The Philosophy and Ethics of Epicurus

[rainbowaon]

INCREDIBLE WISDOM! NON CONFORMIST HEART AWAKENING! CANNABIS IS SO AMAZING! AND IT ALSO PROTECTS THE FOREST BECAUSE IT CAN BE USED AS WOOD IT WILL SOON BE LEGAL EVERYWHERE BUT DONT STRESS OVER IT!!!

[rainbowaon]

Earth Rising

[rainbowaon]

the way we listen to music can change the world

the archetypes the things we make together without even knowing it

things the goddess weaves

the wispy primordial mist that still lingers

in the tall grass

stoned wandering

flowing rocks,

mixtape cds and

the cali mysticism, ah the wu weis of forest expansion

[InuShonen]

like! :)

[SatoshiBatista]

does an epicurean waoy of life means having an orgy while listening to music?

[CosmoShidan]

@SatoshiBatista Epicurus and his followers denied sex and marriage as they were dubious of such traditions.

[ReX342]

Worry about not having too many worries.

[Yanirakarola]

Epicurus is the only Ancient Philosophy, in my opinion, who actually did justice to who we are as individuals. Where as Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics ask us to retreat from the world, self-sufficiency for Epicurus is actually becoming closer with the reality of life.

[graycam]

Great vid. It's difficult to articulate to people the pleasure orientation of Epicurus. I enjoyed your explanation between active and passive pleasure.

[jayeshchoudhari]

Thanks for explaining it so well.

[volound]

very good explanation. thanks very much.

[1awareness]

What books, could I find that have direct teachings from Epicurus?

[wmiller24]

@1awareness Epicurus was a prolific writer, but most of what he wrote has been lost or destroyed. For an overview of what remains, see O'Connor _The Epicurus Reader_ ISBN: 0872202410

[wyuiqwe7]

@1awareness The Essential Epicurus 101 pages

[Sloth7d]

Meh, technically, I feel all creeds, religions, and philosophies are centered around pleasure in their own different ways. Which is why I never understood the derogatory reguard for Hedonism.

[intermender]

Anyway, its amazing this guy was so clued up so long ago especially considering his antagonistic environment. Its intresting that he was plagued by pain himself via chronic kidney stones (wikipaedia). I've had them they are painful, and at that level of pain (in the absence of efficacious drugs) one must have to focus hard, creatively and consistently upon stress relief to achieve any relief in pain.

[intermender]

Nice, but probably should be included that one should guard against one's own hedonism transgressing or imposing upon others and cause them pain, even if they be strangers? Which leads to a concept of secular government and morality? Also the distinction between intensity and duration of pleasure is a bit lost on me, because it is such a subjective thing. Like risk takers who tend to have a deficiency on average of those rewarding brain chemicals which the rest of us acheive with less risk.

[PrickledMantis]

I disagree with the way that Dante Aligheri depicted Epicurius by putting him in the inferno... Epicurius was simply a free thinker and practicing the free-will that GOD supposedly gave him... it just proves that Dante was a bigot

[psyche8]

Could you suggest me a good book about Epicurus's ideas? One that is understandable by people who have a good general knowledge about philosophy, but no university degrees in it? :P

[wmiller24]

@psyche8 Epicurus was a prolific writer, but most of what he wrote has been lost or destroyed. For an overview of what remains, see O'Connor _The Epicurus Reader_ ISBN: 0872202410

[TheCharlestonFollies]

Thank you very much this is great.

[DreamsofMajesty]

scribd (dot) com / nb812

[puck8053]

Very interesting, thank you - I had just read a novel (fiction) which referenced Epicurus many times, so I was curious to know more. Thanks again.

[ghostofchat77]

You make some very good points. Thank you for explaining more about this. I just learned about this great man, Epicurus, today in my college humanities class.

[Stevii2]

This was a very good video.

[babapoopoo]

if you guyz liked this video (about pleasure), watch also... it's called " OSHO: Behave As if You Are the First Here" cheerz

[rumit99]

I wonder what it is about the ancient greeks that made them such great thinkers. Could it have been the absence of Judeo-christianism?

[wmiller24]

I don't think it was the absence of Judeo-Christianity. The family of Immanuel Kant, one of the greatest philosophers of the modern period, were devout Christians.

[dommyl]

@wmiller24 as a nation though, the guy may well have a point

[volound]

@wmiller24 possibly despite the existence of judeo-christians in kants case?

i think hes just alluding to the vast discrepancy. galileo, copernicus, huygens, darwin etc were all persecuted, due to religious bigotry.

[XXGDUBSXX]

@rumit99 Arrogance is a weakness my friend.

[aviannightmare]

Freedom and happiness...........!

[MrHappyHumanist]

Thank you for deepening my understanding! cheers

[PencilsAreAwesome]

You've just changed my life.

Thank you.

[lucky4armin]

Decent, but a few points. He's not a pure materialist, not a hedonist and yet he also didn't say abstain from pleasures. His point was that it should not detract from your tranquility. With that also is the idea that you should forgo certain immediate pleasures if they will give you pain later and that you should NOT forgo pain now if it will give you greater pleasure later. It's all about the tranquility or "chilling out" as you colloquially put it =]

[wmiller24]

Your points are largely accurate, except on two accounts: 1) Epicurus was a materialist. He understood both the body and soul to be comprised of atoms which dissipated upon death. He did not believe in an afterlife; he acknowledge that there might be gods, but he felt they were not likely to get involved in the affairs of human beings. 2) He was a hedonist in the strict sense of the word, i.e., someone devoted to a life of pleasure. For him, mental pleasure, ataraxia, was the ultimate good.

[moveonupcb]

Would you say epicurus ideas fit in with quantum mechanics and the idea that you can be dead and alive at the same time. I was interested in what you said about him thinking that atoms kind energise or create other things.

[wmiller24]

I don't think that the ideas of Epicurus regarding atoms were developed enough to compare them with current theories of theoretical physics. Furthermore, I don't think that most people actually understand the implications of the thought experiment known as Schrödinger's cat (i.e., there is a cat in a box, and the cat is both alive and dead until we open the box to find out the actual state of the cat).

[wmiller24]

Schrödinger actually meant this as a kind of critique of quantum physics and did not actually believe in cats that were both alive and dead at the same time. But, if you can see a way to connect the dots here, well, more power to you.

[lucky4armin]

@wmiller24 Epicurus was not necessarily a materialist in that he believed in immaterial laws governing the universe. Moreover, he was certainly not a hedonist, although this is a widespread misconception. He says very clearly that one should try to attain the very basic necessities of life first (bread, water, shelter, etc) and if those are met, then you can proceed to concentrate on health (varying your diet for instance).

[lucky4armin]

@wmiller24 Now, once these conditions have been met AND if there will be no adverse impact on your ataraxia, then you are free to acquire more elaborate goods or pursue other desires. Clearly, the key is concentrating on ataaraxia and if acquiring these more extravagant things (caviar, champagne, mansions, etc) interfere with that, then you should not pursue them. The ultimate good is not pleasure, but is an absence of pain both in the body and in the soul...

[volound]

@lucky4armin i wasnt, i was, im not, i dont care.

epicurus dismissed the afterlife/soul.

[Redbluegreenman]

This is a really good explanation of Epicurus. Nice Job!

[IdleKen]

excellent

[EvoinOZ]

Great concise explanation of Epicurean ideas, sir. I can't believe after 9 months this has only had 696 views.

'Ataraxia' is one of the most little known and underrated concepts in philosophy, in my view.

You could bet if Deepak Chopra or one of the other fakers was going on about it, people would be all over it.

[ludachris475]

He was a bawdy libertine.

[neothomist1275]

"If you don't know how to die, don't worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately." -- Michel de Montaigne