The Leading Doctrines of Epicurus
Epicureanism in 40 short paragraphs
The Practical Wisdom podcast I produce is not for the faint of heart. Each series of episodes presents a deep dive into a single text from the Greco-Roman wisdom tradition. From time to time, as in the case of this post, it may helpful to pause and collect together all the entries referring to the same piece of classical writing, so that listeners can go back to them at their leisure, listen to them in sequence, and gain a broader appreciation of what they are about.
Today I submit to you a collection of links to my commentary of the Leading Doctrines by Epicurus, known as Kyriai doxai in Greek. The first four of these make up the so-called four-fold cure (tetrapharmakos) and they have sometimes been compared to the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. The Leading (or Principal) Doctrines are organized in groups by general topic, and each group is meant to be studied as a unit.
Of the Doctrines, Lucian of Samosata wrote: “What blessings this book creates for its readers and what peace, tranquillity, and freedom it engenders in them, liberating them as it does from terrors and apparitions and portents, from vain hopes and extravagant cravings, developing in them intelligence and truth, and truly purifying their understanding, not with torches and squills and that sort of foolery, but with straight thinking, truthfulness and frankness.” (Alexander the Oracle Monger)
The translation I used is the one by George K. Strodach, published in Being Happy, Penguin, 2020. Here are the links to the pertinent episodes: