I read about Epicurus when I was a little kid and it really resonated with me (basically, the “hang out with your friends and don’t get too worked up about things” part). Now that I’m getting old and basically wasted most of my life, I wish I had done the “have a mission in life” track. But really I think people are born with a temperament and personality that mostly shapes how they react to their environment, and I’m not sure I could have ended up any different.
About Stoics:
>The world, they thought, is ruled by providence; all that happens is fated to happen, and we must embrace our individual fates and the past and the future that has been determined for us.
That's not the understanding I got from reading about Stoicism. Sure, some of it could be "fate" and out of your control but there is a lot of emphasis on what you can control. I think the author simplified this too much to the point of making it incorrect.
"Epicurus was notorious for his nonmarital relationships that combined sex and philosophy."
The major problem of studying Epicurean philosophy is that few original sources have survived and almost all of the writing about it is from its opponents.
As far as I have ever seen, the only source for sexual promiscuity is that women were allowed in to his school.
A nicely entertaining read. Does anyone else find the author's characterisation of Stoicism a little reductive? My reading of the Stoics has been limited so far, but at least as far as Marcus Aurelius writes one of the primary Stoic paths to peace and virtue is through helping others.
BRB, buying some barrels and lanterns for the revival of cynicism. I’ll sell them as “honest philosopher’s goods” and make a fortune.
> Fame and wealth are zero-sum. For some to be wealthy, powerful and famous, others must be poor, obedient and disregarded.
Is this accurate? My understanding of wealth might be simplistic or reductive, but I have equated it to two neighbor craftsmen producing and trading goods. Each benefits from the other’s specialty and increases overall wealth, which is not zero-sum.
I can agree with the statement regarding fame, since fame is more directly correlated with time, which is strictly zero-sum.
I feel bad I only found out about this "ism" now because it aligns with many of my values I've had to figure out myself. Thanks for posting!
Censor much?
What goes around, comes around.
This is a branch of the culture wars I am sorry to report. Anything that smells of self control is equated with masculinity which is, as we all know, toxic.
This and articles like it, such as the one the other day about the "downside of citizenship", are the soft sell of globalism -statism. Be rootless, follow your bliss, be happy creative and think about and have sex, a lot...that's the Goodlife.
Being self directed, struggling against your own (and others') base instincts leads to repression and hatred and war.
That is the basic theme of these velvet glove pieces.
The iron fist is the inexplicable - what man would dare inveigh against women discussing amongst themselves their own sexualry- attack on no-fap and more broadly, self restraint and self discipline.
People who live according to an inward set of values are unmanageable and unpredictable and, well, deplorable.
Get high, says London's mayor, in a desperate attempt to stem the city's world leading homicide rate. Smoke dope, masturbate, calm down, have a nice meal.
This is that.
Hacker news censors 100 percent of my posts for three years running folks including the one previous to the above, which of course you can't see. But they let ONE post through, mocking them for censorship, just so I look like a fool..
Clever, No?
Epicurean said something and the sceptic showed a middle finger.
How to be an Epicurean? That's easy! Start by using his Tetrapharmakon (means the quadruple remedy) to live a happy life, which is the following:
Θεός Άφοβον - God is not to be feared
Θάνατος Αναίσθητον - You don't feel (sic or meet with) death
Τ'αγαθόν μεν εύκτητον - It is easy to acquire goods
Το δε δεινόν ευκαρτέρητον - So is easy to withstand rough times