Epicurean Wisdom

 I think that Professor Catherine Wilson has a through understanding of Epicurean history and philosophy.  She provides many key insights into how to we might reflect on our lives today, using Epicurean ideas and principles.  Her writing is clear, balanced, and uplifting.  

 How to be an Epicurean: The Ancient Art of Living Well.  By Catherine Wilson, Ph.D.  New York, Basic Books, 2019.  293 pages, notes.  An excellent book for the lay reader with an inquiring mind ready to consider Epicurean viewpoints on a variety of modern issues.  VSCL. 

Epicureanism at the Origins of Modernity  By Catherine Wilson.  Oxford University Press, 2008.  320 pages.  ISBN:  978-0199238811.  A study of Epicurean influences on many of the ideas that pervaded seventeenth and eighteenth century metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and natural and political philosophy.  VSCL. 

Epicureanism: A Very Short Introduction   By Catherine Wilson.  Oxford University Press, 2016.  144 pages.  ISBN: 9780199688326.  VSCL.

I have prepared a hypertext document on Epicureanism that includes a bibliography, quotations, links, references, and notes.  

Don't Draw Attention to Yourself

"The most well-known Epicurean verse, which epitomizes his philosophy, is "lathe biōsas λάθε βιώσας "(Plutarchus De latenter vivendo 1128c; Flavius Philostratus Vita Apollonii 8.28.12), meaning "live secretly", "get through life without drawing attention to yourself", i. e. live without pursuing glory or wealth or power, but anonymously, enjoying little things like food, the company of friends, etc."

Epicurus, 341-270 BCE

Epicurean Philosophy Online

Epicurean History

How to Live a Good Life: Lifestyle Advice from Wise Persons

Taoism  

Epicureanism   A hypertext notebook by Mike Garofalo.  

From a Letter to William Short by Thomas Jefferson, 1819

"I take the liberty of observing that you are not a true disciple of our master Epicurus, in indulging the indolence to which you say you are yielding. One of his canons, you know, was that "that indulgence which prevents a greater pleasure, or produces a greater pain, is to be avoided." Your love of repose will lead, in its progress, to a suspension of healthy exercise, a relaxation of mind, an indifference to everything around you, and finally to a debility of body, and hebetude of mind, the farthest of all things from the happiness which the well-regulated indulgences of Epicurus ensure; fortitude, you know is one of his four cardinal virtues. That teaches us to meet and surmount difficulties; not to fly from them, like cowards; and to fly, too, in vain, for they will meet and arrest us at every turn of our road. Weigh this matter well; brace yourself up ..."


Syllabus of the doctrines of Epicurus (By Thomas Jefferson)

"Physical.—The Universe eternal.

Its parts, great and small interchangeable.

Matter and Void alone.

Motion inherent in matter which is weighty and declining.

Eternal circulation of the elements of bodies.

Gods, an order of beings next superior to man, enjoying in their sphere, their own felicities;
but not meddling with the concerns of the scale of beings below them.

Moral.—Happiness the aim of life.

Virtue the foundation of happiness.

Utility the test of virtue.

Pleasure active and In-do-lent.

In-do-lence, is the absence of pain, the true felicity.

Active, consists in agreeable motion; it is not happiness, but the means to produce it.

Thus the absence of hunger is an article of felicity; eating the means to obtain it.

The summum bonum is to be not pained in body, nor troubled in mind.

i.e. In-do-lence of body, tranquillity of mind.

To procure tranquillity of mind we must avoid desire and fear, the two principal diseases of the mind.

Man is a free agent.

Virtue consists in 1) Prudence. 2) Temperance. 3) Fortitude. 4) Justice." 


The Spirit of Gardening

 

Brace Yourself Up

"I take the liberty of observing that you are not a true disciple of our master Epicurus, in indulging the indolence to which you say you are yielding. One of his canons, you know, was that “that indulgence which prevents a greater pleasure, or produces a greater pain, is to be avoided.” Your love of repose will lead, in its progress, to a suspension of healthy exercise, a relaxation of mind, an indifference to everything around you, and finally to a debility of body, and hebetude of mind, the farthest of all things from the happiness which the well-regulated indulgences of Epicurus ensure; fortitude, you know is one of his four cardinal virtues. That teaches us to meet and surmount difficulties; not to fly from them, like cowards; and to fly, too, in vain, for they will meet and arrest us at every turn of our road. Weigh this matter well; brace yourself up!"
- Thomas Jefferson's letters

New Epicurean Website Articles, Links, Bibliography, News, Discussion, History

Epicurean Discussion Forum

Epicurus and the Pleasant Life

Epicurus and the Pleasant Life: A Philosophy of Nature.  

By Haris Dimitriadis.  Lulu Press, 2018.  448 pages.  ISBN: 138735308X.  VSCL.  

Epicurean Philosophy.  A hypertext document by Mike Garofalo.  This document will explain my admiration of Epicurean philosophy.

The Choicest Pleasures in Life

"Stranger, here you do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure."
- On a sign at the entrance to the Garden of Epicurus in Athens. 

"They that seldom take pleasure, seldom give pleasure."
- Fulke Greville, Maxims

"The choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation."
- Martin Tupper, Proverbial Philosophy

Pleasures and Satisfaction: Quotes and Sayings

Key Ideas of Epicureanism

From the Principal Doctrines of Epicurus:

3. Desires can be based on false, groundless, empty ideals. Be practical and efficient about what you want or desire. What is necessary for a calm, peaceful, satisfying life? If you live simply and more down to earth, what is needed can be rather easily procured. What do you really need rather than what you imagine you might enjoy?

"Of our desires some are natural and necessary, others are natural but not necessary; and others are neither natural nor necessary, but are due to groundless opinion." Principal Doctrines #29

"Those natural desires which entail no pain when unsatisfied, though pursued with an intense effort, are also due to groundless opinion; and it is not because of their own nature they are not got rid of but because of man's groundless opinions." PD #30

"The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity." PD #15

4. Go unnoticed. Mind your own business. Be content with a simple, quiet, private, unnoticed life. Stay clear of public and political notoriety. Don't seek fame.

"Some men want fame and status, thinking that they would thus make themselves secure against other men. If the life of such men really were secure, they have attained a natural good; if, however, it is insecure, they have not attained the end which by nature's own prompting they originally sought."
PD #7

Epicurean Philosophy:  Bibliography, Links, Notes, Documents, Sayings.
Compiled by Mike Garofalo.  

Epicurean Philosophy on Facebook

Celebration in Honor of Epicurus

On February 4th we honor the memory of Epicurus (341-270 BCE), the founder (Hegemon) of the school of philosophy in Athens, Greece, that we now call "Epicureanism."  His school was called "The Garden" (Ho Kepos).

His followers celebrated together in his honor on the 10th of Gamelion.  Gamelion was a lunar period of the Attic Calendar used by the ancient Athenian Greeks. Gamelion was the period in January or February, each Winter, occurring  after a full moon.  Consequently, the celebration of the life and philosophy of Epicurus was a movable feast.  Vincent Cook reports that Epicurus was born on February 4th.

I am content to use February 4th for the purpose of honoring the memory of Epicurus.  Friends of Epicurus, please celebrate and enjoy yourself today.  Epicurus would have encouraged us to: enjoy wholesome pleasures, be cheerful, have peace of mind (ataraxia), be uplifted by our decent friendships, practice kind speech (suavity), find beauty and factuality in the natural world, respect our bodies and our senses, flourish as human beings (eudaimonia), cultivate wisdom through good conversation, reasoning and reading, and let go of superstitious and false beliefs.  We tip our hats to the founder and master! 

Recommended Reading about Epicureanism and Epicurus

Virtue Ethics

A Philosopher's Notebooks


“Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more. Therefore, both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom, the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come. So we must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed towards attaining it.” 
-  Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus