Epicurus engages in circular reasoning. Death does not matter while alive and has no existence to him. However, when it arrives it matters not because you no longer exist. He makes the fallacious assumption that existence and life are identical. Life does begin at birth and ends in death but existence knows no such bounds. He is circular because he proves life by the nonexistent death and the non existent life when the non existent death manifests. About like dating fossils in the strata by the date of the strata and dating the strata based on the fossils contained in it.
I agree Bill. In a way, in my opinion, this philosophy is excessively self-centered. The piece about politics and happiness is quite demonstrative. This philosophy gives decent people seeking a decent ethos a reason to disregard ideals of civic duty and honor.
Who else remains to govern if the decent people have been sorted out? Wouldn’t that result in less happiness in many circumstances?
It is striking to me however this thinking also appears to pave a path for Jesus’s teachings, in its passivity and similar in its treatment of authority - “Render unto Cesar….”
Great points and well-thought-out thank you I believe if you go back to The Bible and look at the context of what Jesus said there what he was saying in a bigger context is that you owe to Caesar for good government and your respect for good government and your willingness to pay for good government in this life however however what you owe to Caesar stops there
Apologies if I offended in any way. In my opinion, Jesus so amazingly overturned the ancient “might makes right” ethos - exactly as you say, obligation to Caesar is limited and lesser than obligation to God.
The ancient polytheistic mythologies serve to explain and make sense of human psychology and complex interactions. But they also serve to justify the brutalities of the natural world - its folly to attempt to stop those powerful Gods after all.
Thank Goodness for example the atrocities of the Coliseum largely ended with Rome’s adoption of Christianity. Not that brutality did not exist under Christianity too, but this understanding was a major step forward and evolution.
Epicurus engages in circular reasoning. Death does not matter while alive and has no existence to him. However, when it arrives it matters not because you no longer exist. He makes the fallacious assumption that existence and life are identical. Life does begin at birth and ends in death but existence knows no such bounds. He is circular because he proves life by the nonexistent death and the non existent life when the non existent death manifests. About like dating fossils in the strata by the date of the strata and dating the strata based on the fossils contained in it.
I agree Bill. In a way, in my opinion, this philosophy is excessively self-centered. The piece about politics and happiness is quite demonstrative. This philosophy gives decent people seeking a decent ethos a reason to disregard ideals of civic duty and honor.
Who else remains to govern if the decent people have been sorted out? Wouldn’t that result in less happiness in many circumstances?
It is striking to me however this thinking also appears to pave a path for Jesus’s teachings, in its passivity and similar in its treatment of authority - “Render unto Cesar….”
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Great points and well-thought-out thank you I believe if you go back to The Bible and look at the context of what Jesus said there what he was saying in a bigger context is that you owe to Caesar for good government and your respect for good government and your willingness to pay for good government in this life however however what you owe to Caesar stops there
Apologies if I offended in any way. In my opinion, Jesus so amazingly overturned the ancient “might makes right” ethos - exactly as you say, obligation to Caesar is limited and lesser than obligation to God.
The ancient polytheistic mythologies serve to explain and make sense of human psychology and complex interactions. But they also serve to justify the brutalities of the natural world - its folly to attempt to stop those powerful Gods after all.
Thank Goodness for example the atrocities of the Coliseum largely ended with Rome’s adoption of Christianity. Not that brutality did not exist under Christianity too, but this understanding was a major step forward and evolution.
🍻