheless pursues it in this way: That which is perceived by the palate, That [which is perceived] by the ears; He adds other things, which, if You mention, Honor must [also] be proclaimed) – this [kinetic pleasure], therefore, which the severe and serious Philosopher knows to be "the sole good," he likewise does not see that it should not even be sought, because, according to this same author, We do not long for that pleasure when We are free from pain

Wednesday October 23 we will pick up the discussion on page 194 of the current PDF which is the beginning of Section 48 - On Nature. Bryan is including in this section excerpts from On Nature which are not in Usener's collection, so the PDF may change before our meeting next week.

Wednesday October 30 we will again pick the discussion on page 194 of the current PDF which is the beginning of Section 48 - On Nature. On October 23 we had an excellent discussion including a significant summary presented by Tau Phi, which we appreciate very much. Unless something new and unexpected comes up, on the 30th we will likely begin the text on page 194.

Under the "New Items" section of our normal agenda tonight let's discuss briefly what we know about the new collection of essays on Epicurean Philosophy brought to our attention by Matteng:

Post

RE: Epicureanism and Scientific Debates Epicurean Tradition and its Ancient Reception - New (2023) Collection of Commentaries

Yes there is a Volume 1 it is about other topics,: language, medicine and metereology

https://www.academia.edu/107573476/Epic…_Late_Reception

Matteng

October 30, 2024 at 5:37 AM

Tonight we resumed discussion of Usener's Epicurea and began discussion of the section On Nature. Next week will be the 20th, so on 11/27, for those who can make Thanksgiving Eve, we will pick up with section 2.2 On Films (images) on page 220 of the PDF.

My phone battery died mid-call, sorry to have missed the end!