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Topic: Epicurean paradox

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Caspar Wessel

	Paradox
		A paradox is an apparently true statement or group of statements that seems to lead to a contradiction or to a situation that defies intuition.
		Paradoxes which are not based on a hidden error generally happen at the fringes of context or language, and require extending the context (or language) to lose their Paradox quality.
		Epicurean paradox, or Problem of evil: The existence of evil is incompatible with the existence of an omnipotent and caring God.
	paradox.mindbit.com (2272 words)

	Epicurus [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
		He taught that the point of all one's actions was to attain pleasure (conceived of as tranquility) for oneself, and that this could be done by limiting one's desires and by banishing the fear of the gods and of death.
		But the Epicureans did spend a great deal of energy trying to make plausible the contention that all activity, even apparently self-sacrificing activity or activity done solely for the sake of virtue or what is noble, is in fact directed toward obtaining pleasure for oneself.
		A second Epicurean argument against the fear of death, the so-called 'symmetry argument,' is recorded by the Epicurean poet Lucretius.
	www.utm.edu /research/iep/e/epicur.htm (5535 words)

	Social Paradoxes (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)
		Semantic paradoxes depend on language structure, and the paradox is often used as a rhetorical device in epigrams and poetry.
		Resolution of a paradox requires that we abandon at least one of the premises, refute the process of inference, or somehow learn to live with the unpalatable result.
		Paradox is a symptom of misconception; and coherent, systematic conception, i.e.
	members.aol.com /clspegusas/2paradox.html (3151 words)

	Paradox Magazine \| Music & Literature \| Literature \| Paradox Magazine Subscription: MagazineCity
		Paradox Magazine is full of the very best in short historical fiction and speculative fiction with historical themes.
		Paradox is accented by illustrations that include original artwork and classic prints.
		Paradox also includes interviews with award-winning authors, non-fiction essays on history and literary history, poetry, as well as book and film reviews.
	www.magazinecity.com /5284-4.html (134 words)

	Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2000.09.11
		Epicurean epistemology is the subject of Chapter 8, in a fine survey provided by Asmis.
		And in fact, the most vivid impression that a clear exposition of Epicurean epistemology makes on the reader is the fact that it is extraordinarily flimsy and ill-supported at nearly every juncture and ill-equipped to address the philosophical difficulties that beset it.
		The key, as he notes (506), is to see that their form is merely a disjunction of possible explanations; the point could be strengthened by reflecting that the actual reference in DL 10.86 does not mention multiple "aitiai", plural, but a "pleonachên aitian", i.e.
	ccat.sas.upenn.edu /bmcr/2000/2000-09-11.html (2767 words)

	List of paradoxes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Liar paradox: "This sentence is false." This is the canonical self-referential paradox.
		SAR paradox: Exceptions to the principle that a small change in a molecule causes a small change in its chemical behavior are frequently profound.
		Epicurean paradox, or Problem of evil: The existence of evil seems to be incompatible with the existence of an omnipotent and caring God.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/List_of_paradoxes (2800 words)

	Epicurus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
		Although the overall structure of Epicureanism was designed to hang together and to serve its principal ethical goals, there was room for a great deal of intriguing philosophical argument concerning every aspect of the system, from the speed of atoms in a void to the origin of optical illusions.
		The major source for Epicurean doctrine is Diogenes Laertius' third-century A.D. Lives of Eminent Philosophers, a compilation of information on the lives and doctrines of the philosophers of classical Greece (see “Doxography of Ancient Philosophy”).
		Finally, it possible that he discounted such a puzzle as a purely mathematical paradox, since it is recorded that he had little interest in mathematics as a separate science from physics and believed it to be irrelevant to the proper study of physics.
	plato.stanford.edu /entries/epicurus (7766 words)

	Epicurus Encyclopedia Article @ Faintest.org (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)
		For you would not be able to establish conclusively that he died by the sword or of cold or of illness or perhaps by poison, but we know that there is something of this kind that happened to him.
		The Epicurean paradox is a famous argument against the existence of an all-powerful and providential God.
		Epicurus did not, however, deny the existence of Gods, but he did not think of them along the lines that lead to this paradox, but rather as blissful and immortal beings inhabiting the metakosmia, empty spaces between worlds in the vastness of infinite space.
	www.faintest.org /encyclopedia/Epicurus (2780 words)

	Lucretius (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
		His defence of the Epicurean system is deftly and passionately argued, and is particularly admired for its eloquent critique of the fear of death in book 3.
		Indeed, he defends this latter Epicurean paradox by deploying a classic self-refutation argument against the sceptical alternative: to deny that we have access to knowledge through the senses (its only possible entry route) is a philosophical stance that disqualifies its own adherents by depriving them of any possible grounds for its assertion (4.469-521).
		In true Epicurean spirit (here and in book 6 too; see especially 6.703-11), his favoured policy is to list a plurality of explanations of one and the same phenomenon without selecting one as correct.
	plato.stanford.edu /entries/lucretius (6159 words)

	Epicurus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		After the official approval of Christianity by Constantine, Epicureanism was repressed.
		Elements of Epicurean philosophy have resonated and resurfaced in various diverse thinkers and movements throughout Western intellectual history.
		A Marxist interpretation of Epicurus, the Epicurean movement, and its opponents.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Epicurus (2643 words)

	Knowledge Products Audiobooks - Stoicism & Epicureanism
		The Epicureans were suspicious of overly artful or sophisticated intellectual debates; they preferred ordinary language and relied only on sense impressions to establish what we perceive or know.
		The Epicureans sought a life of pleasure -- that is, minimal pain and maximum peace of mind -- by rejecting external goods and pursuing true and lasting internal qualities such as justice, honor, and wisdom.
		Epicurus said there are four basic truths: (1) there are no divine beings to threaten us; (2) there is no next life; (3) the little we actually need is easy to get; and (4) what makes us suffer is easy to put up with.
	www.audioclassics.net /html/phil2_files/stoics.cfm (362 words)

	Problem of evil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Epicurus is credited with first expounding this problem, and it is sometimes called the Epicurean paradox (or the riddle of Epicurus) — although the argument is not really a paradox or a riddle, but rather a reductio ad absurdum of the premises.
		More generally, no paradox or problem exists for those who do not accept the premises, in particular the existence of a god or gods (or their benevolence if they do exist).
		Another response to this paradox argues that by asserting "evil exists", that person is inferring a moral standard against which to define good and evil (see Argument from morality).
	88.208.194.172 /wiki/index.php/Problem_of_evil (1855 words)

	KONSTAN.html
		Christopher Gill resolves the paradox of Epicurean altruism in a more subtle way, by invoking the idea of generalized reciprocity, which, as he describes it, “accepts localized episodes of pain and distress on behalf of the friend, and does not look for utility or pleasure on a piecemeal, contractual basis” (324).
		So too in Epicureanism the capacity for friendship and, along with this, I suggest, a disinterested desire for the good of the other, are part of our biological inheritance: we are as eager, in Lucretius’ formulation, not to harm others as we are to go unharmed.
		An Epicurean, to be sure, will desire pleasure for a friend, whereas Aristotle would have desired his happiness, or whatever the friend believed to be good.
	www.apaclassics.org /Publications/PresTalks/KONSTAN.html (6306 words)

	Bryn Mawr Classical Review 94.03.23
		She proceeds by detaching the arguments of De Finibus II from the account of pleasure put forward by the Epicurean Torquatus in De Finibus I.29-42.
		The four essays by Striker, Laks, Annas, and Furley all either deal directly with Epicureanism or take it as a point of departure for consideration of related doctrines.
		Their tool kit consisted of censorship, writing new poetry, allegorical interpretation, and what Nussbaum calls "the art of critical spectatorship." There is, she rightly observes, little evidence for Stoic censorship of poetry, and what evidence there is for Stoic writing or rewriting of poetry does not produce a desire for more.
	ccat.sas.upenn.edu /bmcr/1994/94.03.23.html (2939 words)

	Apologetics Press - Epimenides' Paradox: A Logical Discrepancy In Titus 1:12?
		While lecturing a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers in Acts 17:22-34, Paul, in verse 28, quoted from Epimenides’ Cretica (“For in him we live and move and have our being”) and Aratus’ Phaenomena (“For we are also his offspring”), using these two pagan poets to make a point.
		However, when Paul spoke to Titus concerning his mission on the island of Crete, some critics have suggested that the apostle committed a logical fallacy by quoting the Cretan poet Epimenides: “One of them, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true” (Titus 1:12-13a).
		This is a form of the logical paradox commonly known as Epimenides’ Paradox: “A Cretan said, ‘All Cretans are liars.’ ” If, as Paul affirms, this statement is true, then the statement is false because a Cretan, who is a liar, made it.
	www.apologeticspress.org /articles/620 (489 words)

	Epicurus - Greek Philosopher - Crystalinks
		Epicurus was born into an Athenian emigre family - his parents, Neocles and Chaerestrate, both Athenian citizens, were sent to an Athenian settlement on the Aegean island of Samos.
		The Epicurean doctrines are by no means extinct.
		The Epicurean paradox is a famous argument against the existence of God.
	www.crystalinks.com /epicurus.html (1060 words)

	Does God Exist?
		If we assume the common definition of omnipotence, we encounter a contradiction: If God was omnipotent, he should be able to do create such a rock but then he cannot lift the rock and his omnipotence breaks down.
		This paradox creates a dire dilemma for the faithful: Who would really want or need a God who is not omnipotent, a god who would not be able to change the laws of the universe on behalf of a sinful supplicant?
		This paradox does not prove or disprove anything in itself, but it does point out the inherent logical impossibility of the existence of an omnipotent God.
	www.rationality.net /god.htm (4625 words)

	Problem of evil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		In this form, the argument is not really a paradox or a riddle, but rather a reductio ad absurdum "reduction to the absurd", of the premises.
		Epicurus drew the conclusion that the existence of evil is incompatible with the existence of the Gods, assuming absolute concepts of benevolence and omnipotence.
		In the 5th Century CE, Pelagius denied the Augustianian answer to the paradox of original sin.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Epicurean_paradox (3551 words)

	Epicurus.info : E-Texts : Title
		Of this topic the Epicureans had made their usual studies and thereby obtained for certain homely virtues a status of importance which had been denied them by Plato, who confined his attention to political virtues, especially justice.
		It is always well to pause for a surveying glance: here it may occur to the mind how easily a good Epicurean family might have become a good Christian family; their codes of morals were very similar; the structure of doctrine needed to be changed, as also the motivation, but not the precepts.
		Thomas Jefferson, however, one of the few men with courage to avow himself an Epicurean, reversed this reversal; the words he wrote into the Declaration of Independence were not "property, liberty, and the pursuit of wealth" but "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," veritable watchwords of Epicureanism.
	www.epicurus.info /etexts/stpaulandepicurus.html (15333 words)

	Paradoxes Quotes
		For thence,--a paradox Which comforts while it mocks,-- Shall life succeed in that it seems to fail: What I aspired to be, And was not, comforts me: A brute I might have been, but would not sink i' the scale.
		Then there is that glorious Epicurean paradox, uttered by my friend, the Historian in one of his flashing moments: "Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its necessaries."
		These are old fond paradoxes to make fools laugh i' th' alehouse.
	www.worldofquotes.com /topic/Paradoxes/index.html (161 words)

	African American News & Issues
		The fifth century theologian Augustine of Hippo mounted what has become one of the most popular defenses of the existence of God against the Epicurean paradox.
		However, it is pointed out that an omnipotent God could give the world any benefits derived from suffering without those in the world having to suffer.
		Another response to this paradox argues that asserting "evil exists" would imply a moral standard against which to define good and evil.
	www.aframnews.com /html/2006-05-24/lead1.htm (853 words)

	Multae Sententiae
		I consider myself an atheist due to my lack of belief in gods, a bright (noun) due to my naturalistic approach to life, a socialist because I believe in redistribution of wealth so that society can avoid phenomena such as billionaires or homeless individuals.
		Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based on the teachings of Epicurus, who lived between the fourth and third centuries before the Common Era.
		In Epicureanism the value of friendship is so important that having a circle of friends you can trust is one of the most important means for securing a tranquil life.
	www.multisententiae.blogspot.com (8619 words)

	Wine tours in France (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)
		Staying in a quaint 17th century wine estate located in the heart of the Cote de Bourg, you will enjoy the unintrusive company and experience of your winemaker hosts.
		They will share with you many of their wine making secrets and will give you a first-hand experience of the French paradox: enjoying delicious wines and tasty cuisine while staying healthy.
		Visits and tasting are scheduled in the morning, the program for the afternoons is yours to decide.
	www.webscapades.com /france/winetours/wine-tours.htm (717 words)

	KtB - The Book About The Book Against God
		It is a paradox, but one familiar enough for anyone who has read Kierkegaard or Dostoevsky.
		By his own confession, Bunting, a perpetual student, is lazy and dishonest, a procrastinator, averse to paying his bills and also to bathing.
		He tells people he is finishing up his dissertation on the Epicurean philosophers -- but in fact spends all his time reading theology in order to denounce it in a manuscript he calls “The Book Against God,” which he abbreviates as BAG.
	www.killingthebuddha.com /critical_devotion/about_book.htm (733 words)

	pdox 4.0 Username problem - dBforums
		For some reason our paradox 4.0 application is using the Windows login name instead of the paradox username in regards to file locking.
		By paradox username I mean the one that is set via ToolsNetUsername.
		Sometimes when a record is locked by another user, instead of the message saying, table is locked by "network name", it's table is locked by "windows name".
	www.dbforums.com /showthread.php?t=1067879 (177 words)

	rogueclassicism
		proposals on the theme of Epicureanism in the Renaissance.
		Epicureanism / Epicurus / Lucretius / Democritus; the influence
		Epicurean guild in Italy; and, of course, Epicureanism as food
	www.atrium-media.com /rogueclassicism/categories/classicalEvents/2003/10/31.html (183 words)

	The French Paradox
		‘The French Paradox’ is well known to nutritionists and reasons for this statistical enigma are emerging.
		One of their pet names for the English is ‘Les Ros Bif’, in reference to the traditional overcooked Sunday roast dinner.
		The French diet is ‘Epicurean’ compared to the American ‘convenience’ diet, where cheap, snack food is widely available wherever you go.
	www.coolarticle.com /Health/The_French_Paradox.php (498 words)

	Lucretius (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2005 Edition)
		We know virtually nothing, beyond what little can be inferred from the poem itself, of Lucretius' biography.
		Being intrinsically possible, they must also be true, if not in our world, then at any rate somewhere, for in an infinite universe no possibility can remain unactualized (an application of the Principle of Plenitude).
		The Epicurean fourfold cure (tetrapharmakos) read: ‘God holds no fears, death no worries.
	www.science.uva.nl /~seop/archives/win2005/entries/lucretius (6185 words)

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