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Ep. 208: Epicurus on Seeking Pleasure (Part Two)

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More on the ethics-related fragments of Epicurus and accounts by Martha Nussbaum and Tim O’Keefe.

What would a purely therapeutic philosophy consist of? Does philosophy as pursuit of pleasure mean that you eschew political action or other substantial goals? Mark, Wes, and Dylan try to figure out which of our desires are vain and whether society is compatible with human happiness.

Listen to part one first or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition.

End song: “The Language of the Body” by Ant-Bee as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #68.

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Ep. 208: Epicurus on Seeking Pleasure (Part One)

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On the extant fragments of Epicurus (341–270 BCE) dealing with ethics, including his “Letter to Menoceus,” “The Principal Doctrines,” and “The Vatican Collection of Epicurean Sayings.” Plus Tim O’Keefe’s Epicureanism (2010) and Martha Nussabum’s The Therapy of Desire (1994).

How are we supposed to act once we understand nature as atoms bouncing and swerving around in the void, temporarily producing order through fortuitous collisions? Ruling out demanding gods means ethics is dictated by human nature: we avoid pain and pursue pleasure. However, we’re very bad at this, and Epicurus wants to fix all of us!

Don’t wait for part two; get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now.

Ep. 208: Epicurus on Seeking Pleasure (Citizen Edition)

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On the extant fragments of Epicurus (341–270 BCE) dealing with ethics, including his “Letter to Menoceus,” “The Principal Doctrines,” and “The Vatican Collection of Epicurean Sayings.” Plus Tim O’Keefe’s Epicureanism (2010) and Martha Nussabum’s The Therapy of Desire (1994).

How are we supposed to act once we understand nature as atoms bouncing and swerving around in the void, temporarily producing order through fortuitous collisions? Ruling out demanding gods means ethics is dictated by human nature: we avoid pain and pursue pleasure. However, we’re very bad at this, and Epicurus wants to fix all of us!

End song: “The Language of the Body” by Ant-Bee as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #68.

Ep. 206: Lucretius’s Epicurean Physics (Part Two)

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More on Lucretius’s poem about Epicurean science: On the Nature of Things from the first century BCE.

We talk more about how macroscopic phenomena are supposed to come out of the interaction of atoms, including mind and its processes of knowledge and illusion, including the illusion of love. One conclusion: life after death is not possible. Can the properties of the atoms themselves be explained?

Listen to part one first or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition; this will also get you the follow-up discussion (coming soon). Please support PEL!

End song: “Came Round” by Mark Lint. Read about it and get the new album.

Ep. 206: Lucretius’s Epicurean Physics (Citizen Edition)

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On Lucretius’s poem about Epicurean science: On the Nature of Things aka De Rerum Natura from the first century BCE.

How does the world work? Lucretius presents a system that is surprisingly modern, and raises philosophical issues that are still on point today: What are the basic building blocks of the universe? How could these give rise to minds? What ethical views does a mechanistic worldview imply?

End song: “Came Round” by Mark Lint. Read about it and get the new album.

Keep an eye out for the follow-up discussion where Mark and Wes go into more details from the text.

Lucian: the Well of Laughter

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Lucian of Samosata (c. 125–180 CE) was a Greek-speaking Assyrian satirist, who falls within the tradition of the laughing philosophers. He was the George Carlin or perhaps the Bill Maher of his day, eloquently mocking both the credulous masses and the charlatans who made a living off of them.

Contemplations on Tao Series

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The parallels between Taoism and Epicurean philosophy which become evident when we study Taoism and read the Tao Te Ching. Sometimes the insights we get from both traditions mirror, complete and complement each other.

Epicurus’ Four Cures

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The resolution to follow Epicurus is a resolution to protect one’s mind. We live in a dysfunctional consumerist society filled with anxiety and neuroses, where few people analyse their lives, most have a short attention span and are uninterested in disciplining their minds and curbing mindless desires. If philosophy is understood as the Epicureans understand it, then it becomes evident that people desperately need philosophy today.

About The Partially Examined Life

The Partially Examined Life is a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don’t have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we’re talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion

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