Epicurus Principal Doctrines: Online Reading Group
A timeless classic that you can finish in 5 weeks
Dear (future) Reading Group members,
Thanks for coming here! This is the first post of our new reading group. In the coming weeks, we will read a relatively short, classic work of philosophy together. If this goes well and you are interested in continuing, we can continue this group with other books.
It is not so much a traditional “reading group” that meets via video or in person at a specific time; this would be a bit difficult with all the different time zones we’re in. But please do tell me if an actual, online, weekly meeting would be important to you, and I will try to arrange it anyway. For the moment, I thought we could start simply by all of us reading the same text at the same time and then commenting on it (and on each other’s contributions) in the same place: on the Daily Philosophy Substack Newsletter which is completely free.
There is no formal participation in this group and no need to register (except that you’ll need to sign up for the free newsletter so that you can get the notifications and other materials). Everyone is welcome to read with us and to comment or to just ignore this group.
Subscribe to the reading group for free here:
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If you decide to participate, please now go to the discussion area and post a few sentences about yourself and your background. It’s nicer if we all introduce ourselves a bit before the reading group kicks off!
Epicurus: Principal Doctrines
In the coming four sessions of this reading group we will read the main work of the philosophy of happiness of Epicurus, the Principal Doctrines. The fifth and last session will be a summary of the experience and a final opportunity for your feedback.
Epicurus wrote many works (Diogenes Laertius, from whom we know most about Epicurus, lists 44 books!). But for his theory of happiness, we only need three works:
- The Principal Doctrines is a collection of 40 sayings that summarise the whole of the Epicurean philosophy of life.
- The Letter to Menoeceus, who was one of Epicurus’ students, is one of three Epicurean letters that we have. It is a less systematic and slightly more superficial text than the Principal Doctrines, but covers essentially the same ground.
- Finally, the so-called Vatican Sayings are a collection of 81 quotes that were discovered in the Vatican Library in 1888. Some of them are almost identical to some of the Principal Doctrines, but others cover also different topics. We will occasionally refer to the Vatican Sayings when we discuss Epicurus.
Both the Principal Doctrines and the Letter to Menoeceus we know only because the 3rd century AD author Diogenes Laertius quoted them in full in his work “Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers,” which also contains source material from many other Greek philosophers.
Thankfully, all these sources are available in English and anyone can read them for free on the Internet. Here are the links:
- Principal Doctrines, tr. Hicks
- Letter to Menoeceus, tr. Hicks
- Diogenes Laertius, Chapter on Epicurus. This one includes the Greek text (click on “Load” top right to see the Greek).
The Hicks translation is a bit weird at times, but it’s easily available and seemingly free of restrictive copyrights.
- Julia Hannafin offers a different translation of the Principal Doctrines without stating who the translator is.
- Epicurus.net has another translation of the Principal Doctrines, again without translator information.
- Finally, Erik Anderson offers his own modern (2006) translation. This one is interesting because it divides the text into eight sections that cover different topics.
Erik Anderson’s grouping
Erik Anderson divides the text into the following sections:
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The four-fold cure for anxiety (Doctrines 1-4)
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Pleasure and virtue are interdependent (5)
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Social and financial status have recognizable costs and benefits (6-8)
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Through the study of Nature, we discern the limits of things (9-13)
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Unlike social and financial status, which are unlimited, peace of mind can be wholly secured (14-21)
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Happiness depends on foresight and friendship (22-30)
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The benefits of natural justice are far-reaching (31-38)
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So happiness can be secured in all circumstances (39-40)
I propose to read the text over 4 weeks like this:
- Starting Monday, April 25: Doctrines 1-8
- Starting Monday, May 2: Doctrines 9-21
- Starting Monday, May 9: Doctrines 22-30
- Starting Monday, May 16: Doctrines 31-40
I will post the text (in the Hicks translation) together with a short introduction every Monday. This first Monday (today) is just for the general introduction to the reading group. On each following Friday (April 22, April 29, May 6, May 13, May 20) and over the weekend, I will be present in the discussion forum, where we can then talk about the text in something resembling real-time. Of course, feel free to post your comments any time, but during the weekends the probability will be higher that I and others will be looking at the forum more often and that more direct discussions can take place. At the end of the weekend, I will then summarise the discussion and we will prepare for the next Monday.
If you’d like to have a Zoom meeting in addition to the forum discussions, then tell me in the comments to this post and we will arrange a day and time that suits all who want to participate. I can tell you that I am in the GMT+8 timezone, so if I’m to be present in the reading group, we could meet either after 22:00 GMT (which would be 6 in the morning for me), or around 14:00 GMT (which would be 22:00 here). I’m okay with both time frames.
Thanks again for coming along on this journey, and I hope that we will all have fun reading Epicurus together!
Andy
And now, if you like, please share a few words about yourself right here:
Epicurus Reading Group Kick-Off Post
Thanks!
