Happy Twentieth of August!
Oh my gosh the 20th is almost over here in my time zone and I haven’t issued a “Happy 20th” myself at Facebook or Epicureanfriends.com, or seen anyone else do so! Life come at you hard sometimes with so many distractions, but I am in my eighth+ year of hard-core Epicurean studying, and I can say without reservation that it has changed my life for the better. I hope your time with Epicurus does as much for you as it has for me. Happy Twentieth and never forget what Epicurus, Metrodorus, and Hermarchus did for all of us!
As Seneca recorded: Sic fac omnia tamquam spectet Epicurus! So do all things as though watching were Epicurus!
And as Philodemus wrote: “I will be faithful to Epicurus, according to whom it has been my choice to live.”
Additional discussion of this post and other Epicurean ideas can be found at EpicureanFriends.com.
]]>
Happy Twentieth of July! Recent discussions of Epicurean gods provide a great opportunity to review one of the most delightful of the records preserved by Cicero, from his “On The Nature of The Gods.” Here is confirmation C. Velleius, someone “then reputed by the Epicureans [to be] the ablest of our countrymen” liked to discuss the subject of the gods “with the confidence peculiar to the sect.” Not only that, but “dreading nothing so much as to seem to doubt of anything” and “as if he had just descended from the council of the gods and Epicurus’ intervals of worlds!”
I take that last part to be humorous rather than biting, because we see the same attitude among religious people today who bitterly reject the contentions of modern science that their mystical protectors do not in fact exist.
But whether or not Cicero was in good humor when he wrote this, it’s important for us to take this example to heart and remember that it is supremely important for us to have confidence that we are not the playthings of supernatural gods. This isn’t a subject about which to shrug our shoulders and say “maybe.” If we were to admit that the stories of the gods might in fact be true, then we would be fools to ignore their threats and rewards.
But based on Epicurean philosophy, however, we can say with confidence that the “fool” shoe is on the other foot. Here’s just a part – the rest of this passage is here.
As Seneca recorded: Sic fac omnia tamquam spectet Epicurus! So do all things as though watching were Epicurus!
And as Philodemus wrote: “I will be faithful to Epicurus, according to whom it has been my choice to live.”
Additional discussion of this post and other Epicurean ideas can be found at EpicureanFriends.com.
]]>
Happy Twentieth of June! Vatican Saying 38 is a very interesting contribution to our understanding of Epicurus’ view of pleasure, not as something simply to be consumed, but something akin to food which strengthens us. Here is the Bailey translation:
As Seneca recorded: Sic fac omnia tamquam spectet Epicurus! So do all things as though watching were Epicurus!
And as Philodemus wrote: “I will be faithful to Epicurus, according to whom it has been my choice to live.”
Additional discussion of this post and other Epicurean ideas can be found at EpicureanFriends.com.
]]>
Please go here to view the full article with the latest revisions. The version as of 5/20/18 is below.
In yesterday’s discussion of Chapter 8 (Sensations, Anticipations, and Feelings) of Norman DeWitt’s book, the comment was made that there is likely a lot of confusion about what is meant by the “Canon of Truth.” The word “canon” is rarely used today, and when it is used it generally has the meaning listed first at Dictionary.com: “an ecclesiastical rule or law enacted by a council or other competent authority and, in the Roman Catholic Church, approved by the pope.” In fact there are fifteen separate definitions listed at Dictionary.com all but one of which would be misleading if we applied it to Epicurus’ canon (see below).
Before getting to those modern usages, it is helpful to look at DeWitt’s observations about the Canon. DeWitt devotes a full chapter to the subject, but it seems to me that three of his points are probably the most important: They are (starting at page 121 of Epicurus and His Philosophy) –
As I understand DeWitt, the points he is making are:
The takeaway from point three is: The Canonical faculties are our direct contact with our environment, and all inferential thinking (that is, all reasoning) depends on the accuracy of the data we get from the three canonical faculties. Truth is not revealed to us by contact with Platonic ideals (forms; divine revelations), nor can we derive truth based on logical calculations if the premises on which those calculations are based are not grounded in accurate observations through the canonical faculties.
To conclude this post, it’s interesting to note that Dictionary.com lists fifteen separate definitions, most of which are not at all what is referred to in the context of the Epicurean canon. A quick review of the list shows that only one (item five – standard; criterion) is reflective of Epicurean usage:
]]>
Happy Twentieth of May!
Epicurus is famously known to written: “To sea with your swift ship, blessed boy, and flee from all education (paideia, also translated as culture).” This remark come to us with no context, as our only source is D.L. 10.6, which combines it with a slam from Epictetus, translated at Perseus this way: “And in his letter to Pythocles : “Hoist all sail, my dear boy, and steer clear of all culture. Epictetus calls him preacher of effeminacy and showers abuse on him.”
Because the traditional commentaries since the Epicurean age have been written by Stoics and other anti-Epicureans, this passage has been used to bolster the argument that Epicurus advised that we should live in isolation, figuratively (if not literally) walling ourselves off from the outside world.
Norman DeWitt rejected that argument as follows, concluding that it was Epicurus goal – not to retreat – but to establish a new culture which would compete with the prevailing culture:
DeWitt continues with his analysis in Chapter Two of his book, but for purposes of this post I just want to emphasis the ramifications. Epicurus devoted his life to an extensive campaign of book-writing, letter-writing, and lecturing. We know little about the personal life of Lucretius, but what we do know is that his “On The Nature of Things” was a monumental effort. Of the other Epicurean lives we know enough about to cite, we know that Titus Pomponius Atticus was extensively involved in the cultural affairs of his time, and we know that Gaius Cassius Longinus was intimately involved in the political affairs of his time. One could argue that the absence of knowledge of the details of the lives of the greater number of Epicureans is evidence of their choice to live obscurely, but there is nothing in the surviving literature to indicate that an isolated or uneducated or hermetic lifestyle was extolled as an example for Epicureans to follow.
What we have instead is the great body of Epicurean philosophy, which when taken seriously leads to the opposite conclusion. Those who took Epicurus seriously will also take their own lives seriously, and lived those lives to the fullest extent possible. If we start with first principles, how can we not live our lives as vigorously as possible? Consider just a few of the Epicurean starting-points:
As Seneca recorded: Sic fac omnia tamquam spectet Epicurus! So do all things as though watching were Epicurus!
And as Philodemus wrote: “I will be faithful to Epicurus, according to whom it has been my choice to live.”
Additional discussion of this post and other Epicurean ideas can be found at EpicureanFriends.com.
]]>
This new outline represents my most comprehensive work to date to translate Epicurean philosophy into outline form suitable for use in presentations to new students and as a review for those who are more experienced. This version incorporates an “Orientation” section, distilled from Chapter One of Norman DeWitt’s “Epicurus and His Philosophy.” Many thanks to our friend Brett W. who assisted with the initial draft of this outline.
For a PDF of this outline click here.
Here’s the frame-free / full screen link again.
Here’s a video description:
]]>Happy Twentieth of April!
If you haven’t already watched the Youtube presentation by Elena Nicoli on how Epicurean philosophy has helped in her own life, I hope you will. I set up a discussion thread on EpicureanFriends.com to talk about it in more detail, including an outline of her major points. If you have comments or questions on this post, please sign in to EpicureanFriends and post them in the discussion there.
For this Twentieth post, however, I’d like to focus attention on aspects of Epicurean philosophy that were not mentioned in the talk, but which are essential to reaching the conclusions that were discussed. I reworked the list into nine points, written in the form of questions that might go through the minds of someone in the audience as they listened to Ms. Nicoli’s presentation:
Epicurus and his followers in the ancient world had answers to each one of the questions – answers that are persuasive even today. But before you can decide for yourself whether to accept Epicurus’ answer, you have to be able to state that answer in terms that are understandable to you, and consistent with Epicurus’ position. It’s one thing to disagree, but before you can disagree with someone you ought to be able to restate their position in clear terms.
Can you state Epicurus’ answer to these nine questions?
As Seneca recorded: Sic fac omnia tamquam spectet Epicurus! So do all things as though watching were Epicurus!
And as Philodemus wrote: “I will be faithful to Epicurus, according to whom it has been my choice to live.”
Additional discussion of this post and other Epicurean ideas can be found at EpicureanFriends.com.
]]>
For anyone who has noticed, this is to let you know that NewEpicurean is alive and well, and has moved to a new host. Salutations to commemorate the Twentieth of February and March of 2018 were posted on EpicureanFriends.com, and that is where I am posting most of my regular activity nowadays. I am reserving NewEpicurean.com for longer and more substantive posts, and I intend to renovate the menus and bring the entire site up to date as time allows. But for the meantime, rest assured that NewEpicurean.com is alive and well. Forward!
]]>Happy Twentieth of December!
For the last several weeks we have been experimenting with closer interaction with our online Epicurean friends, including a “Merry Epicurean 25th” text chat on the 25th of December, and most recently an online voice/text chat to discuss the first chapter of Norman DeWitt’s “Epicurus and His Philosophy.” I think the participants in all of those would agree that they were successful tests of the idea of closer friendship through direct online “meetings,” so later today we will be holding our first online commemoration of an Epicurean 20th.
Please check the page linked below for the server address to log in. We are spread across the world and many of our friends join us at odd hours and great inconvenience to themselves. So far we are finding a start time of 5 PM eastern time (in the USA) gives us greatest flexibility for friends in Greece and even in Thailand to participate.
Please join us today if you can, and we’ll give new life to an old Epicurean tradition! Here is the link for the Epicurean Friends discussion chatroom at DiscordApp.com: either go www.NewEpicurean.com/discordapp or https://discord.gg/mdQY8WW
As Seneca recorded: Sic fac omnia tamquam spectet Epicurus! So do all things as though watching were Epicurus!
And as Philodemus wrote: “I will be faithful to Epicurus, according to whom it has been my choice to live.”
Additional discussion of this post and other Epicurean ideas can be found at the Epicurean Philosophy Facebook Group and EpicureanFriends.com
]]>