Lucretius Today - Epicurus and Epicurean Philosophy

Lucretius Today is a podcast dedicated to learning Epicurean philosophy through study of the poet Lucretius, who lived in the age of Julius Caesar and wrote "On The Nature of Things," the only complete presentation of Epicurus' ideas left to us from the ancient world. We'll walk you line by line through the six books of Lucretius' poem, and we'll discuss how Epicurean philosophy can apply to you today. In this podcast we won't be talking about modern political issues. How you apply Epicurus in your own life is entirely up to you. Over at the Epicureanfriends.com web forum, we apply this approach by following a set of ground rules we call "Not Neo-Epicurean, But Epicurean." Epicurean philosophy is not a religion, it''s not Stoicism, it's not Humanism, it's not Libertarianism, it's not Atheism, and it's not Marxism or any other philosophy - it is unique in the history of Western Civilization, and as we explore Lucretius's poem you'll quickly see how that is the case. The home page of this podcast is LucretiusToday.com, and there you can find a free copy of the version of the poem from which we are reading, and links to where you can discuss the poem between episodes at Epicureanfriends.com.

Episode 284 - In Dealing With Pain, Does Practice Make Perfect? Or Does Practice Make For A Happy Life?
Jun 4, 2025 – 47:50
Episode 283 - "Philosophy For the Millions"
May 31, 2025 – 28:58
Episode 282 - Is a Trifling Pain A Greater Evil Than The Worst Infamy?
May 29, 2025 – 56:18
Episode 281 -Is Pain The Greatest Evil - Or An Evil At All?
May 21, 2025 – 43:45
Episode 280 - On Death And Daring To Live
May 14, 2025 – 52:44
Episode 279 - On Dying "Before One's Time"
May 8, 2025 – 39:29
Episode 278 - Two Opposite Views On Being Better Off Dead
May 2, 2025 – 01:02:48
Episode 277 - Platonism Says This World Is Darkness - Epicurus Disagrees!
Apr 23, 2025 – 56:01
Episode 276 - Is Memory Evidence of Divinity Of The Soul?
Apr 15, 2025 – 55:39
Episode 275 - Does Motion Prove The Existence Of God And The Divinity Of The Soul?
Apr 10, 2025 – 53:05
Episode 274 - Is The Soul Held Down By The Body, And Death Allow The Soul To Ascend To A Better Place?
Apr 4, 2025 – 01:01:04
Episode 273 - Is The Soul Immortal, And Death Actually a Good?
Mar 25, 2025 – 01:03:41
Episode 272 - Is Death An Evil? - TD02
Mar 18, 2025 – 56:37
Episode 271 - Understanding Epicurus Through Tusculan Disputations - TD01
Mar 15, 2025 – 35:32
Episode 270 - Life Is Desirable, But Unlimited Time Contains No Greater Pleasure Than Limited Time
Mar 8, 2025 – 59:11
Episode 269 - By Pleasure We Mean The Absence of Pain
Feb 25, 2025 – 57:03
Episode 268 - Pleasure Is The Guide Of Life
Feb 21, 2025 – 01:09:11
Episode 267 - Virtue Is Not Absolute Or An End In Itself - All Good And Evil Consists In Sensation
Feb 12, 2025 – 59:13
Episode 266 - The Epicurean Paradigm Shift
Feb 5, 2025 – 01:02:00
Episode 265 - The Deep-Set Boundary Stone - Epicurus and The Perils of Applying Geometry to Ethics
Jan 26, 2025 – 31:40
Episode 264 - "Bread and Water!!?? Debunking the Myth of Epicurean Asceticism"
Jan 22, 2025 – 23:29
Episode 263 - All Sensations Are True
Jan 17, 2025 – 01:06:13
Episode 262 - He Who Says "Nothing Can Be Known" Knows Nothing
Jan 8, 2025 – 01:00:57
Episode 261 - Death Is Nothing To Us
Dec 31, 2024 – 56:11
Episode 260 - The Universe Is Infinite And Eternal And Has No Gods Over It
Dec 24, 2024 – 54:36
Episode 259 - Nothing Comes From Nothing
Dec 21, 2024 – 52:41
Episode 258 - There Is No Necessity To Live Under Necessity - Part 2 - Conclusion
Dec 9, 2024 – 57:22
Episode 257 - There Is No Necessity To Live Under Necessity - Part 1
Dec 6, 2024 – 52:36
Episode 256 - Epicurean Gods: Real, Or Ideal Thought Constructs?
Nov 26, 2024 – 01:18:00
Episode 255 - Cotta Argues That Epicurean Gods Are As Despicable As Are Epicureans Themselves - CIcero's OTNOTG 30
Nov 18, 2024 – 45:33
Episode 254 - The Skeptic Asks: Does Not Epicurus Undermine Religion As Much Any Outright Atheist? - Cicero's OTNOTG 29
Nov 11, 2024 – 52:16
Episode 253 - How The "Riddle Of Epicurus" Fits Into the Epicurean View of The Gods - Cicero's OTNOTG 28
Nov 5, 2024 – 56:28
Episode 252 - Cicero's OTNOTG 27 - Why Reverence The Epicurean Gods?
Oct 29, 2024 – 48:10
Episode 251 - Cicero's OTNOTG 26 - How Niagara Falls Helps Us Understand the Flux, the Heap, and the Epicurean Gods
Oct 26, 2024 – 44:58
Episode 250 - Cicero's OTNOTG 25: The Relationship of "Images" To All Human Thought - Not Just To "The Gods"
Oct 14, 2024 – 01:02:51
Episode 249 - Cicero's OTNOTG 24 - Are The Epicurean Gods Totally Inactive, And Are We To Emulate Them Through Laziness?
Oct 12, 2024 – 01:03:04
Episode 248 - Cicero's OTNOTG 23 - Cotta Pushes The "Argument By Design" Against The Epicurean View That All - Including Gods - Is Natural
Oct 2, 2024 – 43:37
Episode 247 - Cicero's OTNOTG 22 - Cotta Continues To Attack The Epicurean View That Gods Are Natural Living Beings
Sep 28, 2024 – 45:36
Episode 246 - Cicero's OTNOTG 21 - Examining Epicurean Evidence-Based Reasoning
Sep 17, 2024 – 58:13
Episode 245 - Cicero's OTNOTG 20 - Right, Wrong, Or Incomplete?
Sep 13, 2024 – 49:31
Episode 244 - CIcero's OTNOTG 19 - Zeno's Paradoxes: Profundity or Gaslighting?
Sep 3, 2024 – 53:50
Episode 243 - OTNOTG 18 - From "All Sensations Are True" to Reasoning By Similarity And Analogy
Aug 28, 2024 – 48:18
Episode 242 - Cicero's OTNOTG 17 - Is Truth A Matter Of Logic?
Aug 21, 2024 – 01:03:48
Episode 241 - Cicero's OTNOTG 16 - A Common Thread Between The Epicurean View Of "The Gods" and "The Good"
Aug 13, 2024 – 58:11
Episode 240 - OTNOTG 15 - The False Allegation That "General Assent" Was The Epicurean Basis For Divinity
Aug 6, 2024 – 44:22
Episode 239 - Cicero's OTNOTG - 14 - The Dishonesty Of Academic Skepticism vs. Epicurus' Commitment To Truth
Jul 29, 2024 – 55:20
Episode 238 - Cicero's OTNOTG - 13 - Velleius Erupts Against Stoic Fate and Supernatural God-Making
Jul 24, 2024 – 54:33
Episode 237 - Cicero's OTNOTG - 12 - Isonomia And The Implications of Infinity
Jul 17, 2024 – 57:47
Episode 236 - Cicero's OTNOTG - 11 - Lucretian Support For Velleius' Views of Epicurean Divinity
Jul 11, 2024 – 51:22
Episode 235 - Cicero's OTNOTG - 10 - Velleius Explains the Epicurean Proleptic View Of Divinity
Jul 2, 2024 – 01:04:19