Philosophy
In his fascinating book, The Swerve, Stephen Greenblatt tells the gripping story of the rediscovery, during the Middle Ages, of one of the philosophical masterpieces of the Classical period in Rome: Lucretius' De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), an epic exploration and development of Epicurus' materialist, empiricist and soteriologically hedonistic philosophy, all set to the most beautiful of Latin poetry.
Greenblatt shows how the Christian obsession with asceticism, suffering and self-righteousness came perilously close to annihilating any traces of a philosophy that eschews the supernatural, and that celebrates life and sees it as worth living and enjoying. It was by sheer chance that an Italian humanist scholar, Gian Francesco Poggio, discovered Lucretius in a palimpsest and started circulating it. In Greenblatt's opinion, the dissemination of this beautiful work of antiquity (measured by the famous thinkers who managed to get their hands on and were inspired by it), may have been one of the leading factors that gave rise to modernity.
In the following audio rendition, read by the inimitable Charlton Griffin, you'll get a sense of the piercing power of Lucretius' philosophy and poetry as he sets down the basics of Epicurus' metaphysical materialism and his fight against the superstitious nature of religion. They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but in Lucretius' hands and with Griffin's god-like and thunderous voice, it's more like a nuclear bomb!
And if you're interested in the text of the above excerpt, you can find a copy here.
- Are Atoms Illogical?
The word "atom" comes from the Greek for uncuttable. The idea in the doctrines of Democritus and Lucretius was that there was a basic unit of material existence that had no parts, was complete unity in itself. Descartes, in his book The Principles...
- Lucretius - De Rerum Natura - Death Is Nothing To Us
According to the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, one of the greatest impediments to human flourishing is religious superstition. He thought that the idea of an afterlife is a pernicious tool wielded by those in power in order to manipulate, control,...
- San Francisco - One Toothpick At A Time
The poet/philosopher Lucretius once remarked about the irony that many of the people who desperately wish for an eternal afterlife are usually the very same people who are constantly bored and wasting their lives. Go figure... Although there are some...
- “on The Nature Of Things” Rediscovered
"The Answer Man" An ancient poem was rediscovered—and the world swerved. by Stephen Greenblatt August 8th, 2011 The New Yorker When I was a student, I used to go at the end of the school year to the Yale Co-op to see what I could find to read over...
- Bernard Le Bovier De Fontenelle's Extraterrestrials
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle by Jacques Francois Joseph Swebach. Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle's opera "Thétis et Pélée" [1689] led me to his so-called thoughts on extraterrestrials upon which I discovered the following. "Alien Ideas Christianity...
Philosophy
Lucretius - De Rerum Natura - Matter and Void
Greenblatt shows how the Christian obsession with asceticism, suffering and self-righteousness came perilously close to annihilating any traces of a philosophy that eschews the supernatural, and that celebrates life and sees it as worth living and enjoying. It was by sheer chance that an Italian humanist scholar, Gian Francesco Poggio, discovered Lucretius in a palimpsest and started circulating it. In Greenblatt's opinion, the dissemination of this beautiful work of antiquity (measured by the famous thinkers who managed to get their hands on and were inspired by it), may have been one of the leading factors that gave rise to modernity.
In the following audio rendition, read by the inimitable Charlton Griffin, you'll get a sense of the piercing power of Lucretius' philosophy and poetry as he sets down the basics of Epicurus' metaphysical materialism and his fight against the superstitious nature of religion. They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but in Lucretius' hands and with Griffin's god-like and thunderous voice, it's more like a nuclear bomb!
And if you're interested in the text of the above excerpt, you can find a copy here.
- Are Atoms Illogical?
The word "atom" comes from the Greek for uncuttable. The idea in the doctrines of Democritus and Lucretius was that there was a basic unit of material existence that had no parts, was complete unity in itself. Descartes, in his book The Principles...
- Lucretius - De Rerum Natura - Death Is Nothing To Us
According to the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, one of the greatest impediments to human flourishing is religious superstition. He thought that the idea of an afterlife is a pernicious tool wielded by those in power in order to manipulate, control,...
- San Francisco - One Toothpick At A Time
The poet/philosopher Lucretius once remarked about the irony that many of the people who desperately wish for an eternal afterlife are usually the very same people who are constantly bored and wasting their lives. Go figure... Although there are some...
- “on The Nature Of Things” Rediscovered
"The Answer Man" An ancient poem was rediscovered—and the world swerved. by Stephen Greenblatt August 8th, 2011 The New Yorker When I was a student, I used to go at the end of the school year to the Yale Co-op to see what I could find to read over...
- Bernard Le Bovier De Fontenelle's Extraterrestrials
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle by Jacques Francois Joseph Swebach. Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle's opera "Thétis et Pélée" [1689] led me to his so-called thoughts on extraterrestrials upon which I discovered the following. "Alien Ideas Christianity...