Posts by Mathitis Kipouros

Thanks for taking the suggestion Cassius

I hope I'm not abusing your kindness by suggesting the following: Wouldn't a progress tracking bar or similar thing on a user's dashboard be great? A user could check what they've read to affect their progress and that would give us a standard to know where everybody's at.

As a gameish feature, I thing it would help engagement and continuity. In my experience, this sort of thing brings pleasure most often than not (we must have a pre conception about it 😆).

I guess I had forgotten about that list in the initial post, thanks a lot for reminding me of it. I'll put it here so if someone else reads this they don't have to go to the other page to see it:

1. The Biography of Epicurus By Diogenes Laertius (Chapter 10). This includes all Epicurus' letters and the Authorized Doctrines. Supplement with the Vatican list of Sayings.
2. "Epicurus And His Philosophy" - Norman DeWitt
3. "On The Nature of Things"- Lucretius
4. Cicero's "On Ends" - Torquatus Section
5. Cicero's "On The Nature of the Gods" - Velleius Section
6. The Inscription of Diogenes of Oinoanda - Martin Ferguson Smith translation
7. A Few Days In Athens" - Frances Wright
8. Lucian Core Texts on Epicurus: (1) Alexander the Oracle-Monger, (2) Hermotimus
9. Plato's Philebus
10. Philodemus "On Methods of Inference" (De Lacy version, including his appendix on relationship of Epicurean canon to Aristotle and other Greeks)
11. "The Greeks on Pleasure" -Gosling & Taylor Sections on Epicurus, especially on katastematic and kinetic pleasure.

I just have one more question: Why doesn't this list have a prominent place in the "CORE TEXTS" section of the main menu? Perhaps they're not core texts, but then I'd insist that they should have a prominent place somewhere that could be more accessible, since, as you mentioned in that post, these are the "key texts and references which most all serious students of Epicurus will want to read and evaluate for themselves". Just an idea.

As an example: I didn't have any plans on reading the biography by Diogenes any time soon, and that's changed now. I was probably going to dive into the "methods of inference" next, which I won't now, because of a reference in one of the other threads I was interested in. I'm pretty sure that's not only my case that we have limited time to devote to reading, so this list gives me confidence that I'd be reading the things that this group of friends recommends.

Thanks.

I would just add/ask Cassius :

Is there a roadway traced somewhere in the site for learning Epicurean Philosophy?

If so, perhaps it would be helpful to link it on this thread and to feature it prominently as such somewhere in the menus.

If there isn't, perhaps you (all of the most studied ones) could use this thread to create a consensus on what this roadmap should be.

There are many references to texts thrown around in different threads, which I guess is great for completeness of those conversations, but perhaps if we had a roadmap to refer to, we could take those reading recommendations and contrast them to their place on the roadmap and recognize that perhaps we're reading something that, according to the roadmap, is out of our depth.

If the synoptic view of Epicurus as espoused by DeWitt is something that makes sense to all, perhaps that could serve as a guideline for the creation of this roadmap.

It makes sense that you emphasize that until someone's studied enough they wont be able to have a good understanding of the philosophy, and will probably do more harm than good; if I had to bet, id bet that many here would like to talk to others about the philosophy, and it would be cool to have a milestone where we could say "from here on, I already know enough not to do more harm than good".

Having this roadmap will help also in sending that message in the most material way possible, as opposed to asking people to have faith that later on they will be able to "see things more clearly".

I just re read the text from DeWitt you pasted... re reading it now a second time helps in understanding it a bit better (the text, not the concept), but it's still pretty dense, obscure and convoluted for me, and it doesn't help me see isonomia as something different than pure logic and without practical application.

Perhaps I'm too early in my studies to be able to grasp the practical implications and/or usefulness of such a concept.

Quote from Cassius

And my answer to that, from what I believe was probably Epicurus' perspective, is that many people would conclude (if they believed that this earth was the only inhabited place in the universe) that that would mean there is something "special" about us, leading directly to a likely conclusion of divine action to explain that "specialness".

I see what you say but I still think that you can get to that conclusion from the materialism and naturalism of the Philosophy; I don't need isonomia for that. I would even go as far as saying that there being other places where life like outs exist doesn't automatically discard the possibility of a supernatural intervention, these supernatural gods could've very well decided to create others "as special as we are".

Quote from Cassius

think about what is higher, which is something that seems to be an important part of Epicurean philosophy and helps explain why we should not, in fact, generally be satisfied with living in a cave on bread and water.

A platonic red flag was raised in my mind when I read this: This may put you on track to disregard your pleasure by searching for "something higher". I'm pretty sure you didn't mean it the way I'm putting it but I think it's important to clarify it for future reference.

I'm reading the passage of DRN where Lucretius talks about the cow and how she feels the loss of her calf.

Is this an example of an anticipation or pre conception? I'm pretty sure he's not talking about platonic motherly love. So why does the cow feel that, if not because - biologically - all animals have this pre conception that causes them pain... or - psychologically - both mothers and some males form this anticipation somehow?

Why is isonomia important to us? How is it useful? How does it helps us understand nature better?

And also, when you talk about many worlds Joshua you main many configurations similar to earth in this universe? Or other universes similar to our own? (Why would nature allow only one kind of universe like ours)...

Sorry for the apparently stubborn and foolish question, but I think it reinforces for me that this is a concept I don't need at all, but, again, I'm very open to have my mind changed.

The last few days I've been thinking more and more about anticipations trying to understand them but also, I think, getting more my mind around what is it concretely we're talking about.

I liked thinking about them as a faculty. I've been pondering about how this faculty works, and I thought about it (thanks to others in this thread/forum) being the faculty to contrast "automatic" reactions - that we have towards and about things we experience and think about - to how we expect them to be; the expectation being the actual pre-conception, or anticipation, to the reaction and to our consciousness of it.

These expectations being formed both biologically (language) and psychologically, perhaps?

Does anyone have references to current divulgation of research about anything that could align to these anticipations of Epicurus?

Quote from EricR

we actually use our free will to try an approach/achieve whatever determinism we can get a hold of.

Thanks for the thoughtful post EricR and sorry for the delayed response. What I was trying to say is that to me having free will is so true and obvious that I don't think it's needed to explain why or how it works to confirm it does work. I was offering a "paradoxical observation", just as play, not fully thought through, (as friendly-bait to see if someone saw something about it too) in which with our free will we're constantly trying to find ways of doing things that give us the sense of living deterministically, as if we're so free we actually try to renounce some of the burden of defining our own path systematically, thus our desire to have some sort of outside unavoidable guideline that would let us know what we should do.

About the anarchism part of the post, I'm going to have to side with Cassius in that we're going to get lost in clarifying the definitions we understand of the concept. I would just emphasize that authority is an idea, and as such, is something we either accept or don't, conscious or unconsciously.

Quote from Cassius

I interpret opposition to authority to be rhe essence of anarchism. Can you give me something to explain that?

I guess you're not completely wrong; I think you're right to asume that anarchism as an ideal, by definition, is an opposition to authority as a default; it's implicit in its name too; this probably has led some to believe it is an ideal that promotes full chaos and permanent rebellion without a cause; and probably has led some to act according to that interpretation of the ideal, probably not conducing to much pleasure for them or the ones around them; but, since we as Epicureans know better, we know that not all abstractions and ideals are wrong in and of themselves, but rather in their capacity to provide for us pleasure or pain; so, I don't ascribe to the ideal for the sake of it, much less ascribe to the common and caricaturized interpretation of it, but rather, after putting it to the test, I think it has potential as being useful for our pleasure, as its main argument is not only based on material grounds, but also disposed to dismantle other commonly accepted ideals or superstitions, which I think goes in line with our disposition to learn more about nature with the final objective of dispelling false beliefs (or probably test an anticipation, like the one I wrote about lines above); in this case: that there's no supernatural/unquestionable authority of some over others.

It's not an ideallistic position that all authority is bad, but rather a materialistic position that tries to draw attention and create awareness of something we usually accept blindly or take for granted but that perhaps is not particularly good for us.

So, given that we can accept that authority doesn't exist, because this is an ideallization and no ideal form does exist, it follows that any and all authorities or manifestations of authority should be permanently and from the start questioned/tested (so long as this questioning/testing doesn't create an imbalance of long term pleasure/pain on the side of pain to the testers).

Now that we're talking about real, material, practical issues, we can go a bit further and talk about what the test should be, and there is where I think it can fully connect with Epicureanism: The authority should be good for you, in terms of providing for you the most pleasure, the most opportunity to achieve pleasure, the most stability for you to seek pleasure on your own (like Don said), etc.

Pragmatically speaking, it is a point of view that doesn't necessarily go against any form of government or political system as long as they've proven to be useful to your pleasure. And its useful for you to manage the common anticipation that you need to abide to some leader.

I don't have this fully formed in my head yet, but your questions Cassius have been great to think about this topic (political systems) that has always been pleasurable for me to think about.

Quote from Cassius

I think you are on the right track comparing this with something derived from an anticipation. It is something we experience as true even almost like pleasure and pain. It is part of our natural experience of life and therefore it's a given that we take it and use it regardless of how it works

I goy a bit confused about what is it that you're referring yo here.

Quote from Cassius

Perhaps you meant authoritarianism in the last sentence?

No, I did mean anarchism. As in: "a political philosophy and movementthat is sceptical of authority and rejects all involuntary, coercive forms of hierarchy." It's pretty idealized, but thus are all forms of government and political systems; it's just that this one I find more in line with Epicurean Philosophy. The "skeptical about authority part"'is what I'm alluding to when I reference it in the post. It means that an authority has to prove its value, it's not to be accepted automatically (rings a bell?) and the test is one of materialism, where there should be a clear benefit (rings another bell) for the ones who are "being ruled".

Quote from Cassius

One point I would make among systems however is that I think just like we sometimes choose pain in the short term, and just as there is no absolute justice, it is probably the case that depending on circumstance it can be necessary to move from system to system as required by "temporary" facts

This is the point exactly. The examples you post are confirming of this too.

I write this a bit humorously, because there's some paradox play (it may be frowned upon but it's not prohibited yet ) and because it's not completely thought through, but it's something that just came to mind and I don't want to forget it.

The more I think about it, the more I'm aware that the debate about free will versus determinism is just nonsense. I really think we don't need more proof or explanation about our ability to live with free will, but just to accept it and experience it. I think this is so evident that we actually use our free will to try an approach/achieve whatever determinism we can get a hold of.

Perhaps this is an anticipation in and of itself. Formed by centuries of wanting to abide to something outside of oneself to find safety (to allow yourself to feel pleasure).

But let me explain this point of view: The platonists seek this determinism in idealizations, the stoics and religious in providence, and we try to do so the most real and natural way, by trying to be aware of what feels good for us (which is undeniably determined by our bodies, and probably anticipations).

I think our way is the best because the authority we abide to is put within ourselves, and what we do is try to understand it, polish it, and let it reign for our own tangible happiness. Whereas the other "leaders, sages" even psychologists advocate for a "losing of the self", "transcendence of the self" for all the wrong reasons, among them subjecting themselves to a will outside of them, we actually can let go of the "ideal" self to embrace the material, real self.

To round up with a little politics, all of this may sound pretty much tending towards authoritarianism, but it's actually rather anarchist, in that anarchism espouses the view that an authority figure is not bad in an of itself as long as its authority is justified by the benefits it provides to the ones it's leading. Which we know is our case.

Quote from Cassius

Likewise I think it is not correct to suggest that we are born with "ideas" of justice such as equality before the law or contracts or cooperation or teamwork. We are born with a faculty of perceiving that something called "justice" is involved in certain situations and arrangements when we perceive those arrangements for the first time. We are not born with an "idea" of a god being omnipotent or omniscient of even self-sufficient. We are born with a faculty of perceiving that there is a spectrum of perfection in living beings, and that as we come into contact with examples of living beings we can recognize that there is a way to rank living beings in terms of how successful they are in living.

I can agree with this. That we are born with something which is, please forgive the redundancy, innate, but not innate ideas. It's an innate "code" perhaps, which is recorded in us genetically, as Chomsky explains about how we as humans have an innate capacity (faculty?) to learn to use language, apparently automatically (when correctly stimulated), in forma that are not explicitly explained to us by anyone. If you've had kids you must remember this, when they surprisingly start talking in complex ways when nobody's taught them this specifically.

One of the reasons we use this pre-conceptions unconsciously must be because it's pleasurable to do so. Perhaps to be still pre-conceptions or anticipations they must remain unconscious? (They are pre-conscious? Anticipated to conscience?) As soon as they become conscious we start trying to define them, or put names to them, when perhaps what would be more pleasurable would be to observe/experience them?

Perhaps they are part of the canon not so much "use them" as faculties, but rather just to be aware that they happen? (As complementary to the senses that we can choose to engage, and pleasure/pain we can use to discern good/bad)

Thanks to everyone for a great thread, it's been very illuminating.

I'm deeming it, for now, as an unuseful abstraction. The more I read about it, the more it seems like a magical ideal. But I'm open to being corrected.

Quote from Don

To what does Epicurus's philosophy point? Or What is the point of Epicurus's philosophy?

To me, that answer would be "the greatest good"

I think "the greatest good" is here being used as a platonic ideal. I think Epicurus philosophy pointed to something very material instead: Teaching how to care for the only object you can really posses (life) and how to give it the best use possible (following pleasure) while being able to resolve confusions about it (the canon).

Quote from Godfrey

My point is that it's possibly useful to think of the sculpture as a proxy for "life itself," and to think of my conclusion of the best thing to do as "the goal." Of course one may arrive at their own conclusions

This is exactly what I was referring to. I really liked your post. I think you hit the nail in the head.

Wikipedia doesn't seem to help much:

Isonomia (ἰσονομία "equality of political rights,"^[1][2] from the Greek ἴσος isos, "equal," and νόμος nomos, "usage, custom, law,"^[1]) was a word used by ancient Greek writers such as Herodotus^[3] and Thucydides^[4] to refer to some kind of popular government. It was subsequently eclipsed until brought back into English as isonomy ("equality of law").

Isonomia - Wikipedia

Quote from Don

No, I don't think so. I should probably have written "Death would be the greatest evil" but even that may be overstating. But"life as the greatest good" per DeWitt doesn't strike me as helpful. It's not life per se. I think Epicurus would ask what's the kind of life you're living. Is it directed toward pleasure? Are you making choices based on moving your life in a pleasurable direction? Are you loving and practicing wisdom (ie, applying Epicurean philosophy) ?

I kindly wish too push my question again, as I believe you have the right intent in your answer, but I think you're still answering about the adjective "good" (comparing it to evil) and not "good" as a thing (which doesn't need comparison), which is how I understood DeWitt used it. From this point of view, life is not either good or bad, per se, but it's just something that is, and that we do have (semantically somebody would debate that you can't "have" life, but I hope is clear that I use it as in "we can take care of it, cherish it, keep it safe, and lose it"). I remember DeWitt saying "life is the greatest good" in contrast to "pleasure being the greatest good", and making the clarification that pleasure is not something you have, but that you experience, and thus, our objective/end/telos, is to experience pleasure.

As for the adjective "good", as in what is right or wrong, I think it's clear that good is pleasure and wrong is pain.

And as such, we could have a thing that is good (gives us pleasure) or bad (gives us pain), and thus, our greatest thing (life) could be a good one or a bad one.

Wow. From all the clarifications I'm going out of my way to provide, I see why Cassius says we may be falling into a logical or semantic trap, but I don't believe this is the case.

Quote from Don

Life can't be the "greatest good," otherwise, death would conversely be the "greatest bad." And death is nothing to us.

Pleasure (i.e., living a pleasurable life) is the goal, telos, beginning, and end.

When I read this in DeWitt, I took it not as an adjective (whose opposite would rightly be "bad") but rather as noun; as in the best thing we could ever have; and if we lost it, we would be loosing the greatest thing we had. This doesn't imply that we should fear losing it, as long as we're certain we are giving it and will keep on giving it the best possible use towards the ultimate goal of pleasure, the thing that is most greatly good.

Was I interpreting this wrong?