Lucretius Today - Epicurus and Epicurean Philosophy

Welcome to Episode 287 of Lucretius Today. This is a podcast dedicated to the poet Lucretius, who wrote "On The Nature of Things," the most complete presentation of Epicurean philosophy left to us from the ancient world.   Each week we walk you through the Epicurean texts, and we discuss how Epicurean philosophy can apply to you today. If you find the Epicurean worldview attractive, we invite you to join us in the study of Epicurus at EpicureanFriends.com, where we discuss this and all of our podcast episodes. Today we close in on the ending of Part 2 - "Is Pain An Evil?." Last week we focused on Cicero's argument that all we should face pain "like a man," focusing most of his attention on soldiers and military analogies. This week, Cicero turns his attention to examples of wise men facing pain, and he begins to summarize his argument. We'll pick up with Section XXV. https://www.epicureanfriends.com/thread/4510-episode-287-td17-the-fear-of-pain-is-overrated-but-cicero-and-epicurus-disagree/

Welcome to Episode 286 of Lucretius Today. This is a podcast dedicated to the poet Lucretius, who wrote "On The Nature of Things," the most complete presentation of Epicurean philosophy left to us from the ancient world.   Each week we walk you through the Epicurean texts, and we discuss how Epicurean philosophy can apply to you today. If you find the Epicurean worldview attractive, we invite you to join us in the study of Epicurus at EpicureanFriends.com, where we discuss this and all of our podcast episodes. Today we close in on the ending of Part 2 - "Is Pain An Evil?." Last week we focused on Cicero's criticisms of Epicurus' PD04, and Cicero's argument that all we need to do to overcome pain is to approach it "like a man."   This week, Cicero says that the call to virtuous conduct and overcoming of pain come from reason itself, which is the master of the soul. To what extent Epicurus agrees is what we'll be discussing when we pick up with Section XX. https://www.epicureanfriends.com/thread/4498-episode-286-confronting-pain-with-reason-rather-than-with-virtue/

Welcome to Episode 285 of Lucretius Today. This is a podcast dedicated to the poet Lucretius, who wrote "On The Nature of Things," the most complete presentation of Epicurean philosophy left to us from the ancient world.   Each week we walk you through the Epicurean texts, and we discuss how Epicurean philosophy can apply to you today. If you find the Epicurean worldview attractive, we invite you to join us in the study of Epicurus at EpicureanFriends.com, where we discuss this and all of our podcast episodes.   Today we continue in Part 2 - "Is Pain An Evil?." Last week we focused on Cicero's observations that we can prepare ourselves for bodily pain through exercise and training, a point in which Cicero did not pick out Epicurus as an opponent, and on which the ancient Epicureans would likely have agreed, at least to an extent. This week, Cicero tells us that he is going to leave to the Stoics to argue that pain is not evil, and he himself is going to proceed to talk about his opinion on how to deal with bodily pain, whether you are a soldier or a philosopher. We'll be picking up today with Section XVIII, and we'll see that Cicero focuses his attack on Epicurus' Principal Doctrine 4, and that will give us a great opportunity to explore that doctrine more closely. https://www.epicureanfriends.com/thread/4492-episode-285-the-significance-of-the-limits-of-pain/

Episode 284 - In Dealing With Pain, Does Practice Make Perfect? Or Does Practice Make For A Happy Life?   Welcome to Episode 284 of Lucretius Today. This is a podcast dedicated to the poet Lucretius, who wrote "On The Nature of Things," the most complete presentation of Epicurean philosophy left to us from the ancient world. Each week we walk you through the Epicurean texts, and we discuss how Epicurean philosophy can apply to you today. If you find the Epicurean worldview attractive, we invite you to join us in the study of Epicurus at EpicureanFriends.com, where we discuss this and all of our podcast episodes.  This week we continue our series covering Cicero's "Tusculan Disputations" from an Epicurean viewpoint. This series addresses five of the greatest questions in human life (Death, Pain, Grief/Fear, Joy/Desire, and Virtue) with Cicero speaking for the majority and Epicurus the main opponent:  Today we continue in Part 2 - "Is Pain An Evil?," picking up with Section XIII, where Cicero continues his assertion that infamy is a greater evil than any pain. https://www.epicureanfriends.com/thread/4477-episode-284-does-practice-make-perfect-or-does-practice-lead-to-a-happy-life/

This is special episode of the Lucretius Today Podcast is devoted entirely to a reading of Norman DeWitt's essay "Philosophy For The Millions," an introduction to the history of Epicurus and his ideas. The full text of this reading is available in the podcast thread here:  https://www.epicureanfriends.com/thread/4476-episode-283-philosophy-for-the-millions/?postID=35577#post35577