Hiram Crespo's Blog - Posts Tagged "epicurean"
E-book Available in English from Humanist Press
Under the tagline Be Smart About Being Happy, the American Humanist Association and its publishing branch Humanist Press sent their press release to announce that Tending the Epicurean Garden is now available via their webpage as an e-book.
Humanist Press has a heavy focus on e-book technology. The paperback had been available from months on amazon, but what makes the HP e-book a worthwhile investment for people who are interested in the profiting from their Epicurean studies is that readers who buy the e-book directly from Humanist Press will be able to leave comments on the book which, once approved, become forever part of the work.
In addition to this, Lucretius by WH Mallock, with commentary has been made available by HP as a free companion volume to Tending the Garden.
Humanist Press has a heavy focus on e-book technology. The paperback had been available from months on amazon, but what makes the HP e-book a worthwhile investment for people who are interested in the profiting from their Epicurean studies is that readers who buy the e-book directly from Humanist Press will be able to leave comments on the book which, once approved, become forever part of the work.
In addition to this, Lucretius by WH Mallock, with commentary has been made available by HP as a free companion volume to Tending the Garden.
Society of Epicurus publishes Epítome
According to Norman DeWitt, ancient Epicureans used to study a Little Epitome, which is extant today as the Letter to Herodotus, and would later on graduate to the Big Epitome for which, he suggests, Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura was used although some other volume must have been used during the first couple of centuries prior to Lucretius.
In celebration of this tradition and to encourage and facilitate the systematic study of its writings in Spain and Latin America, the Society of Friends of Epicurus recently released a Spanish-language Epítome: Escrituras Epicúreas, a collection of the ancient writings of our tradition with commentary and a study guide by Hiram Crespo, author of Tending the Epicurean Garden (Humanist Press, 2014).
The work is written in chapter and verse format, both for ease of reference and to dignify the considerable historical value of its content. It includes a Spanish translation of Principal Doctrines, Vatican Sayings and the Epistles to Moeneceus, Pythocles and Herodotus, in addition to a summarized chronicle of the lives of the Scholarchs and great masters of the tradition up to Philodemus of Gadara, as well as the Spanish translation of nine reasonings based on the surviving fragments of the Herculaneum Scrolls.
The book is available from Amazon, or directly from CreateSpace.
In celebration of this tradition and to encourage and facilitate the systematic study of its writings in Spain and Latin America, the Society of Friends of Epicurus recently released a Spanish-language Epítome: Escrituras Epicúreas, a collection of the ancient writings of our tradition with commentary and a study guide by Hiram Crespo, author of Tending the Epicurean Garden (Humanist Press, 2014).
The work is written in chapter and verse format, both for ease of reference and to dignify the considerable historical value of its content. It includes a Spanish translation of Principal Doctrines, Vatican Sayings and the Epistles to Moeneceus, Pythocles and Herodotus, in addition to a summarized chronicle of the lives of the Scholarchs and great masters of the tradition up to Philodemus of Gadara, as well as the Spanish translation of nine reasonings based on the surviving fragments of the Herculaneum Scrolls.
The book is available from Amazon, or directly from CreateSpace.
Six Things I Learned After Writing “Tending the Epicurean Garden”
This month of October marks the 2-year anniversary of the “official” publication of my book (review here), although the book had been available on Amazon prior to that date. I wrote the bulk of the content for Tending the Epicurean Garden during the year 2013, but in the years since I have not ceased to learn about philosophy and about the many subjects I discussed in TtEG. For some time, I’ve wanted to give my readers a clear learning path for after they’re done reading my book, and this occasion is as good as any, so here are six important things I’ve learned about Epicurean philosophy after writing Tending the Epicurean Garden.
1. The Philodemus Series
I delved into the reading of the scrolls from the villa of Herculaneum shortly after completing my book. The scrolls are the remnants that survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 of Common Era. They are a treasure trove of ancient humanist wisdom, the Humanist Nag Hammadi. In one of the scrolls, for instance, the Scholarch Polystratus anticipates the contemporary work of Sam Harris by over 22 centuries: he lays out sober and robust arguments for a hedonist moral realism based on theories of physics and ethics laid out by Epicurus in his Epistle to Herodotus. In this scroll he battled cultural and moral relativism, and superstition, and also defended the scientific study of nature as essential for ethics, decency and morality.
Epicurus’ teachings against the use of empty words help us to better understand Philodemus’ Rhetorica and Methods of Inference, and in general just help us to reason more clearly. The scroll about property management provides useful guidance for our life-long self-sufficiency projects, but the most important scroll in my view, and the greatest masterpiece of humanist literature from Herculaneum has to be the one On Death, which catalogues all the logical and common-sense repercussions of our teaching that death is nothing to us.
2. Norman DeWitt is key to understanding Epicurean philosophy on its own terms. He is particularly good at explaining the Canon (epistemology) and the importance of the doctrine of pleasure as the end. Read his Philosophy for the Millions pamphlet, which narrates and gives some perspective on the historical battle between the naturalist philosophy of the scientists and the Platonic philosophy of the mystics and charlatans.
3. Frances Wright wrote the great Epicurean masterpiece in the English language A Few Days in Athens. See a detailed review here.
4. Neuroscience was a field of great interest to Epicurean philosophy from the onset. Epicurus, in his speech on Moral Development, discussed how the “atomic structure” of the brain can be changed through certain practices (like repetition of certain teachings), and how as part of our moral development, we must take ownership of the content of our brains and our characters. Later on, Lucretius discussed neural pathways in his On the Nature of Things. It is clear that, as Epicureans, we are responsible for the steady and diligent cultivation of our brains in the same way that athletes are responsible for the cultivation of their bodies.
5. Natural community (family, tribe, circle of friends) is conceived as distinct from Platonic (or imagined) communities (nations, races, ethnicities, etc.) Just as we learn in Philodemus that there is a natural measure of wealth (that corresponds with ensuring that we can satisfy our natural and necessary desires), our friends from the Las Indias Coop, while reasoning about the world from an Epicurean perspective, also argued that there is a natural (measure of) community, and even cite modern research to separate natural from Platonic communities.
I use the word “measure” here to refer specifically to the Dunbar number (almost 150), which indicates how many real, significant relationships humans are cognitively able to have. Natural selection strongly favors this because our ancestors evolved in tribes, which protected individuals from weather, wild beasts, and other dangers, and also secured access to food sources and transferred traditional wisdom about where to find them. There’s other research that demonstrates that isolation is a health risk on par with obesity and smoking, so that the lone-wolf “ideal” is also unhealthy and unnatural.
There’s simply no question that humans are tribal by nature. In Epicurus, the philos ideal (devoted friendship with our intellectual kin) is considered the healthiest way to build our tribe and channel our social instinct.
6. The Cyrenaics were a philosophical Atlantis, and paved the way for Epicurean ethics just as Democritus and Leucippus paved the way for physics.
Further Reading:
Tending the Epicurean Garden – The Humanist Review
Elemental Epicureanism
1. The Philodemus Series
I delved into the reading of the scrolls from the villa of Herculaneum shortly after completing my book. The scrolls are the remnants that survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 of Common Era. They are a treasure trove of ancient humanist wisdom, the Humanist Nag Hammadi. In one of the scrolls, for instance, the Scholarch Polystratus anticipates the contemporary work of Sam Harris by over 22 centuries: he lays out sober and robust arguments for a hedonist moral realism based on theories of physics and ethics laid out by Epicurus in his Epistle to Herodotus. In this scroll he battled cultural and moral relativism, and superstition, and also defended the scientific study of nature as essential for ethics, decency and morality.
Epicurus’ teachings against the use of empty words help us to better understand Philodemus’ Rhetorica and Methods of Inference, and in general just help us to reason more clearly. The scroll about property management provides useful guidance for our life-long self-sufficiency projects, but the most important scroll in my view, and the greatest masterpiece of humanist literature from Herculaneum has to be the one On Death, which catalogues all the logical and common-sense repercussions of our teaching that death is nothing to us.
2. Norman DeWitt is key to understanding Epicurean philosophy on its own terms. He is particularly good at explaining the Canon (epistemology) and the importance of the doctrine of pleasure as the end. Read his Philosophy for the Millions pamphlet, which narrates and gives some perspective on the historical battle between the naturalist philosophy of the scientists and the Platonic philosophy of the mystics and charlatans.
3. Frances Wright wrote the great Epicurean masterpiece in the English language A Few Days in Athens. See a detailed review here.
4. Neuroscience was a field of great interest to Epicurean philosophy from the onset. Epicurus, in his speech on Moral Development, discussed how the “atomic structure” of the brain can be changed through certain practices (like repetition of certain teachings), and how as part of our moral development, we must take ownership of the content of our brains and our characters. Later on, Lucretius discussed neural pathways in his On the Nature of Things. It is clear that, as Epicureans, we are responsible for the steady and diligent cultivation of our brains in the same way that athletes are responsible for the cultivation of their bodies.
5. Natural community (family, tribe, circle of friends) is conceived as distinct from Platonic (or imagined) communities (nations, races, ethnicities, etc.) Just as we learn in Philodemus that there is a natural measure of wealth (that corresponds with ensuring that we can satisfy our natural and necessary desires), our friends from the Las Indias Coop, while reasoning about the world from an Epicurean perspective, also argued that there is a natural (measure of) community, and even cite modern research to separate natural from Platonic communities.
I use the word “measure” here to refer specifically to the Dunbar number (almost 150), which indicates how many real, significant relationships humans are cognitively able to have. Natural selection strongly favors this because our ancestors evolved in tribes, which protected individuals from weather, wild beasts, and other dangers, and also secured access to food sources and transferred traditional wisdom about where to find them. There’s other research that demonstrates that isolation is a health risk on par with obesity and smoking, so that the lone-wolf “ideal” is also unhealthy and unnatural.
There’s simply no question that humans are tribal by nature. In Epicurus, the philos ideal (devoted friendship with our intellectual kin) is considered the healthiest way to build our tribe and channel our social instinct.
6. The Cyrenaics were a philosophical Atlantis, and paved the way for Epicurean ethics just as Democritus and Leucippus paved the way for physics.
Further Reading:
Tending the Epicurean Garden – The Humanist Review
Elemental Epicureanism
Epicurean Economics and a Few Updates
I apologize that it's been a long time since my last update. I have been involved in developing the beginnings of an Epicurean online business--The Twentiers--as part of a project where I've decided to focus my content this year on exploring Epicurean economics and ideas around self-sufficiency. Our main economics source is Philodemus of Gadara' scroll On the art of property management. I will continue to write more on this subject as the project evolves, so please subscribe to my blog if this interest you.
Vintage Books--which is now a division of Penguin Random House--will be publishing a book either in the fall of this year or early next year titled How to Live a Good Life. The book will include approximately 15 chapters on diverse religions and philosophies as practiced by people today. It has already received a brief mention by Publishers Weekly. I was invited to write the chapter on Epicureanism, so be on the lookout for the book! This was, to me, a great privilege, as I'm likely to be the only contributor who is non-academic and not a member of clergy, and the inclusion of Epicurean philosophy signals that there has recently been an increase in visibility for our tradition. In a blog titled Seven reasons why we need Epicurean content creators, I recently wrote:
Also, a few years ago Dara Fogel, author of The Epicurean Manifesto, complained that academics have been treating philosophy as a study of the history of itself, rendering it impractical, useless, sterile, and irrelevant. For all these reasons, our inclusion in a book about living philosophies and religions that are practiced today feels like a bit of a paradigm shift.
I frequently write detailed reviews of great books that are directly or indirectly relevant to Epicurean ideas, like Michel Onfray’s Hedonist Manifesto, or Thomas Nail's Ontology of Motion. Recently, a new indirect source for Epicurean philosophy was unearthed and translated into English by our friends from the Epicurean Gardens in Greece titled Porphyry’s Epistle to Marcella.
After a long hiatus, the Society of Friends of Epicurus has published a new educational video on its YouTube channel based on Epicurus' lecture against the use of empty words. If you like the content, please subscribe to SoFE on YouTube, and also please consider supporting me on Patreon!
Vintage Books--which is now a division of Penguin Random House--will be publishing a book either in the fall of this year or early next year titled How to Live a Good Life. The book will include approximately 15 chapters on diverse religions and philosophies as practiced by people today. It has already received a brief mention by Publishers Weekly. I was invited to write the chapter on Epicureanism, so be on the lookout for the book! This was, to me, a great privilege, as I'm likely to be the only contributor who is non-academic and not a member of clergy, and the inclusion of Epicurean philosophy signals that there has recently been an increase in visibility for our tradition. In a blog titled Seven reasons why we need Epicurean content creators, I recently wrote:
Many of the academic sources and interpreters of Epicurean philosophy are either indirect or hostile, and some online platforms have niches with similar attitudes. The subreddits /atheism and /philosophy have at times removed Epicurean content arbitrarily, rather than allow for an open market of ideas–sometimes relenting only after some level of activism on our part. Martha Nussbaum–one of the main contemporary interpreters of Epicurean sources in academia–has been notorious in her anti-Epicurean bias. She has said that Stoics and Aristotelians are superior to the Epicureans–whom she described as “parasitic” on the rest of the world–, that Seneca was “an advance of major proportions” over the Epicureans, and has even claimed that Epicureanism is not a philosophy. This all points to a need to have more people presenting EP on its own terms, both in our own niches and elsewhere.
Also, a few years ago Dara Fogel, author of The Epicurean Manifesto, complained that academics have been treating philosophy as a study of the history of itself, rendering it impractical, useless, sterile, and irrelevant. For all these reasons, our inclusion in a book about living philosophies and religions that are practiced today feels like a bit of a paradigm shift.
I frequently write detailed reviews of great books that are directly or indirectly relevant to Epicurean ideas, like Michel Onfray’s Hedonist Manifesto, or Thomas Nail's Ontology of Motion. Recently, a new indirect source for Epicurean philosophy was unearthed and translated into English by our friends from the Epicurean Gardens in Greece titled Porphyry’s Epistle to Marcella.
After a long hiatus, the Society of Friends of Epicurus has published a new educational video on its YouTube channel based on Epicurus' lecture against the use of empty words. If you like the content, please subscribe to SoFE on YouTube, and also please consider supporting me on Patreon!
New Audiobook and Book Discussion
Ukemi Audiobooks has published Epicurus of Samos – His Philosophy and Life: All the principal Classical texts Compiled and Introduced by Hiram Crespo (amazon link here), which is basically an Epicurean Audio-Bible, and was a very gratifying project for me to work on. The audiobook contains all the ancient sources by the founders and selected passages from Lucretius' "On the Nature of Things" with my introductions and commentaries, as well as my summaries of many of the scrolls by Philodemus of Gadara that survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and of passages from Oenoanda's Wall. It also contains chapters on the legacy of Epicureanism, including secondary sources like Seneca, and Cicero's On Ends.
I also participated, together with fellow contributor and editor Massimo Pigliucci, in How to Live a Good Life, Episode 3: Stoicism & Epicureanism. HTLAGL was a limited-edition video discussion series where the various chapters of the book How to Live a Good Life were discussed by the authors of the respective chapters. The format was not a debate, but an informational discussion to help students of philosophy to understand the differences, in this case, between Stoicism and Epicureanism.
I also participated, together with fellow contributor and editor Massimo Pigliucci, in How to Live a Good Life, Episode 3: Stoicism & Epicureanism. HTLAGL was a limited-edition video discussion series where the various chapters of the book How to Live a Good Life were discussed by the authors of the respective chapters. The format was not a debate, but an informational discussion to help students of philosophy to understand the differences, in this case, between Stoicism and Epicureanism.
New Review and Principal Doctrines Essays
I hope you have all had a Happy Thanksgiving. I had a death of an uncle the day before Thanksgiving, am thankful to live and to have my parents, friends and loved ones mostly in good health, and in recent months have taken refuge in the study of philosophy during this pandemic, which has given me many hours of learning, clarity, and intellectual pleasure.
Greg Sadler is a philosopher and YouTuber who has a large following. He's an eclectic philosopher who contributes to modern Stoic publications. Many years ago, Greg was among the people to whom I sent a copy of my Humanist Press book when it was initially published. This week, we finally saw the publication of Greg Sadler's Honest Review of my book, Tending The Epicurean Garden. It's lengthy and detailed. I hope you enjoy reading it.
It appears that Stoics in general have taken a recent interest in Epicurean teachings. The YouTube Channel Vox Stoica also published a 30-minute video titled What is Epicureanism and is it compatible with Stoicism?
In recent months, I have been working on deep explorations of the 40 Principal Doctrines of Epicurus, and posting essays on Society of Epicurus for the benefit of sincere students. The essay series, so far, includes essays on PD 16 against worship of fate, on PD 6 and the literal method of exegesis, on PD's 32, 37 and 38 and how we can discuss slavery in Epicurean terms, on PD 8 on deferred gratification, on PD 5 on checks and balances in our ethics, and PD's 24 and 28 on the utility of our dogmatism, which is based on empirical methods. These essays also include one with instructions on Meleta (this is the Epicurean process of study and deliberation both by oneself and with others "of like mind"). My hope is that sincere students will consider the benefits of deep study, and that they will benefit and become happier by the study of philosophy.
There will be more content of this kind in the future, so please follow our content on twitter, by joining our FaceBook group "Garden of Epicurus" (linked from our page) or by signing up for our newsletter at the Society of Epicurus page.
New Review and Principal Doctrines Essays
I hope you have all had a Happy Thanksgiving. I had a death of an uncle the day before Thanksgiving, am thankful to live and to have my parents, friends and loved ones mostly in good health, and in recent months have taken refuge in the study of philosophy during this pandemic, which has given me many hours of learning, clarity, and intellectual pleasure.
Greg Sadler is a philosopher and YouTuber who has a large following. He's an eclectic philosopher who contributes to modern Stoic publications. Many years ago, Greg was among the people to whom I sent a copy of my Humanist Press book when it was initially published. This week, we finally saw the publication of Greg Sadler's Honest Review of my book, Tending The Epicurean Garden. It's lengthy and detailed. I hope you enjoy it.
It appears that Stoics in general have taken a recent interest in Epicurean teachings. The YouTube Channel Vox Stoica also published a 30-minute video titled What is Epicureanism and is it compatible with Stoicism? I find mutual advantage in this type of content, as it helps students of both schools to understand the similarities and differences between them, as they are understood by both schools.
In recent months, I have been working on deep explorations of the 40 Principal Doctrines of Epicurus, and posting essays on Society of Epicurus for the benefit of sincere students. The essay series, so far, includes essays on PD 16 against worship of fate, on PD 6 and the literal method of exegesis, on PD's 32, 37 and 38 and how we can discuss slavery in Epicurean terms, on PD 8 on deferred gratification, on PD 5 on checks and balances in our ethics, and PD's 24 and 28 on the utility of our dogmatism, which is based on empirical methods. These essay series includes instructions on Meleta (this is the Epicurean process of study and deliberation both by oneself and with others "of like mind"). My hope is that sincere students will consider the benefits of deep study, and that they will benefit and become happier by the study of philosophy.
There will be more content of this kind in the future, so please follow our content on twitter, by joining our FaceBook group "Garden of Epicurus" (linked from our page) or by signing up for our newsletter at the Society of Epicurus page.
Greg Sadler is a philosopher and YouTuber who has a large following. He's an eclectic philosopher who contributes to modern Stoic publications. Many years ago, Greg was among the people to whom I sent a copy of my Humanist Press book when it was initially published. This week, we finally saw the publication of Greg Sadler's Honest Review of my book, Tending The Epicurean Garden. It's lengthy and detailed. I hope you enjoy it.
It appears that Stoics in general have taken a recent interest in Epicurean teachings. The YouTube Channel Vox Stoica also published a 30-minute video titled What is Epicureanism and is it compatible with Stoicism? I find mutual advantage in this type of content, as it helps students of both schools to understand the similarities and differences between them, as they are understood by both schools.
In recent months, I have been working on deep explorations of the 40 Principal Doctrines of Epicurus, and posting essays on Society of Epicurus for the benefit of sincere students. The essay series, so far, includes essays on PD 16 against worship of fate, on PD 6 and the literal method of exegesis, on PD's 32, 37 and 38 and how we can discuss slavery in Epicurean terms, on PD 8 on deferred gratification, on PD 5 on checks and balances in our ethics, and PD's 24 and 28 on the utility of our dogmatism, which is based on empirical methods. These essay series includes instructions on Meleta (this is the Epicurean process of study and deliberation both by oneself and with others "of like mind"). My hope is that sincere students will consider the benefits of deep study, and that they will benefit and become happier by the study of philosophy.
There will be more content of this kind in the future, so please follow our content on twitter, by joining our FaceBook group "Garden of Epicurus" (linked from our page) or by signing up for our newsletter at the Society of Epicurus page.
