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- | ====== Epicurean Week Development Project ====== | + | ====== |
===== 1 - Why Study Epicurus? ===== | ===== 1 - Why Study Epicurus? ===== | ||
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+ | Why study Epicurus? | ||
==== Discussion > ==== | ==== Discussion > ==== | ||
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===== 5 - Key Conclusion Three: Pleasure Is The Guide of Life ===== | ===== 5 - Key Conclusion Three: Pleasure Is The Guide of Life ===== | ||
- | ==== Discussion: ==== | + | ==== Discussion |
The third of Epicurus’ key conclusions is that since there are no supernatural gods who have established how to live, and since the only things in the universe that are eternal and unchanging are the atoms and void, it then follows that humans must look for guidance ultimately to the only faculty for choosing given by nature; Pleasure and Pain. These serve as Nature’s “stop” and “go” signals. | The third of Epicurus’ key conclusions is that since there are no supernatural gods who have established how to live, and since the only things in the universe that are eternal and unchanging are the atoms and void, it then follows that humans must look for guidance ultimately to the only faculty for choosing given by nature; Pleasure and Pain. These serve as Nature’s “stop” and “go” signals. | ||
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===== 7 - Summary: Remembering And Implementing The Epicurean Worldview ===== | ===== 7 - Summary: Remembering And Implementing The Epicurean Worldview ===== | ||
- | ==== Discussion: ==== | + | ==== Discussion |
The happiest life possible to us cannot be obtained without effort. It is necessary to study nature and use our minds to understand that we need not live forever in order to live a full and complete life. We cannot be confident that we will not be punished after death, or that Fate does not hold us in its grip, or that the claims of absolute right and wrong and absolute virtue - the claim that all men should live exactly the same way and follow the same rules – unless we understand the nature of the universe. And we cannot successfully navigate the problems of life, or attain our happiest times, unless we have like-minded friends with whom to work in our pursuit of the best life. Epicurus taught that we cannot hope to attain the goal of living as “a god among men” without continued study and engagement in the study of nature, so it is necessary for us to work throughout our lives to understand the truths of the universe, for which the Epicureans believed the teachings of Epicurus himself were the best guide. We do not always need to remember the details, but we need to always be able to recall to memory the core elements of the Epicurean worldview: | The happiest life possible to us cannot be obtained without effort. It is necessary to study nature and use our minds to understand that we need not live forever in order to live a full and complete life. We cannot be confident that we will not be punished after death, or that Fate does not hold us in its grip, or that the claims of absolute right and wrong and absolute virtue - the claim that all men should live exactly the same way and follow the same rules – unless we understand the nature of the universe. And we cannot successfully navigate the problems of life, or attain our happiest times, unless we have like-minded friends with whom to work in our pursuit of the best life. Epicurus taught that we cannot hope to attain the goal of living as “a god among men” without continued study and engagement in the study of nature, so it is necessary for us to work throughout our lives to understand the truths of the universe, for which the Epicureans believed the teachings of Epicurus himself were the best guide. We do not always need to remember the details, but we need to always be able to recall to memory the core elements of the Epicurean worldview: | ||
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==== Activities > ==== | ==== Activities > ==== | ||
- | - Cultivate Friends: Read Torquatus from Cicero’s On Ends: “There remains a topic that is pre-eminently germane to this discussion, I mean the subject of Friendship. Your school maintains that if pleasure be the Chief Good, friendship will cease to exist. Now Epicurus’s pronouncement about friendship is that of all the means to happiness that wisdom has devised, none is greater, none more fruitful, none more delightful than this. Nor did he only commend this doctrine by his eloquence, but far more by the example of his life and conduct. How great a thing such friendship is, is shown by the mythical stories of antiquity. Review the legends from the remotest ages, and, copious and varied as they are, you will barely find in them three pairs of friends, beginning with Theseus and ending with Orestes. Yet Epicurus in a single house and that a small one maintained a whole company of friends, united by the closest sympathy and affection; and this still goes on in the Epicurean school. But to return to our subject, for there is no need of personal instances: I notice that the topic of friendship has been treated by Epicureans in three ways: (1) Some have denied that pleasures affecting our friends are in themselves to be desired by us in the same degree as we desire our own pleasures. This doctrine is thought by some critics to undermine the foundations of friendship; however, its supporters defend their position, and in my opinion have no difficulty in making good their ground. They argue that friendship can no more be sundered from pleasure than can the virtues, which we have discussed already. A solitary, friendless life must be beset by secret dangers and alarms. Hence reason itself advises the acquisition of friends; their possession gives confidence, and a firmly rooted hope of winning pleasure. And just as hatred, jealousy, and contempt are hindrances to pleasure, so friendship is the most trustworthy preserver and also creator of pleasure alike for our friends and for ourselves. It affords us enjoyment in the present, and it inspires us with hopes for the near and distant future. Thus it is not possible to secure uninterrupted gratification in life without friendship, nor yet to preserve friendship itself unless we love our friends as much as ourselves. Hence this unselfishness does occur in friendship, while also friendship is closely linked with pleasure. For we rejoice in our friends’ joy as much as in our own, and are equally pained by their sorrows. Therefore the Wise Man will feel exactly the same towards his friend as he does towards himself, and will exert himself as much for his friend’s pleasure as he would for his own. All that has been said about the essential connection of the virtues with pleasure must be repeated about friendship. Epicurus well said (I give almost his exact words): “The same creed that has given us courage to overcome all fear of everlasting or long-enduring evil hereafter, has discerned that friendship is our strongest safeguard in this present term of life.” (2) Other Epicureans though by no means lacking in insight are a little less courageous in defying the opprobrious criticisms of the Academy. They fear that if we hold friendship to be desirable only for the pleasure that it affords to ourselves, it will be thought that it is crippled altogether. They therefore say that the first advances and overtures, and the original inclination to form an attachment, are prompted by the desire for pleasure, but that when the progress of intercourse has led to intimacy, the relationship blossoms into an affection strong enough to make us love our friends for their own sake, even though no practical advantage accrues from their friendship. | + | - Cultivate Friends: Read Torquatus from Cicero’s On Ends: “There remains a topic that is pre-eminently germane to this discussion, I mean the subject of Friendship. Your school maintains that if pleasure be the Chief Good, friendship will cease to exist. Now Epicurus’s pronouncement about friendship is that of all the means to happiness that wisdom has devised, none is greater, none more fruitful, none more delightful than this. Nor did he only commend this doctrine by his eloquence, but far more by the example of his life and conduct. How great a thing such friendship is, is shown by the mythical stories of antiquity. Review the legends from the remotest ages, and, copious and varied as they are, you will barely find in them three pairs of friends, beginning with Theseus and ending with Orestes. Yet Epicurus in a single house and that a small one maintained a whole company of friends, united by the closest sympathy and affection; and this still goes on in the Epicurean school. But to return to our subject, for there is no need of personal instances: I notice that the topic of friendship has been treated by Epicureans in three ways: (1) Some have denied that pleasures affecting our friends are in themselves to be desired by us in the same degree as we desire our own pleasures. This doctrine is thought by some critics to undermine the foundations of friendship; however, its supporters defend their position, and in my opinion have no difficulty in making good their ground. They argue that friendship can no more be sundered from pleasure than can the virtues, which we have discussed already. A solitary, friendless life must be beset by secret dangers and alarms. Hence reason itself advises the acquisition of friends; their possession gives confidence, and a firmly rooted hope of winning pleasure. And just as hatred, jealousy, and contempt are hindrances to pleasure, so friendship is the most trustworthy preserver and also creator of pleasure alike for our friends and for ourselves. It affords us enjoyment in the present, and it inspires us with hopes for the near and distant future. Thus it is not possible to secure uninterrupted gratification in life without friendship, nor yet to preserve friendship itself unless we love our friends as much as ourselves. Hence this unselfishness does occur in friendship, while also friendship is closely linked with pleasure. For we rejoice in our friends’ joy as much as in our own, and are equally pained by their sorrows. Therefore the Wise Man will feel exactly the same towards his friend as he does towards himself, and will exert himself as much for his friend’s pleasure as he would for his own. All that has been said about the essential connection of the virtues with pleasure must be repeated about friendship. Epicurus well said (I give almost his exact words): “The same creed that has given us courage to overcome all fear of everlasting or long-enduring evil hereafter, has discerned that friendship is our strongest safeguard in this present term of life.” (2) Other Epicureans though by no means lacking in insight are a little less courageous in defying the opprobrious criticisms of the Academy. They fear that if we hold friendship to be desirable only for the pleasure that it affords to ourselves, it will be thought that it is crippled altogether. They therefore say that the first advances and overtures, and the original inclination to form an attachment, are prompted by the desire for pleasure, but that when the progress of intercourse has led to intimacy, the relationship blossoms into an affection strong enough to make us love our friends for their own sake, even though no practical advantage accrues from their friendship. |
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+ | \ Does not familiarity endear to us localities, temples, cities, gymnasia, and playing-grounds, | ||
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+ | ===== Reference: Master List of All Activities > ===== | ||
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