Chronic Anger and Rage Yesterday I dealt with the Epicurean idea of justified anger. The next two forms of anger are pathological and represent a loss of reason, that is, they are irrational (even if sometimes they have natural beginnings). The second type of anger is chronic or addictive anger. This is not natural, but …
Continue reading ‘Philodemus on irrational anger (second part)’ »
This is rather long, but I thought some actual Epicurean teachings might be a change. (I have split it into three postings for the sake of digestability). Phildemus was an Epicurean who wrote, among other things, about anger. There was a huge contrast between the Stoic and Epicurean schools. Stoics idealized apathy (or lack of …
Continue reading ‘Epicureanism: Philodemus on anger (first part)’ »
On July 31st I posted a notice about my short paper called “Epicurus and politics: why I think he was wrong”. Regular reader Owen Bell, a student of History and Politics at Exeter University, England, has written back in reply. I think what he has to say is thoughtful and well-informed and deserves to be …
Continue reading ‘Epicurus and Politics: why I think he was wrong – a reply’ »
The following are ten basic ethical tenets of Epicureanism – how should we live? What is the goal of living? How should we pursue that goal? 1. Don’t be concerned about “gods” – supernatural beings do not exist, and even if there are any “perfect” higher beings they are not concerned with mankind. The only …
Epicurus was a very serious person and his work, now lost, may have been hard going. He was fortunate that Lucretius was later able to explain Epicureanism in an accessible way. His six volumes of poetry now rank as outstanding pieces of literature in Latin. You might have the greatest idea ever thought up, but …
