Pre-Socratics (6th-5th cent BC) Interested in the natural world –Thales: 1st philosopher; “everything comes from water” –Anaximander: “Our world is one of many and what comes before and after all created things is boundless.” –Parmenides: “Everything that exists has always existed and nothing changes.” He was the first …
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Brian Dougall, in The Hobo Test, his 2013 critique of Epicureanism, published in Philosophy Now, began by explaining what Epicurus meant by pleasure and then went on to explain what Epicurus meant by a “good. life” . He wrote that easily- accessible pleasures in the era of Epicurus included water, fruit, a comfortable hammock, a simple …
“Great abundance is heaped up as a result of brutalizing labour, but a miserable life is the result”. (p.100, “The Essential Epicurus”, translated by Eugene O’Connor, Great Books in Philosophy series) The employment practices of Big Business, the outsourcing and the indifference of politicians have led the the highest suicide rate per thousand in the …
Eton College is adding gratitude, kindness and empathy coaching to its curriculum to build its pupils’ “character”. Following a review into what values Eton should be promoting, boys at the £40,700-a-year school are being taught to take a moment each day to acknowledge how others have helped them and what they have to be grateful …
Don’t smoke The Hisayama Study, an ongoing investigation of a suburban Japanese community, has found that smoking in mid to late life not only raises the risk of lung cancer, but also ups the chance of developing dementia. Smokers who quit, even in their 40s or 50s, didn’t see the same rise in risk. Don’t …
