Category: Against Platonism
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Should “Lady Justice” Be Blindfolded?
Wikipedia reports that use of a “blindfold” on symbols of “Lady Justice” is a modern innovation: Since the 15th century, Lady Justice has often been depicted wearing a blindfold. The...
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“Against The Vulcans”
The thoughts in this post will no doubt need review and revision, but I think they are significant enough to post. I am going to deal here not so much...
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Do Harpsichords Go Sledding In the Snow For Fun?
Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage...
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St. Paul vs. Epicurus
Norman DeWitt, who is in my opinion the author of the best book on Epicurus written since the ancient world, also wrote a second book: “St. Paul and Epicurus” (“SPAE”). ...
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Leave Apathy To The Stoics, and Strive to “Never Be Taken By Surprise.”
There is an unfortunate strain of thought which poses a significant danger for those who do not discern the important differences between Epicurean and Stoic theory. Straying onto the Stoic...
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The Key To Distinguishing The “Greatest Good” from the “Goal” of Life: “Every supreme good … is meaningless to the dead; every supreme good presumes life.”
Because the terms are so regularly discussed, it is necessary to work to gain and keep a clear view of the difference between the “greatest good” of life and the...
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Random? A Fluke? The Rise of Man and the Better View of “Chance and Natural Law In Epicureanism”
I wish to credit Jules Evans and a Facebook discussion for prompting me to return to a subject of supreme importance in Epicureanism. Even more than the nature of “Anticipations,”...
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“They have only to draw some circles, arrange a few triangles and squares, add certain complicated spheres, and lo, they have the cubic contents of Heaven.”
For many generations the science of optics and rocketry were unknown, and experiments were far from the point when man gained compelling visual evidence of the size of the sun,...
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If I have to choose between Platonic mathematicians telling me that reality doesn’t exist, and Epicurean philosophers telling me the sun may be the size of a basketball, I’ll live happily choosing the basketball, thank you.
My title for this post is an overly elaborate way of setting the stage to quote an Epicurean argument from my favorite dialog of Lucian, Hermotimus. The selection ends with...
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“It was Epicurus’ Determination to Dethrone Reason and Set Up Nature As the Norm.”
A recent Facebook discussion and a particular reminder from Stefan bring to mind Norman DeWitt’s argument against the fallacy of thinking that Epicurus held “pleasure” to be the “highest good.”...