Kuhn, Hedonism, Epicurus
Revolutions and ataraxia
Kuhn
I have finished the Twitter thread I was writing on Thomas Kuhn’s seminal work in the history and philosophy of science, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
You can read it here.
Yes, it’s a long thread, but it is much shorter than the book, and I hope it is easier to follow. I also had fun linking it all together. If you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, you could look at Kuhn’s answers to questions like these:
I’d love to hear any feedback you have on the thread (or by email).
Hedonism
The asceticism salon we had on 19 November was fascinating; thank you to all those who attended!
The next salon in the series — on Hedonism — is this Thursday at 7pm GMT.
We will look at ancient and modern conceptions of hedonism, including the connection between excess and artistic creativity, and the history of florid literary confessions.
Epicurus
Even if you can’t make the salon, but especially if you can, I’d encourage you to read Catherine Wilson’s Aeon piece on the most consequential hedonist philosophy, Epicureanism: “How to be an Epicurean.”
Through her work I’ve become interested in this philosophy. I wrote a short piece looking at what Epicurus meant by hedonism and his unfortunate legacy. I continued that post with some reflections on Epicurus’ view of deities and death (plus a comparison to Epictetus).
Eudaimonia
The final salon in the trilogy will be on what is needed for the Good Life: flourishing, or its Greek philosophical name eudaimonia, on Wednesday, 16 December. I hope to tie together what we learned from self-abnegation with what we learned from the pursuit of pleasure, and to discuss the attributes of a life well-lived.
As always, I’d love to hear from you!
Bryan