5 Comments

Certainly I was always led to believe Epicureanism was avarice and greed, amassing all the tasty goods available,

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Thank you for the reminder that like Cynicism or Stoicism, Epicureanism as a word in the vernacular has come to mean something that is contrary to the spirit of the original meaning. Philosophy as a way of life, if based on any of these traditions, runs counter to our modern consumerism as a way of life. No wonder defenders of consumerism use the names of philosophical schools as euphemisms for nihilism, fatalism and hedonism respectively

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Bob, indeed. Though a good part of the blame probably goes to the Catholic Church, especially as far as Epicureanism is concerned. They really disliked that philosophy.

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Ironic, given that a secluded life in a walled garden separated from the worldly desires and surrounded by books and friends sounds suspiciously like a very well run monastery

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Indeed! Many of the Epicurean communities were located where later on Christians built monasteries.

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