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lucretius_today_special_series_-_eahp [2022/10/17 11:59] – cassiusamicuslucretius_today_special_series_-_eahp [2023/03/21 16:07] (current) – cassius
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       * Epicurus saw that “some form of religion” is indispensable (while excluding divine government of universe, regimentation, political enforcement, forced belief)       * Epicurus saw that “some form of religion” is indispensable (while excluding divine government of universe, regimentation, political enforcement, forced belief)
   * **The First Dogmatic Philosophy**   * **The First Dogmatic Philosophy**
-      * Moral reform requires dogmatism, and requires more than speculative thinking. Philosophy must be useful for happiness and this is impossible without faith, and faith is impossible without certainty – therefore philosophy must be dogmatic: "The wise man will not be a doubter but will dogmatize.ckgedit_QUOT+      * Moral reform requires dogmatism, and requires more than speculative thinking. Philosophy must be useful for happiness and this is impossible without faith, and faith is impossible without certainty – therefore philosophy must be dogmatic: "The wise man will not be a doubter but will dogmatize."
       * Dogmatism is the reaction to skepticism. The man who denies the possibility of knowledge is challenging others to declare that knowledge is possible. Epicurus took up this challenge and fought against it in Pyrrho, Plato, Aristotle, and even Democritus.       * Dogmatism is the reaction to skepticism. The man who denies the possibility of knowledge is challenging others to declare that knowledge is possible. Epicurus took up this challenge and fought against it in Pyrrho, Plato, Aristotle, and even Democritus.
       * Epicurus was alerted to the challenge of skepticism by his teacher Nausiphanes, who admired the placidity of Pyrrho but rebelled against his skepticism.       * Epicurus was alerted to the challenge of skepticism by his teacher Nausiphanes, who admired the placidity of Pyrrho but rebelled against his skepticism.
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       * Epicurus followed the Ionian pattern and extended the Aristotelian model, concluding that Nature provides the norm rather than Reason as argued by Plato.       * Epicurus followed the Ionian pattern and extended the Aristotelian model, concluding that Nature provides the norm rather than Reason as argued by Plato.
       * This difference in perspective between the Terrestrial Order and the alleged Celestial Order led to the distinctly different philosophical directions of great importance, for example:       * This difference in perspective between the Terrestrial Order and the alleged Celestial Order led to the distinctly different philosophical directions of great importance, for example:
-        * In the interpretation of //ckgedit_QUOT////Living according to Nature"//+        * In the interpretation of "Living according to Nature"
         * In the interpretation of “Justice”:         * In the interpretation of “Justice”:
         * Plato was complicating philosophy for the sake of the few who find self-gratification in complexity; Epicurus simplified philosophy for the sake of the many who wished to live by it.         * Plato was complicating philosophy for the sake of the few who find self-gratification in complexity; Epicurus simplified philosophy for the sake of the many who wished to live by it.
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       * Epicureanism is for all people and not limited to any political system.       * Epicureanism is for all people and not limited to any political system.
       * System of pamphlets and handbooks made Epicureanism readily transportable.       * System of pamphlets and handbooks made Epicureanism readily transportable.
-      * Epicurus is misclassified as //ckgedit>egoistic hedonist_ckgedit_QUOT//  – when Epicurus embarked on a campaign to “awake the world to the blessedness of the happy life” his philosophy became a “higher hedonism.”+      * Epicurus is misclassified as "egoistic hedonist" – when Epicurus embarked on a campaign to “awake the world to the blessedness of the happy life” his philosophy became a “higher hedonism.”
   * **Predecessor Of Christianity**   * **Predecessor Of Christianity**
       * Spirit, procedures and certain doctrines were adopted by Christianity       * Spirit, procedures and certain doctrines were adopted by Christianity
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       * The Repellent Side:       * The Repellent Side:
         * Rejection of immortality and judgment after death         * Rejection of immortality and judgment after death
-        * //ckgedit>Hedonism_ckgedit_QUOT//+        * "Hedonism"
         * “Apolitical stance”         * “Apolitical stance”
       * The Attractive Side       * The Attractive Side
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 ===== Chapter VIII - Sensations, Anticipations, And Feelings ===== ===== Chapter VIII - Sensations, Anticipations, And Feelings =====
  
 +  * Introduction:
 +      * Podcaster Note: It appears that among the biggest points of this chapter is to show that Epicurus did not assert that we believe only what we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. Isn't that what is asserted when people think of Epicurus as an Empiricist? One of Dewitt's big points here - and i think he is right? - is that Epicurus taught that you do believe a lot more than what you can simply see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. Obvious example is: atoms!.
 +      * Epicurus was not an empiricist, but people claim that he was and so they ignore the other two legs of the canon, pleasure and pain, which are outside the standard definition o "empiricism."
 +      * The three criteria are neither three aspects of a single capacity nor yet three discrete capacities which function separately from one another. They act in together and in sequence.
 +      * Sensation is irrational and merely registers a quality, for example, sweetness. It is the intelligence that says, "This is honey," and it is the Feelings that report, "I like it" or "I don't like it:'
 +      * When once this genetic approach has been recognized it becomes easy to discern that the three criteria correspond to three levels of experience, which may be styled somatic. social. and emotional. {Cassius' comment - It is not clear to me that this "three levels of experience" analysis is especially significant. Does it lead somewhere?)
   * Sensations   * Sensations
 +      * The Sensations in the meaning of the Canon denote the five senses. vision. hearing. smell, taste. and touch. and nothing else.
 +      * They qualify as criteria because they are direct physical contacts between the living being and the external physical reality.
 +      * They also qualify as criteria because they are irrational. are incapable of memory. and pronounce no judgments.
 +      * Sensation is incapable of memory. It can no more recall a given stimulus than a house can recall the impact of a ball thrown against its wall. The sensation merely registers a stimulus, a melody, for example; it is the memory that says, "I have heard this before"; it is the intelligence that says, "Home Sweet Home."
 +      * The confusions are two in number.
 +        * __The first__  is between concepts of "truth" and concepts of "value:' It is quite possible for a sensation to be true reand yet valueless as a criterion. A square tower, for example, appears at a distance to be round; the sensation is true, relative to the distance, but false to the facts.
 +        * __The second__  confusion is between primary and accessory or derivative notions. This is to say that the ideas represented by the Twelve Elementary Principles of Physics are primary while all other ideas are derivative. The former are ennoai, the latter are ep;no;a;.
 +      * The chief ambiguities are also two in number. In the dictum of Epicurus that "all sensations are true" both terms are ambiguous.
 +        * The English word sensation, like the Latin sensus, is employed to render various words and phrases in Greek,
 +        * while the word true, like its Latin and Greek equivalents, may have anyone of three meanings:
 +          * first, absolutely true, as the statement that two and two make four is true, or
 +          * second, relatively true, as the distant view of the tower is true, though false in detail, or
 +          * third, real, in the sense that the sensation corresponds to a real object, such as an ox.
   * Epicurus Not An Empiricist   * Epicurus Not An Empiricist
 +      * Focus on how the deductive nature of much Epicurean reasoning, plus anticipations and feelings is not what is generally included in Empiricism
   * Anticipations   * Anticipations
   * The Account of Laertius   * The Account of Laertius
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   * Swerve Of The Atom   * Swerve Of The Atom
   * Acceleration and Retardation   * Acceleration and Retardation
-  * //ckgedit>Up_ckgedit_QUOT//  and //ckgedit>Down_ckgedit_QUOT//  In An Infinite Universe+  * "Up" and "Down" In An Infinite Universe
   * A Perpendicular Universe   * A Perpendicular Universe
   * The Problem Of Cause   * The Problem Of Cause
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 ===== Chapter XII - The New Hedonism ===== ===== Chapter XII - The New Hedonism =====
  
-  * The //ckgedit>Summum Bonum_ckgedit_QUOT//  Fallacy+  * The "Summum Bonum" Fallacy
   * Pleasure Identified As the Telos   * Pleasure Identified As the Telos
   * The True Nature of Pleasure   * The True Nature of Pleasure
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