I wish you all a Happy and Peaceful Eikas, and a Happy Hegemon Day! A few days ago, the 16th annual Panhellenic Symposium of Epicurean Philosophy was celebrated in Athens. You may find the video here: 16ο ΠΑΝΕΛΛΗΝΙΟ ΣΥΜΠΟΣΙΟ ΕΠΙΚΟΥΡΕΙΑΣ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΑΣ.The lectures were in Greek, but you are able to see the English or Spanish language captions if you click on Settings (the wheel, at the bottom of the screen) > Subtitles/CC > choose English or any other language.
This Eikas, we celebrate that Society of Friends of Epicurus is now a partner organization with the International Society for Philosophy as a Way of life. ISPWL was founded in 2025 to promote the study, practice, and public dissemination of philosophy understood not merely as a theoretical discipline, but as a way of living and transforming oneself.
Essays by Hiram Crespo:
The Pig in Various Cultures: On Pleasure, the Belly, and Redeeming the Earth is a survey of how the archetype or totem of the pig has been viewed by many cultures.
On the Simultaneity Between Pleasure and Praxis in Epicurean Salvific Theory is a paper I presented as part of Revista Horizonte Independiente’s annual conference in 2025, whose focus was on Hellenistic philosophies.
The Two Anchors was written in celebration of the 13th anniversary of the foundation of the Society of Friends of Epicurus, and discusses the two main stabilizing forces that have allowed us to develop a stable Epicurean practice and a virtual koinonia in the digital era, with so many distractions pulling our attention in so many directions.
Commentary on the Method of Multiple Interpretations elaborates on this aspect of the methodology from the Epicurean canon and how it relates to the physics and the ethics.
The Sculpted Word: a Synopsis and Commentary of a book that contains art critique and history, as well as a detailed evaluation of how ancient sculptures were used by the Epicureans in their passive recruitment, and of the psychological process of conversion to Epicurean philosophy.
Epicurus and Nietzsche on Experimentation: We are Nature Experimenting with Itself is an essay inspired by ideas in Vinod Acharya and Ryan Johnson’s book Nietzsche and Epicurus.
Goddess Spirituality in Lucretius delves into the unique Epicurean-inspired thealogy that we find in Lucretius, who sees the Great Goddess as a vital force that motivates sentient beings through the pleasure faculty.
The Plague of Disinformation: A Warning from the Second Century of Common Era is a quote from the Oenoanda Wall Inscription.
On the Need to Mourn Loved Ones is a moving quote from chapter 10 of Frances Wright’s novel A Few Days in Athens.
Essays by Nathan:
All Particles Go to Heaven: The Form and Formation of the (Epicurean) Gods delves into Epicurus’ materialist theology.
Epicurus Was Not an Atomist, an essay against isms.
We Got Beef: A Disembowelment of the Dialectic, Politics, and Other Organs of Bullshit is a polemic against the misuse of rhetoric.
Other Essays:
We are proud to announce that a fellow member of the Society of Epicurus, Jocelyn Pantoja, published her thesis titled Epicuro rétor: Análisis retórico de la Carta a Meneceo with the Universidad Autónoma de México, where she explores the rhetorical devices used by Epicurus in one of his epistles.
The Morality of Epicurus and its Relation to Contemporary Doctrines is an initial exploration of the work of the 19th-Century French philosopher Jean Marie Guyau, who proposed a post-Darwinian and fully scientific conception of morality.
The essay The Shared Table Builds the Strongest Walls written for the blog titled The House That Epicurus Built, reminds me of the practice of Epicurean hospitality (“theoxenia”) that we find in the message written on the Gate of the Epicurean Garden.
The substack titled Classical Wisdom published a basic introduction to the Tetrapharmakos titled Epicurus and the Pursuit of Happiness.
