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87 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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You need to be able to label Theatron, Scene, Orchestra, Parodos |
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Ajax, son of Oileus (‘the Lesser Ajax’), tearing Cassandra from a statue of Athena. Cassandra is taking refuge with the goddess.Tondo of an Attic red-figure cup, ca. 440-430 BC. Kodros painter. Called the rape of Cassandra but he really is just tearing her and taking her away. Cassandra is Athena's profetise and so she is pissed that Cassandra is taken and lets out a big storm on Ajax. |
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Death of Agamemnon, Attic red figure pot, ca. 470 BC Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Agamemnon is killed off stage. In image Aegisthus is holding sword in the middle. He is holding Ag. by the head stabbing him. Net over his head because he was bathing. This image different than it happened in play. |
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Clytemnestra Killing Cassandra, red-figure cup National Museum, Ferrara. Occurs off stage also. Clytemnestra looks very masculine. On an alter. |
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Red-figure vase, c. 380s BC, Orestes and Elektra at Tomb. Orestes on the bottom left curing hair. Pylades on the right lower. Electra on the upper right with a jug because they came to pour libations. On upper left floating could be the river god or Hermes or Zeus. All the way on the right are the libation bearers. |
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Red-figure crater (c. 470 BCE). Orestes stabs Aegisthus as Clytemnestra tries to intervene with an axe. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Orestes pulls sword on Aegisthus bleeding. Orestes is very manly and Aegisthus is very womanly with a lyre instead of a weapon. Orestes seems stronger even though Aegisthus is older |
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Red-figure vasec. 330s BC Orestes preparesto kill Clytemnesta. A fury is above right covered in snakes. Heroic nudity of Orestes. Clytemnestra bears her breasts. Travelers hat falls off his head |
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Orestes tries to fight off the Furies Red-figure vase, c. 370 BC. Heroic nudity. "black clad eyes drip with blood |
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Orestes at Delphi. Inside of the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Iconic columns. Orestes carrying large olive branch. Two tripods in picture one between Apollos legs. Chariot above as offering. Apollo wards off Fury in the top corner with a snake. Orestes clutches Omphalos |
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Orestes clutching the statue of Athena at Athens. Athena dropped this statue herself from the sky. Orestes inside temple clutching her to receive salvation. On either side there are furies with helmets shields and spears.Furies threaten him at the statue |
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Apollo cleansing Orestes. Apollo holds a pig over Orestes' head. Orestes in the middle with a dagger in his hand resting against the Omphalos. Apollo stands above him with a pig and a tree branch. Artemis is on the right side of Apollo. On the left are furies. upper two are asleep ghost of Clytemnestra on the far left in a veil poking the furies to wake them. One fury awake at the bottom |
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Orchestra |
Orchestra is circular but were square earlier |
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theater |
Theater in athens was called theater of dionysus because he was the god of civic theater. Creates community |
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Skene |
building behind actor. Place where actors would go change |
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Parados |
road along side that leads to the amphitheater. Actors can come in through there too |
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Dionysus |
Trilogy performed at this festival. Most important festival in Athens for production of play. Things to do with Dionysus. Large religious festival held yearly for Dionysus. Carry a giant pink penis through to celebrate Dionysus. Satyr plays= funnier plays performed also. 3 poets would compete because greeks were super competitive |
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Tragedy |
goat song. not necessarily sad or tragic. more like a modern day drama |
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Aeschylus |
first of 3 great tragedians (Sopheucles and Euripidian). 525 BC- 456. Wrote about 90 plays only about 6 are exstamped |
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Dike |
Justice, retribution, punishment, what is right. eye for an eye. When ag gets home after war his wife kills him because it is justice for Ag killing their daughter. The son kills the mother as revenge for Ag. Vendetta Justice |
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Prolouge |
beginning speak. Speaking front. Before play starts. Technically in a play is everything before the chorus first speaks line 1-39. watchman sitting on the roof talking about how he is waiting to see a flame that claims troy was conquered. Watchman sees flame and goes to tell the queen |
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Strophe/Antistrophe/Epode |
Strophe= turn. Antistrophe= turn back. Epode= on the ode=chorus was mobile. Choreography |
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Aegisthus |
Son of Thyestes. Needs to kill Agamemnon as justice for what Agamemnon's father Atries did to his father. Fathers were brothers. |
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Sins of our parents |
Agamemnon pays the price for fathers revolting crimes. Justice for Aegisthus. We pay for the crimes of our fathers |
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Double bind |
two choices both are kind of bad no matter what they do. Ag= give her up lose honor or have his men suffer the plague. Achilles too= fight or not fight |
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learn through suffering |
somebody will learn from this suffering. May not be the sufferer but someone will learn. pg.12 |
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dramatic irony |
called dramatic because it often occurs in greek dramas. called this because the audience knows something that all the characters on stage don't. Tension between characters and audience |
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Clytemnestra |
a liar. Does all things good greek women aren't supposed to do. Acts like a man, takes a lover, has political authority. Masculine |
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Great storm |
pg.27 storm that hit the greeks on their return to greece after sacking troy. Sent by Athena because Ajax raped Cassandra |
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Agamemnon |
first speaks on pg 32. Prays to god for delivering him home safely and destroying troy. His concerns are gods and wellbeing of people. Victory will not stand on his side forever. Clytemnestra wants him to walk on the purple carpet. He doesn't want to because he doesn't want the gods to be upset with him for walking on such fine fabric. |
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Cassandra |
Daughter of Priam and Hecuba. hectors sister. So beautiful that Apollo wants to sleep with her. Give her fist of prophecies in return. Warned people about trojan horse but nobody believes her. Clytemnestra invites her into the house but cassandra won't go in. Cassandra is going to become a slave |
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banquet of thyestes |
Thyestes sleeps with his bother Atreus' wife. To get back at Thyestes, Atreus kills some of Thyestes' children and feeds them to Thyestes at dinner. Atreus= father of Ag. Thyestes= father of Aegisthus who is Clytemnestra's new lover. |
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Ekkyklema |
flat rectangular thing with wheels like a skateboard can put "dead" on it and roll it out through scene so audience can see characters killed off stage |
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Aeschylean plot structure |
Dilema, climax, conclusion. Dilema= what should Clytemnestra do. Climax= kill Ag. Conclusion= son must kill Clytemnestra |
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Orestes |
Ag. sons who was raised in Phokis because Clytemnestra claimed she was not mentally well enough to care for him. real reason was because she doesn't want him home to see that she is sleeping with Aegisthus. Double bind because he either kills his mother or leaves his fathers death unavenged. Second book happens several years after first one. He calls on Hermes and offers hi a lock of hair to the river god. Shows that he has now come of age and is ready to become a man |
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Pylades |
friend of Orestes. Around same age. Son of king where Orestes was raised. Always sign of a good friend |
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Libation bearers |
women who comprise the chorus. They carry libations to the grave with elektra (orestes' sister). This chorus is comprised of slave women of the royal court. Important group of mourners. Faithful to Ag. and support his children. |
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Libation |
Liquid offerings. To the dead much more important to honor grave in greek tradition. Clytemnestra sends libration bearers to Ags grave because she thinks his ghost is mad and wants to appease him. libation bearers upset with Clytemnestra they conjure wrath against her at Ags grave |
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Elektra |
Daughter of Ag. chorus urging her to be mindful of people who hate clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Elektra has not come to the conclusion that someone should wish harm among her mother |
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Help friends/harm enemies |
mortality of greeks. Different from mortality of christians= turn the other cheek. Elektra needs to be persuaded that Cly is an enemy. |
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Why kill mother? |
orestes' motivation for why he would kills his mother. Pg 81 the gods say so sorrow of father stollen birthright unseemly that the people of birthright unseemly that the people of Argos should be ruled by two women. Joke that Aegisthus is a women. Feminized him to lower his status |
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komos |
a lament sung it is a dialogue between the chorus and 1 or more actors. pg 82-88. passage very emotional call of ghost of Ag. call of gods of the underworld moves from mourning to revenge. singers work themselves into a frenzy. Clytemnestra cut off Ag. genitals before she buried him. Took away his masculinity |
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female-to-male power |
pg117 order of control at delphi gaia-themis-phoebe-apollo. All females and then apollo takes it away. Ring composition. think about how it relates to end of play. All 3 plays begin with prayers to the gods. After pythia enters temple of apollo she quickly runs back out because she is appalled by what she sees. Sees Orestes covered in blood |
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Omphalos |
means belly button. Ornately decorated stone kronos swallowed. positioned at delphi because it was the middle of the world |
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Position of Apollo and duries |
a man should avenge the death of his father= apollo. Furies think that a man who kills his mother should be harassed but did they harass Cly for killing Ag. Double bind both seem correct. Apollo asks about Cly. they say Cly didn't spill kindred blood because Ag. was husband not blood related. Apollo wants to go to Athena because 3rd party observer |
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Blood purification ritual |
pg129. Orestes has gone through some sort of blood purification. Cleansed of sin. Blood of freshly slaughtered piglet. Blood of pig poured on killer free of blood that has been spilled. Orestes should not have to suffer anymore because he has been cleansed |
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Chathonic/Olympian |
131-132. Furies stress their sportiness from Olympians. they are Chathonic. Recognize second class status. Associated with earth. furies content with stature |
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A gods allotment |
all gods have their allotment in realms and powers. Zeus= sky and weather. hades= underworld and souls. Allotments are fixed and don't change. Furies allotment to hunt to kin killers |
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Fear= justice |
138. Furies are worries there will be no more justice if they let orestes go. People will just run around killing their kin if there is nothing to stop them from doing it |
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Areopagus |
large protruding rock near acropolis. real place would have had a building on top of it in antiquity where people were tried for murder. Hill of Ares. Maybe because Ares was tried there for murder. or maybe because he helped athenians defeat the amazons on this hill. This is where they hold the trail for Orestes |
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Arguments made for Orestes: 1. will of zeus 2. mother not a parent 3. Ixion |
1. 143 nothing is done without zeus' will. pretty strong argument for greeks. to find fault with orestes is to find fault with zeus 2. 145. child's blood comes from the father mother just a container. Thus orestes would not have shed kindred blood. uses athena as proof and she agrees she doesn't have a mother. 3. Ixion killed his father in law zeus aided him. Now apollo says if you find fault in me for defending a killer than you find fault in zeus also. Jury votes split half in half. She breaks tie and broke for orestes. Furies mad |
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Erinyes/Eumenides |
furies/kindly minded ones. Athena makes anaphor to them. Offers them a new allotment. Athenians will honor them. Rewrote mythoreligious system by giving them a new allotment. Now instead o f harming killers they will help athenians |
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Human manipulation of gods |
author manipulating furies to suit human interest. |
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religious synaretism |
joins two sets of divinities together furies and Eumindes. |
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Lucretius |
opts out of mythoreligious thinking. Doesn't believe in all the gods we have been talking about. If we have scientific knowledge that does validate out mythoreligious systems then we need to be rational human beings and not turn to gods. Don't know a lot about him. wrote in latin. well educated. |
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Epicures/Epicureanism |
Epicures= who started epicureanism= one should try and understand nature and the gods role in nature in order to find peace. Lucretius follows his teaching. taught and wrote prolifically. a lot of his work gone because it was anti christian and destroyed |
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Lucretian authorship |
not creating an original work just translating philisophical work that Epicures wrote from greek to latin |
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Humans suffer from fear of gods |
their divine intervention makes people afraid. If we can purge ourselves of this we will be happier |
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Humans suffer from fear of death |
anxiety about dying. Make us materialistic. want to say alive by having more and more wealth to preserve lives. We also want status to give our lives meaning. |
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Purpose of ancient philosophy |
helps us work through psychological disturbances to fund peace. make loves more peaceful. make you a better human being by reflecting on self. a practical way of living life. spiritual exercise |
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religion in human life |
book 1 line 62-71. and line 77 religion pollutes humanity and epicures liberated us from that |
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traditional divinities as metaphors |
line 1 book 1. Aphrodite. Begins poem with traditional mythoreligious thinking. Against epicurianism because traditional gods did not exist and didn't care about humans venus is a metaphor for nature |
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Memmius |
Book 1 line 25. Poem directed at him. Memos is associated with success. he stands for all of us who like wealth |
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Epicurian physics |
line 50 atom= greek word which makes uncuttable. Lucretius doesn't use work atom. Epicureans believe nothing exists in universe besides atom and void. Believe universe in infinite and there is an infinite amount of atoms floating in an infinite void. All compound beings come into being and pass away |
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Two laws of Epicurean physics |
1. nothing comes into being from nothing. every event has a prior cause. Biological things from biological things= humans from humans. 2. nothing can be destroyed such that it doesn't exist anymore. develop further crelary= universe is eternal. no beginning |
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Clytemnestras dream |
pgs 90-91. snake represents orestes. Gives birth to snake, clothed it, dotted it, suckled from breast, milk clotted with blood (sent from ghost of Agamemnon). Choral ode pg. 93 delayed gratification |
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Althaea/Skylla/Lemnian women |
line 61 pg 93 (choral ode). hateful legends of women killing/destroying men. "bad women" who commits crime against male family member ( son/father/husband). 3 strikes against women. Prepare+ justify Orestes actions just before he kills Clytemnestra + Aegisthus (offstage) |
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Stikhomythia |
speech that occurs in lines of verse (1 line each).106-107. occurs in greek tradgedy at moments of high tension |
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Clytemnestra's arguments |
line 896= argument of familial bond ("this breast nurtured you") line 910= destiny (reason for killing Agamemnon) Also loneliness |
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Furies |
pg 112. frightful in appearance. writhing with snakes black clad. Spirits who persecute on behalf or murdered kin. Furies surround Orestes and disturb his mind as an act of vengeance (madness). Only Orestes can see the Furies |
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Gender/Sex |
Gender: social and cultural factors related to being male/female. Sex: Biological factors related to being male/female |
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Gender in the Orestea |
Public= male realm Private/family/name= female realm marrying a woman= taming a wild beast. Clytemnestra is not tamed Clytemnestra is a bad mother (not appropriate socially). Elektra locked up. Orestes abandoned. Orestes wants male power socioeconomic status |
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Properties vs accidents |
Book 1 line 45. Properties derive from the physical world of atoms and void= weight. Slavery, poverty, freedom, gods= accidents. They all exist but there is no way to to show it through atoms and void |
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Why write poetry? |
line 920. Salvation providing from Epicureanism. Lucretius first person to write about Epicureanism in Latin poetry. Poetic form will get people to "gulp down medicine" that they need from Epicureanism. Child with a cup of medicine and the rim is lined with honey so they get the medicine but can't taste it. People charmed by the pleasantry of poetry and then receive benefits |
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The swerve |
line 214. Little swerves when atoms moving straight downward so that the atoms crash together and dorm things. Free will allows us to live happier lives where we can choose what we do. No gods to decide |
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Soul |
Plato argues that a soul is something immortal that moves from body to body in reincarnation. Aristotle believed that a soul is a principle that distinguishes living things from non living things. Thought that plants had souls too. Souls can die but human souls for him are different. All systems have different answers for what souls are, what they are made out of and if they are immortal or not. |
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Epicurean soul/mind |
for Epicureans the soul is the thing that is responsible for perceiving, thinking and liberating. The soul is associated with life. But plants done have souls need a mind and consciousness to have souls. overlaps with mind. Pg 79 line 624. Soul is mortal and dies with the body |
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Repercussions of not having an immortal soul |
No hell of heaven. No chance of living happily or horribly ever after in the afterlife. Being dead= a long night of uninterrupted sleep. No torment. Things made of atom and void deteriorate |
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Epicurean spirit |
soul+ spirit. Not same things to Epicureans. Spirit is spread throughout body and allows soul/mind to communicate with rest of body. Mind/soul like brain and spirit is like central nervous system |
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Epicurean gods |
Epicureans believe that gods exist as accidents. They do truly exist but they aren't corporal entities. Not immortal either. Not in charge of physical or social allotments. Epicureans believed that they could become gods by living their lives as good Epicureanism concept of divinities for different. |
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Hedone/ Epicurean Hedonism |
Hedonism= pleasure seeking. Epicureans believe that people should seek out pleasure. Highest dorm of pleasure= freedom from pain in body and mind |
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Aponia/Ataraxia |
Aponia= state in which we lack bodily pain. Physical needs met. Ataraxia= state in which e lack psychological pain. Genuine friend. Spouses may love you for a while but they/ we could get bored and leave. Invest that energy from marriage into friendship instead. Should try and make intelligent choices that lead them to this |
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Three categories of desire |
1. Natural and necessary= things that don't hurt your mental and physical well being. Things you should do. 2. Natural and unnecessary= remove yourself from Ataraxia. When you drink a coke instead of water. bad for you but natural. Sex. Want more of it when you have it. Limit these moments. Can lead us astray from mental and physical well being 3. Unnecessary= wealth or status. Completely unnecessary. Humans corrupted by society. Increase anxiety once you have them. Avoid these. Indulge a little bit though as to not lose mental well being |
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Live unnoticed |
very different from our own society. None of the physical stuff is actually going to make you happy. Don't have intelligence to live a good life. |
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Passionate monogamy |
males produce semen and it needs to be released. Males need to procreate in order to live. Problems with monogamy will take away sanity. Retain sperm for only one person=Male obsessed with female. Endless desire for sex. Ruins mental health. Males should not idealize certain women because it will lead to emotional suffering. Sleep with unattractive women so they don't want to do it again. |
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Science for the sake of science? |
practical ramifications. Don't do science for the sake of science. Epicureans have to do science because they don't believe in gods so they need to understands how the world works naturally. No lighting from Zeus so they have to understand where is comes from. They believe in science to live a more tranquil life and not be superstitious. |
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Life on earth |
know that the earth and milky way are going to be destroyed. womb theory= animals pop out of the womb of mother earth fully formed. Epicureans didn't know about evolution but did believe in survival of the fittest. Ring composition with the poem. Starts with life and ends with death |
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Existential nihilism leads to pessimism? |
nihilism= life is inherently meaningless. For Epicureans no gods to give lives meaning on earth because atoms pointlessly bang into each other. No external agents to give life meaning no meaning of life but Epicureans aren't pessimistic. Joy to reveal in fertility of the earth. Meaning that we can give to it is best surmised by Epicurest theory of thought. there is death and we don't come from anywhere. Liberates us of fear of gods and death. Best life is being at ease. No pessimism Epicureanism allows us to concentrate on enjoying out life while we are here and not having to worry about the next life. |
