Recent Activities
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Don
November 20, 2024 at 8:17 PM Replied to the thread Evidence of Survivors of Pompeii and Herculaneum.Post -
kochiekoch
November 20, 2024 at 5:05 PM Posted the thread Evidence of Survivors of Pompeii and Herculaneum.ThreadSomething you don't think of. There were people that got out of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The abundance of corpses gives you the impression that everybody was killed, but there is evidence that many, if not most got out fast when the eruption started.
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Pacatus
PostNovember 20, 2024 at 4:35 PM I have finished Aioz and Boeri’s Theory and Practice in Epicurean Political Philosophy: Security, Justice and Tranquility. These are my personal thoughts:
Despite the extensive lacunae in the received Epicurean literature; despite the anti-Epicurean… -
Don
November 20, 2024 at 1:11 PM Replied to the thread November Happy Twentieth!.PostHappy 20th!
I've always thought of (US) Thanksgiving as the Epicureanest of traditional holidays with the Founder's emphasis on gratitude. -
Kalosyni
November 20, 2024 at 9:12 AM Posted the thread November Happy Twentieth!.Thread
Happy Twentieth!
Here is a paraphrasing regarding gratitude, taken from Vatican Saying 17 and section 133 from the Letter to Menoeceus: Do not stumble around as if you are of many minds, but instead enter the harbor of gratitude because you are now sure… -
Cassius
November 20, 2024 at 9:06 AM Replied to the thread Cicero’s Stoic Paradoxes - General.PostLinks to the sections of the Rackham translation:- Paradox 1 - Only What Is Morally Noble Is Good -
- Paradox 2 - The Possession of Virtue Is Sufficient For Happiness
- Paradox 3 - All Transgressions Are Equal And All Right Actions Are Equal
- Paradox 4 - Every
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Don
November 19, 2024 at 9:30 PM Replied to the thread “Better to lose the money because of me than to lose me because of the money.”.PostAlthough I, of course, have issues with Plutarch, I've always enjoyed his Sayings of the Spartans. For example:
Someone on seeing a painting in which Spartans were depicted being slain by Athenians, kept repeating, ‘Brave, brave Athenians.’ A Spartan… -
Cassius
November 19, 2024 at 9:18 PM Replied to the thread “Better to lose the money because of me than to lose me because of the money.”.PostThanks Tau Phi! I had heard of the Downloebables website but not that one. -
Don
November 19, 2024 at 9:13 PM Replied to the thread “Better to lose the money because of me than to lose me because of the money.”.PostThat site is a great resource! Thanks for sharing.
182 is pretty good:
Ὁ αὐτὸς ἐρωτηθεὶς ὑπὸ Ἀριστίππου τί αὐτῷ περιεγένετο ἐκ φιλοσοφίας εἶπε· „τὸ πλουτεῖν μηδὲ ὀβολὸν ἔχοντα.“
[Diogenes], having been asked by Aristippus what he got as the result of his… -
TauPhi
ThreadNovember 19, 2024 at 7:57 PM I was recreationally reading the Gnomologium Vaticanum (not to be confused with the Gnomologium Vaticanum Epicureum) and when I stumbled upon sayings related to Aristippus, I started to laugh out loud. Even if a fraction of those sayings are true,… -
Pacatus
November 19, 2024 at 3:21 PM Replied to the thread Epicurean-Compatible Quotes.Post“That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest.”
—Henry David Thoreau -
Pacatus
November 19, 2024 at 12:17 PM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).Post[…]
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Cassius
November 19, 2024 at 11:50 AM Replied to the thread Cicero’s Stoic Paradoxes - General.PostFrom the Rackham edition intro - this is interesting - I have read the slashing and burning attack on Stoicism in the latter parts of On Ends - so what explains the discrepancy, and what was Cicero's true opinion?
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Cassius
November 19, 2024 at 7:32 AM Replied to the thread Cicero’s Stoic Paradoxes - General.PostThank you for posting this Matteng! This is not something I recall running into recently, and I think it will serve as a very good thing for us to review. I haven't yet had a chance to read the full article, but I see that the full work being referenced… -
Cassius
November 19, 2024 at 4:10 AM Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.PostHappy Birthday to sanantoniogarden! Learn more about sanantoniogarden and say happy birthday on sanantoniogarden's timeline: sanantoniogarden -
Don
November 18, 2024 at 10:59 PM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).Post[…]
Maybe disagreement is a little strong
I had to go back and see where we discussed this previously (Nothing dies on the internet) and found one of our threads:
RE: Fundamental Issues In Hedonism So, I do agree with you that everything is contextual. I… -
Matteng
November 18, 2024 at 4:43 PM Posted the thread Cicero’s Stoic Paradoxes - General.ThreadI don't know if it fits here, but I would also be interested in the views on the Stoic paradoxes and Cicero's defense of them
https://howtobeastoic.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/cic…toic-paradoxes/
For example "Virtue is the only good", all virtue is equal and… -
Pacatus
November 18, 2024 at 4:16 PM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).PostJust a note on personal “context”: Epicurean philosophy offers – to me – well-prescribed guardrails against my innate Cyrenaic instincts, and a cogent, practical countervailing philosophy vis-a-vis my Kantian/Stoic upbringing/programming. A late… -
Pacatus
November 18, 2024 at 4:04 PM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).Post@ Cassius : With regard to the gods, I agree (but there remains the idealist-versus-realist question…). With regard to pleasure=absence of pain, that formula is somewhat dependent on the context of Epicurean philosophy (in which there is no… -
Don
November 18, 2024 at 3:55 PM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).Post[…]
LOL
Don't get me started on "living being," but that's a topic for another thread. -
Cassius
November 18, 2024 at 3:48 PM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).Post[…]
Which leads to the question: Do we stop trying, or do we simply define our terms as we think best, such as "believe that a god is a living being blessed and imperishable" or "by pleasure we mean the absence of pain."
I think Epicurus is with you, and… -
Pacatus
November 18, 2024 at 3:33 PM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).Post[…]
I disagree (not what I generally mean – even without much reflection). And I disagree that there is (or can be) some non-contextual definition of “happiness” that can be applied except in the most abstract of cases. The same for “pleasure”… -
Cassius
PostNovember 18, 2024 at 3:00 PM Cute comment by Cicero:
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Cassius
November 18, 2024 at 2:46 PM Posted the thread Cicero's "Academic Questions".ThreadI am setting up this thread in preparation for devoting one or more episodes of the Lucretius Today podcast to the sections of this work devoted to attacking Epicurus. I'd like to add here quotes that are relevant either to Epicurus directly or to issues… -
Cassius
ThreadNovember 18, 2024 at 2:09 PM Episode 259 - Epicurean Ethics Reexamined (Based on Excerpts From Cicero's "Tusculum Disputations")
First of a multipart series to go through the Epicurean Section of this work - excerpts to be posted below: -
Cassius
ThreadNovember 18, 2024 at 2:07 PM Episode 258 - The Epicurean View of Divination (Including References to Cicero's Discussion of the Epicurean Position In His "On Divination"
This will be a single episode to go through the Epicurean Section of this work - excerpts to be posted below:
This… -
Cassius
ThreadNovember 18, 2024 at 2:06 PM Episode 257 - The Epicurean View of Fate (Including References to Cicero's Discussion of the Epicurean Position In His "On Fate"
This will be a single episode to go through the Epicurean Section of this work - excerpts to be posted below:
[18] If the form… -
Cassius
ThreadNovember 18, 2024 at 2:05 PM Welcome to Episode 256 of Lucretius Today. This is a podcast dedicated to the poet Lucretius, who wrote "On The Nature of Things," the most complete presentation of Epicurean philosophy left to us from the ancient world.
Each week we walk you through the… -
Cassius
PostNovember 18, 2024 at 1:38 PM Lucretius Today Episode 255 is now available: "CIcero's Cotta Argues That Epicurean Gods Are As Despicable As Are Epicureans Themselves"
spreaker.com/episode/62790723 -
Cassius
November 18, 2024 at 1:08 PM Posted the thread Welcome Viokane!.ThreadWelcome viokane !
There is one last step to complete your registration:
All new registrants must post a response to this message here in this welcome thread (we do this in order to minimize spam registrations).
You must post your response within 72… -
Don
November 18, 2024 at 7:06 AM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).PostI hesitated to weigh in on this thread, but let's dive in...
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These are exactly the reasons I personally dislike using the word "happiness" itself. In modern Western culture, this is what happiness means for most people: a fizzy, effervescent… -
Cassius
November 17, 2024 at 6:21 PM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).Post[…]
I would say that the decision to seek "meaning" rather than happiness is directly related to buying in, or being browbeaten, into thinking that pleasure and happiness are disreputable goals. The ancients didn't talk about "meaning" because they… -
Kalosyni
November 17, 2024 at 4:35 PM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).PostThe word "happiness" needs to be defined...because it is both the transitory feeling that arises when human needs are met/fulfilled, and also the feeling of being okay with (or satisfied with) how one's life is unfolding.
We need to feel that there are… -
Cassius
November 17, 2024 at 3:37 PM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).Post[…]
I definitely agree with that as to transcendence, and as to "abstractions" I have used that formulation myself.
i write to talk about the meaning of "abstractions" probably not being clear enough would explanation. Mental pleasure is certainly… -
SillyApe
November 17, 2024 at 2:36 PM Replied to the thread An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference).PostSo, what do we have here? An author talking about metaphysical speculations, Christian beliefs, and the so desired(and abstract) "meaning".
"Meaning" is a funny thing. As the author says, we should pursuit it instead of "happiness". The question is: why… -
Don
PostNovember 16, 2024 at 2:48 AM I think I've mentioned this before in this thread, but to update:
The apparent innate ability in psychological experiments of babies and animals to identify fairness seems to me to be connected with the idea that there is a prolepsis of justice or just… -
Pacatus
November 14, 2024 at 4:23 PM Posted the thread Justice & Corruption.Thread -
Kalosyni
November 14, 2024 at 2:35 PM Replied to the thread Best Translaton Of PDO2 To Feature At EpicureanFriends?.PostYes, there is a certain point at which you are dead, and the neurons stop firing.
Regarding the word "death" - first of all we see death in movies but often times it isn't depicted realistically --sometimes the person either dies peacefully or suddenly or… -
Pacatus
PostNovember 14, 2024 at 2:02 PM On re-reading this whole thread, I have some (possibly disjointed) thoughts:- Maybe we should allow all the meaning possibilities of δίκαιος, and allow our translation/understanding to rest on context (such as “justice” or “civilized behavior” or
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Cassius
November 14, 2024 at 1:33 PM Replied to the thread Best Translaton Of PDO2 To Feature At EpicureanFriends?.Post[…]
While I certainly am interested in the latest science, I wouldn't want us to go in that direction primarily. We need to understand where Epicurus was going because his view of death is going to relate to his view of life and how to spend it, as well… -
Joshua
November 14, 2024 at 1:28 PM Replied to the thread Best Translaton Of PDO2 To Feature At EpicureanFriends?.Post"Clinically dead".
So, not dead then. It still surprises me that our use of language concerning something as important as death is so reckless. -
Kalosyni
November 14, 2024 at 1:06 PM Replied to the thread Best Translaton Of PDO2 To Feature At EpicureanFriends?.PostHere is an interesting article, and there may be others with more science details:
https://bigthink.com/surprising-sci…ientists-claim/ -
Cassius
November 14, 2024 at 12:55 PM Replied to the thread New "TWENTIERS" Website.PostAgain, congratulations on some very good work.
As to the comments I made on PD02 in general, I moved them over here:
RE: Best Translaton Of PDO2 To Feature At EpicureanFriends? -
Cassius
November 14, 2024 at 12:28 PM Replied to the thread Best Translaton Of PDO2 To Feature At EpicureanFriends?.Post[…]
Yes I definitely think that's the primary take-home point of the whole thing, as per what is said in the letter to Menoeceus:
Become accustomed to the belief that death is nothing to us. For all good and evil consists in sensation, but death is… -
Eikadistes
November 14, 2024 at 12:17 PM Replied to the thread Best Translaton Of PDO2 To Feature At EpicureanFriends?.Post[…]
It comes down to how we want to read το διαλυθέν αναισθητει- το - (art. sing. acc.) a, the, and occasionally that which or what [is]
- διαλυθέν -(v. aor. pass. nom. sing.) to loosen, dissolve, divorce, discharge, break off, weaken
- αναισθητει - a declension
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Kalosyni
November 14, 2024 at 11:18 AM Posted the thread November 20, 2024 - Twentieth Gathering Zoom - Agenda.Thread
Hello forum members!
Coming up next week is our monthly Twentieth Gathering!
Agenda: Welcome and greetings, commemoration short reading for Epicurus and Metrodorus, short presentation on this month's highlighted famous Epicureans, discussion of popular… -
Kalosyni
November 14, 2024 at 6:41 AM Replied to the thread Wednesday Night Zoom - Focusing On Usener's Epicurea.Post[…]
Oh no! We missed you.
Last night you said something really good about the nature of justice and also quoted Thomas Jefferson...wondering if you have written anything or can write on that? I think it is an important topic. (We do have this sub-forum). -
Joshua
November 13, 2024 at 10:18 PM Replied to the thread Wednesday Night Zoom - Focusing On Usener's Epicurea.PostMy phone battery died mid-call, sorry to have missed the end! -
Joshua
November 13, 2024 at 10:17 PM Replied to the thread Threads of Epicureanism in Art and Literature.PostThe story of Michael Marullus drowning in a river with a copy of Lucretius in his pocket will be familiar to many here. I learned recently that one of France's preeminent poets (Pierre de Ronsard) wrote an epitaph in his honor. It took me ages to track…
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Cassius
January 23, 2024 at 4:17 PM 01/23/24 - Front page logo updated from four to eight points
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Cassius
January 24, 2024 at 7:30 AM New Styles Available: Foxhole and Role Royale - several colors and both are available in light and dark.
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Cassius
January 25, 2024 at 3:03 PM 01/25/24 - Today the "Edit Source" is back within the editing system that we use for all posting on the forum. If you have any questions about it please let me know.
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Cassius
January 26, 2024 at 9:18 PM We are aware that there is still a problem with notification links not taking you to the exact location of the new posts. We're still looking into that with the software provider.
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Cassius
January 27, 2024 at 6:15 AM The Default Style of the Site is now "EpicureanFriends Default" which is a light style. To select a dark theme or different color highlights, select "Change Style" at the bottom right of any page.
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Cassius
January 27, 2024 at 7:02 PM Episode 211 of the Lucretius Today Podcast is now available. This week we take up Cicero's criticism of the Epicurean image of the best life, and observe his contrasting image - that of Cleanthes and the allegedly outrageous image of the virtues being the handmaidens to Pleasure.
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Cassius
January 29, 2024 at 11:51 AM A significant set of updates to the software was just installed which hopefully should correct some recent issues.
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Cassius
March 26, 2024 at 3:41 PM Today we added "Colorplay" dark styles and "Nexus" light styles to the forum software. If you'd like to change the "look" of the forum, scroll to the bottom of the page and select the "Change Style" option.
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Cassius
April 17, 2024 at 2:04 PM Today our Telegram Channel was updated - you can reach it here: https://t.me/EpicureanFriendsOfficial
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Cassius
June 8, 2024 at 8:18 PM Today we changed the default theme style to "Inspire Blue." If you have any issues with site colors or simply want to go from light to dark, check the "Change Style" button at the bottom of each page.
