Happy Twentieth to all students of Epicurean philosophy! Some literary updates:
My essay on Principal Doctrines 24 and 28 titled “On the utility of dogmatism” was followed up by another essay on Principal Doctrine 5, which discusses the checks and balances in Epicurean ethics. They kick-start a series of explorations of the PD’s. If the links are down (as a result of website migration) you may find them here and here.
The latest essays published at SoFE include a description of what life was like in the first Epicurean Guardens by Marcus Cramer, a translation of the Letter to Herodotus for the benefit of students, and a critical essay by Harmonius (Alan) on Thomas Jefferson and how his practice of slavery seems to have been inconsistent with his Epicureanism, since our doctrines on justice (per Principal Doctrines 30-38) require a covenant of mutual benefit, and Epicurean friendship must also start with mutual benefit. You may also search for these in the Epicurean database if our page is still down.
The book Philodemus, On Anger
The Modern Epicurean published Towards an Epicurean Neopaganism, where he explores the second interpretation of the Epicurean gods.
The American Philosophical Association has published an essay titled The untold history of India’s vital atheist philosophy, which includes frequent references to the Lokayata School–a sister school to Epicureanism.
Luke DeHart has published an essay on Improving public health from an Epicurean perspective for the Journal of Public Health.
An essay by financial times Why loneliness fuels populism. The essay cites Hannah Arendt:
Arendt writes that for those characterised by “isolation and lack of normal social relationships . . . it is through surrendering their individual selves to ideology that [they] rediscover their purpose and self-respect”. Loneliness, or “the experience of not belonging to the world at all”, is, Arendt writes, “the essence of totalitarian government . . . the preparation of its executioners and victims”.
This, of course, reminds us of Epicurean warnings against politics and in favor of natural community. People who lack real, face-to-face community and rootedness, are more likely to fall for Platonic, imagined communities, and for “isms” and impersonal or abstract things that tend to replace real community.
Cosmos
I once again have been enjoying the Cosmos series, which is hosted by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and continues the tradition of Lucretius of blending poetry, art, science, and cosmology. I really enjoyed episode 3 of season 3, which included “the closest thing to a scientific creation myth that we have”, and where the host frequently said “Life: the escape artist“. He was referring to the origin of life theory according to which the geographic process of serpentinization helped to produce life: as the rocks in the Earth’s crust constantly interacted under pressure with the hot lava below it (from which it drew energy), producing special kinds of rocks and minerals, as well as bubbles inside which–the theory holds–these minerals interacted and had enough thermal energy to form the earliest lifeforms.
Life, according to this theory, originated in the rocks … and another thing I learned in this episode is that rocks evolve. The laws by which they evolve are the same laws that govern the interaction between different elements under different temperatures and pressures, etc. The bubbles inside those ancient rocks eventually escaped into the ocean, so that life began as animated minerals.
I can’t recommend the series Cosmos enough. It really is the modern continuation of Lucretius’ journey through the nature of things, giving us awe-inspiring insight into HOW matter makes all things.
The Autarkist 