Author: Cassius Amicus
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New “Fundamentals of Epicurean Philosophy” Video
Today it is time to release an advanced draft of a new “Fundamentals of Epicurean Philosophy” video I have been preparing. The point of this effort is to produce an...
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The Painless Peter Potter Principle
In 1948, Bob Hope and Jane Russell starred in the movie “The Paleface.” Hope’s character in the movie was “Painless Peter Potter,” a dentist whose selling point was that he...
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One of the Best Presentations On The History of Epicurean Philosophy You Will Likely Ever See
Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve, presents a talk entitled “Lucretius And His Intolerable Ideas.” This talk was given at the Getty Museum on June 5, 2014. This talk focuses...
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Lucretius’ Hymn To Venus, from Book I of De Rerum Natura, Set to Music
Lucretius’ Hymn To Venus, from Book I of De Rerum Natura, set to music. Excellent!
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Thomas Aquinas v. Epicurus – On The Nature of Pleasure
I have been continuing to research the philosophical background against which Epicurus constructed his Principle Doctrines, and I decided to let a more recent writer do some of the work...
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Pleasure and Time – Stoics v. Epicureans
A recent post on the Epicurean Philosophy facebook page pointed out that Pierre Hadot has written in “Philosophy as a Way of Life” that “both Stoicism and Epicureanism … posit …...
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If Death Is Nothing To Us, What Is Everything To Us?
Subtitled: “Why We Must Fight For Joy And Delight.” The second most important doctrine in the list left to us by the ancient Epicureans is “Death is nothing to us;...
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Are “Static” Pleasures Always Preferred?
Are static pleasures (call them katastematic, abiding, or whatever term you prefer) always to be preferred over active pleasures? I believe Epicurus would say – and did say – “Certainly...
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Can’t You Hear That This Thermometer Is Wrong?
Epicurus is often accused of holding that “all sensations are true,” but Norman Dewitt has exhaustively shown through numerous Epicurean texts that Epicurus knew very well that sensations cannot be...
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Of Mice, Syllables, Thermometers, and The Complete Life
Suppose you are talking with a friend who knows next to nothing about formal philosophy. You tell him that you have been reading about Epicurus, and what you have read...