{"product_id":"gateway-to-the-epicureans-epicurus-lucretius-and-their-modern-heirs-9781684515165","title":"Gateway to the Epicureans: Epicurus, Lucretius, and Their Modern Heirs","description":"\u003cb\u003eTwo and half centuries ago, John Adams complained, \"Our modern philosophers are all the low grovelling disciples of Epicurus.\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e That's even truer today. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus is--acknowledged or not--the source of secular \"woke\" liberalism. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In his own time, Epicurus was a fringe thinker. He and his few followers speculated about how invisibly small entities of indivisible matter called \"atoms,\" hurtling endlessly through an infinite void according to fixed physical laws, could explain the world and everything in it. Most ancient philosophers thought his speculations abstruse and counterintuitive, and he gained few adherents. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e But today, the overwhelming success of modern science has turned Epicurus' fringe philosophy into the governing worldview of nearly everyone. Atoms hurtling through a void--that is what everything is made of, according to our scientific gurus. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Along with this new atomism has come a whole constellation of fashionable Epicurean ideas: that peace and contentment are the most important things in life, that reality is an infinite expanse of multiverses, that divine power has no part to play in human affairs. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Epicureanism is the philosophy that now runs the world--and if we are to understand ourselves in the twenty-first century, we must understand Epicurus, who died in the third century B.C. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In this convenient volume, the classicist Spencer A. Klavan presents core selections from Epicurus' own writings and those of his most famous ancient disciple, the poet Lucretius. Listen in as the teacher outlines for his students how his system of physics, logic, and ethics works. Read the elegant presentations of these Epicurean ideas aimed at the Roman upper crust. And consider with Klavan how this philosophy has gripped the modern mind, why it is falling apart, and why it leaves confusion in its wake.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSpencer A. Klavan\u003c\/b\u003e is a scholar, writer, and podcaster. A graduate of Yale, he earned his doctorate in ancient Greek literature from Oxford University. He is the author of the acclaimed book\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eHow to Save the West: Ancient Wisdom for 5 Modern Crises\u003c\/i\u003e and the editor of \u003ci\u003eGateway to the Stoics\u003c\/i\u003e. The host of the Young Heretics podcast and associate editor of the \u003ci\u003eClaremont Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, he has written for many outlets, including \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, City Journal, Newsweek\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003e The Federalist, The American Mind, and The Daily Wire. He lives near Nashville, Tennessee.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Gateway Editions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50900491632914,"sku":"9781684515165","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ed2e12c1-c84d-4ce7-8ca8-fbb940031fc5.jpg?v=1738384341","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/gateway-to-the-epicureans-epicurus-lucretius-and-their-modern-heirs-9781684515165","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}