#tetrapharmakos

[renegade-hierophant]

Τετραφάρμακος (Four-part remedy)

Ἄφοβον ὁ θεός, ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον, τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον.

Don’t fear god, Don’t worry about death; What is good is easy to get, What is terrible is easy to endure.

[majimemegoro]

CEO / murderer / mentor

"No, sweetheart. It's not that you aren't /allowed/ to sleep. I just want what's best for you, okay? We'll just stay up for a little while." 

- Kadokura Kenshi

[quodnonnecatemunit]

"De Rerum Natura" (Latin: [deː ˈreːrʊn naːˈtuːraː]; On the Nature of Things) is a first-century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC) with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The problem was that Epicureanism had already been exported to Rome but it wasn't accepted by the higher social classes, leaning towards stoicism, that thought Epicurus' philosophy was a lame invitation to the pleasures of flesh. Nothing more wrong! Epicurean philosophers wanted to prescribe moral antidotes against the major fears of humanity, leading it to happiness: the first four Principal Doctrines from Epicurus, called "Tetrapharmakos", are recommendations to avoid anxiety or existential dread. 1) Don't fear god

2) Don't worry about death

3) What is good is easy to get

4) What is terrible is easy to endure In fact: 1) A happy and eternal being has no trouble himself and brings no trouble upon any other being; hence he is exempt from movements of anger and partiality, for every such movement implies weakness

2) Death is nothing to us; for the body, when it has been resolved into its elements, has no feeling, and that which has no feeling is nothing to us.

3) The magnitude of pleasure reaches its limit in the removal of all pain. When pleasure is present, so long as it is uninterrupted, there is no pain either of body or of mind or of both together.

4) Continuous pain does not last long in the body; on the contrary, pain, if extreme, is present a short time, and even that degree of pain which barely outweighs pleasure in the body does not last for many days together. Illnesses of long duration even permit of an excess of pleasure over pain in the body. To the Greek philosopher Epicurus, the unhappiness and degradation of humans arose largely from the dread which they entertained of the power of the deities, from terror of their wrath. This wrath was supposed to be displayed by the misfortunes inflicted in this life and by the everlasting tortures that were the lot of the guilty in a future state. Lucretius's task was to clearly state and fully develop these views in an attractive form; his work was an attempt to show through poetry that everything in nature can be explained by natural laws, without the need for the intervention of divine beings. He explores the principles of atomism; the nature of the mind and soul; explanations of sensation and thought; the development of the world and its phenomena; and explains a variety of celestial and terrestrial phenomena. Why through a poem? Because he knew that philosophy dissertations, and especially atomism and epicureanism, were hard to understand, comprehend and grasp. So, philosophy is like a medicine: life-saving, but often unpleasant. In order to make someone ingest that medicine, you have to sweeten it, thus the use of poetic form in Lucretius' "De Rerum Natura", which I'll directly quote: "Sed veluti pueris absinthia tetra medentes/cum dare conantur, prius oras pocula circum/contingunt mellis dulci flavoque liquore,/ut puerorum aetas improvida ludificetur labrorum tenus, interea perpotet amarum/absinthi laticem deceptaque non capiatur,/sed potius tali facto recreata valescat/sig ego nunc, quoniam haec ratio plerumque videtur/testior esse quibus non est tractata, retroque/ vulgus abhorret ab hac, volui tibi suaviloquenti/ carmine Pierio rationem exponere nostram/ et quasi musaeo dulci contingere melle " "But as when doctors try to give children the disgusting absinthe, they first sprinkle the rims all around the cups with sweet and blond (liquid of) honey, so that the inexperienced children are deceived to the lips, and meanwhile they drink to the bottom of the bitter juice of absinthe and, though deceived, they receive no harm, but rather regenerated in this way they regain their health, so now, since this doctrine seems too difficult to those who have not dealt with it thoroughly, and the common people flee from it, I wanted to expose my reason to you with the harmonious song of the Pierides"

[casualhedonists]

gonna talk more about this bc i’m v bored at the airport and my flight is delayed

philosophy nerd ramblings under the cut :)

it’s also very much a reference to epicureanism (epicurus is my favorite philosopher), he essentially proposes hedonism as a treatment for pain/suffering, but applied with restraint (this is touched on in the tetrapharmakos which is a a four-pillar guide to life essentially that i find v cool and interesting)

so essentially casual hedonism = epicurianism?

How did you pick your username?

there’s a silly story to it actually! my first one (landsontop) was just a temporary one and then i was thinking about how cool it is being in your 20s, sure you have responsibilities but also you can do pretty much whatever you want, you can eat ice cream for dinner and listen to hannah montana songs and then go home and write whatever filthy smut your brain can conjure and it doesn’t matter at all and ig it’s a bit like hedonism, but i’ve read the secret history and it’s certainly not that extreme, so.. casual?

[dsirmtcom]

La Philo en 4 Cases - Epicure, Le Tetrapharmakos, quadruple remède pour l'ataraxie

La Philo en 4 Cases - Epicure, Le Tetrapharmakos, quadruple remède pour l'ataraxie #Philosophie #LaPhiloEn4Cases #Epicure #Ataraxie #Tranquillité #Âme #Bonheur #Plaisir #Dieux #Mort #Douleur

La Philo en 4 Cases

Pour en savoir plus

Fiche de lecture – Epicure, Lettre à Ménécée

  La Philo en 4 Cases

Dsirmtcom, mai 2020

[kon-igi]

Da poco sono ripresi i corsi serali (frequento l'alberghiero a Salso) e tra le prime lezioni c'è stata scienze dell'alimentazione. La lezione verteva su larn, fet, BMI e l'alimentazione corretta e sostenibile.

In particolare mi ha colpito un grafico sul calo statistico dell'aspettativa di vita a seconda se si sia obesi o eccessivamente magri.

Sono obeso di categoria 1. Qualche anno fa ero di categoria 3, sto calando grazie a esercizi, un regime alimentare più regolare e il supporto di un nutrizionista. Nonostante il grasso tutti i miei valori sono entro i valori "buoni", mi chiedevo quindi per amor di discussione: al di là dell'aspetto estetico, ha veramente senso continuare a dimagrire per guadagnare (statisticamente) 3 o 4 anni di vita? Da buon epicureo mi preoccupa di più il con chi e il come che non il quanto io viva.

Fatto salvo l'aspetto salutistico e il peso sul ssn, su cui nonostante tutto non gravo per ragioni legate alla stazza, mi chiedo perché io debba preoccuparmi di quanto vivrò. Il modo in cui il professore ha portato l'argomento mi fa pensare che la quantità di anni di vita sia considerata più importante della sua qualità per una maggioranza di persone (per quanto sia vero che sono comunque legate), quasi si debba tenere la morte il più lontano possibile. Sì torna al mio epicureismo e al tetrapharmakos (o a Romina Falconi). Perché ci si preoccupa tanto del morire; se ci siamo noi non c'è la morte, se c'è la morte non ci siano noi, tanto vale godersi la vita senza farsi troppi problemi, essere gentili e divertirsi.

Forse ho una visione troppo semplicistica o poco adatta ai tempi, però questi pensieri mi stanno rodendo da ieri sera e dovevo esternarli per un confronto.

Intanto grazie dello spunto... e non è una frase di rito, visto che si tratta di un argomento a me molto caro, poi taggo subito @firewalker perché sono curioso di sapere quanto sarà in accordo/disaccordo con me (lui ha un approccio molto scientifico, cosa che io ho parzialmente abbandonato nel corso degli anni).

Questa è una persona che sta guadagnando tre-quattro anni di vita in più

Emiplegia flaccida destra, catetere vescicale, ossigeno e braccio sinistro legato così non si strappa il sondino naso-gastrico con cui viene somministrato un pasto liquido ipercalorico e iperproteico.

Voi non avete idea quante migliaia di anziani vivono vengono tenuti in vita così.

Ovviamente tu stai parlando di un 'guadagno' ottenibile tramite comportamenti virtuosi PRIMA di arrivare a questo ma la mia è una riflessione che riguarda anche tali situazioni preventive, per poi arrivare a una concezione più ampia della qualità della vita.

Non esiste una quantificazione precisa della sottrazione di aspettativa vitale a causa di stili alimentari e igienici a rischio ('Mio nonno ha fumato 3 pacchetti di Nazionali fino a 90 anni!' è l'esempio di come ogni organismo reagisca diversamente agli stressori ambientali), però la scienza medico-statistica può rivelarcene con accettabile precisione le medie...

Una persona normopeso, che fa attività fisica moderata, che vive in collina, che non fuma e non consuma alcolici o droghe e che ha una dieta vegetariana/pescetariana con alimenti non confezionati e ricca di fibre e verdure/frutta fresche MEDIAMENTE campa più di un impiegato milanese sedentario che mangia da Spontini, fuma Merith e pippa il sabato sera.

Sicuramente esisterà uno studio pluridecennale che ha partorito una tabella con la differenziazione dei vari comportamenti a rischio e le relative aspettative ma il problema credo risieda nella terribile triade del nuovo millennio

LA DISTORSIONE DEL BENESSERE

L'ETERNO NON-INVECCHIAMENTO

LA NEGAZIONE DELLA MORTE

La differenza tra benessere e 'stare bene' può forse non esserci a livello semantico ma a livello pratico le due condizioni sono tutt'altro che assimilabili: il primo, tecnicamente, dovrebbe far conseguire il secondo ma la maggior parte delle volte si tratta una condizione esterna a noi, raggiunta tramite il suo conseguimento frenetico e faticoso, a cui non corrisponde un reale stare bene, condizione intima che riguarda più la visione delle cose che il loro possesso.

Da questo consegue la ricerca dinamica di una condizione di stasi, con il congelamento ideale delle caratteristiche della giovane età: le donne devono rimanere magre, lisce e desiderabili, mentre l'uomo atletico, tonico e desiderabile.

Ma questo non è possibile... o meglio, è possibile entro certi limiti, sempre più faticosi da raggiungere e a costi sempre più alti (e non parlo di denaro).

Con cosa lo paghiamo questo 'benessere'?

Con lo stare sempre meno bene con noi stessi.

E qua concludo con il terzo punto, che a mio avviso oramai ha preso dimensioni sociali demotivanti.

Bisogna lasciare invecchiare le persone e permettere loro di morire.

Perché se per avere un 5% in più di (non)vita dobbiamo vivere il 95% precedente nella paura della morte, allora abbiamo vissuto ma manco per il cazzo.

Esistono conseguenze (purtroppo tardive) a stili di vita 'non sani' ma una volta che la persona ne è consapevole deve poter scegliere cosa sia meritevole di sacrificio e cosa invece costituisca un'inutile dispendio di energie vitali in nome di un benessere che è tutto tranne che stare bene.

Vi lascio con una famosa battuta di Woody Allen, invitandovi comunque a volervi bene nel modo meno dannoso possibile

Ho smesso di fumare. Vivrò una settimana di più e in quella settimana pioverà a dirotto.

<3

[kyogre-blue]

Philosophical or religious terms I “know” purely because of fandom

generally because they are fancy magic terms in canon or fic names

Palingenesis (rebirth or recreation)

Mimesis (imitation or mimicry, ‘realism’ in fiction)

Metanoia (a fundamental change of self) 

Ataraxia (tranquility, imperturbability, a state free from distress and worry) 

Ecclesia (a congregation or a church, also The Church)

Qualia (specific experiences, like the taste of something)

Turtles all the way down (each turtle stands on an even bigger turtle infinitely; arguments or explanations where each step refers back to an assumption, with no solid proof) 

Ineffability (ideas that cannot or should not be expressed in spoken words, something taboo or incomprehensible)

Cool terms I saw on wiki that would also work as fic titles: 

Apatheia (a state of mind undisturbed by passions)

A priori (”facts” that do not need to be proven)

Eudaimonia (highest human good, the aim of practical philosophy)

Form of the Good (a purely philosophical form of all that is good and just)

Identity of indiscernibles (no two things can be exactly alike, otherwise they’re just the same thing under two names)

Noesis (the understanding what is true or real) 

Tetrapharmakos ("four-part remedy" for leading the happiest possible life)

Trichotomy (a three-way classification, instead of two way dichotomy)

Urdoxa ("primary" or "first" doctrine)

Verisimilitude (how close to truth something is, even though it is fundamentally false)

Feel free to tell me which ones I summarized incorrectly, since I did it based on the top three paragraphs of their wikipedia articles. 

[ladycaity]

Tetrapharmakos

Άφοβον ο θεός, ανύποπτον ο θάνατος και ταγαθόν μεν εύκτητον, το δε δεινόν ευκαρτέρητον

[awrldalone]

22nd October 2020, 9.06pm

It all feels so pointless. I used to take great comfort in this pointlessness. Knowing that in the end we all die, that we just are ants in the universe, that our life is so short it has no real impact on history. These are all things that make me calmer. Although eternal darkness is frightening, I keep thinking about Epicurus and his tetrapharmakos.

I have no true objectives. Studying for school has never felt so useless, and my motivation to do work - I am not talking about my motivation to tay alive, that is a different topic - has never been this low. It just does not seem worth it.

While I repeat boring formulas for the Physics test I have tomorrow, I cannot help but wonder when this everlasting sense of limbo will stop taunting me. 

Every day I wake up and I have nothing to live for. I just move like a machine, repeating a stupid fucking routine that just causes me so much mental pain that I can almost physically feel it. I tell myself that I have to wait to take any decisions, because they are going to close everything up in a week or so. 

My eating habits have completely gotten fucked up. It is not like I have ever had the best relationship with food, but now it is different. I have also been doing things I should not. I have been keeping it secret, even to this log, diary, journal, whatever you want to call what you are reading. It just feels more real to write it.

I have been cutting. It’s an addiction, at this point, and I have no intention of stopping. I know it is bad, but it is also one of the only things that helps me think clearer. I should talk to a therapist, because sometimes, when I am not home, I catch myself wishing for something sharp to hide in the bathroom and feel better - less overwhelmed.  

I finally finished reading a book today. It almost took me two months, which is embarrassing to say. I read The Secret History again. I figured it would be a good book to start the academic year. It was enjoyable, I liked it just as much as the first time, but for some reason it took me so long to finish it. 

I’m used to reading a lot, and now that I have less time because of school - and because I feel perpetually tired and drained - I only read on the way home on the bus or tram. 

The only thing I did not like about this book - the same critique I would give to The Goldfinch, by the same author - is the reluctancy to admit that her main character is, in fact, not straight. Why the hell is it so explicit in every little thing that happens, but in the actual words? It is almost as if Donna Tartt is afraid of it.

-c.

[sylvie-corbelin-paris]

Epicure pendant #tetrapharmakos #epicurean #dontfeargod #dontworryaboutdeath #whatisgoodiseasytoget #whatisterribleiseasytoendure #sylviecorbelin #philosopher #poetess #paulbertserpette https://www.instagram.com/p/CP758-WlT4i/?utm_medium=tumblr

[bietboke-blog]

The τετραφάρμακος (Tetrapharmakos) or “four-part cure” (Herculaneum Papyrus 1005 (4.9-14)), preserved by Φιλόδημος ὁ Γαδαρεύς (Philodemus of Gadara), found in the Herculaneum Villa dei Papiri.

Ancient Greek

Ἄφοβον ὁ θεός,

ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος

καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον,

τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐκαρτέρητον

Translation

Don’t fear god,

Don’t worry about death;

What is good is easy to get, and

What is terrible is easy to endure.

[majimemegoro]

post for an audience of 1 ( @skygayzer ) bc its too much to type in message

4 Kadokura stages in Tetrapharmakos :

First stage, he’s interested in Katya purely for his own entertainment and enrichment, he doesn’t care about her as a person at all. If something bad happened to her he’d probably react badly, but in the same way he would if his car got wrecked or something. shes just an object to him essentially.

Second. His interest in her becomes more than ‘his most recent project’ and he starts to go into full blown obsession. he wants to spend more and more time with her. he’s getting emotionally invested. we’ve started moving from ‘fun new interest thats fun for me :)’ to ‘addiction that will cause problems for me if i cant have it’.

Third. Kadokura is emotionally reliant on her, and at the same time he actually wants good things for her for HER sake (as long as her wellness isnt conflicting at all with HIS desires). Having something approximating an actual connection with another person allows him to experience moments of real peace and happiness for possibly the first time ever. but it also terrifies him & he starts acting more erratic. he gets more punitive of any resistance he perceives in Katya. wants to spend almost every waking moment together. feels more threatened by any suggestion that she could care about people other than him or disobey him.

Fourth. cognitive dissonance sets in big time. kadokura’s tiny little heart and selfish little brain can’t make sense of what it means to actually care about another person! hes emotionally very volatile. it becomes difficult for him to function normally and he does a lot of self-sabotage, engaging in erratic behavior that harms his career. his habitual bad coping mechanism (substances, murder) get worse too. he makes sloppy mistakes with his evil plots. hes more impulsively violent in times when it isnt productive in a way hes never been before. katya is pretty much the only thing he really cares about.

[keggerrrr]

Don't fear god. Don't worry about death. What is good is easy to get, What is terrible is easy to bear. - Epicurus's Tetrapharmakos • • • • #getty #gettycenter #gettymuseum #statue #art #photography #photographer #travel #travelphotography #blue #architecture #architecturephotography #california #visitcalifornia #losangeles (at The Getty Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5LZg4Gg0EJ/?igshid=tna0f5kinmth

[elparra]

tetrapharmakos:

Khano tehnologia

[dsirmtcom]

Épicure (341-270 av. J.-C.)

Doctrines et vies des philosophes illustres - Épicure (341-270 av. J.-C.) #Philosophie #MardiCestPhilosophie #Philosophes #Biographie #Doctrine #Épicure #Ménécée #Jardin #Plaisir #Douleur #Hédonisme #Atomisme #Ataraxie #Âme #Corps #Éthique #Tetrapharmakos

Doctrines et vies des philosophes illustres La Philo en 4 cases : Épicure, Le Tetrapharmakos, quadruple remède pour l’ataraxie. Éléments biographiques Épicure naît en février 341 avant notre ère. Son père, Néoclès, enseigne la grammaire, et sa mère, Chéréstratè, est magicienne. Il meurt en 270, âgé de soixante-douze ans, après quatorze jours à souffrir d’une lithiase urinaire. Il grandit à…

[oncusnck]

The Tetrapharmakos

"Don't fear the gods, Don't worry about death; What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure." Epicurus