Category: Memorable Concepts
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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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“Joy And Cheerfulness Are Beheld in Motion And Energy”
Lest we forget that Epicurus valued pursuit of happiness through action as well as through reflection: From Diogenes Laertius (Cyril Bailey translation): Now, he [Epicurus] differs from the Cyrenaics about...
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Never Forget That The Clock Is Ticking!
As someone who finds it very easy to get distracted in meaningless controversies, I need to constantly remind myself how Epicurus stressed that the clock is ticking on our mortality. ...
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Comments On The Role of “Reason” In Epicureanism
Prior to beginning my study Epicurus I had picked up the impression that Plato was somehow “anti-reason,” and that Aristotle was the great defender of “reason” against the Platonic viewpoint. ...
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“Our Canon Is:”
[Edit 06/20/15: This post probably needs revision. I have come to question whether Hicks’ translation of this line is accurate and this needs to be checked.] “Our canon is that...
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Mr. Spock Was Not An Epicurean God
There an important passage in Book II of Lucretius that is frequently translated in a way I find questionable. Rolfe Humphries, one of my favorite translators, renders it as follows: ...
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The Doctrines of Epicurus – Annotated
Further reading in DeWitt’s Epicurus and His Philosophy has reminded me that the ancient Epicureans advised that the Principle Doctrines be committed to memory. In order to assist myself in...
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Truth and Misconception Regarding Epicurus and Epicureanism
In Chapter 1 of Epicurus and His Philosophy, Norman DeWitt presented a very useful list of common misconceptions about Epicurus, contrasted with the better view that he supported by the...
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No Fate But What We Make
A discussion of the details of “Terminator 2” is far beyond the scope of this blog, but composites made from two scenes of that movie form a good frame for...
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On The Critical Distinction Between “Events” And “Accidents”
In the course of preparing a presentation of De Rerum Natura with the translations of Cyril Bailey, H.A.J. Munro, and the original Latin in parallel, I came across a translation...