Philosophy – Page 2 – Interesting Literature

Five Fascinating Facts about Epicurus

Fun facts about the philosopher Epicurus

1. Much of what we know about Epicurus’ philosophy is wrong. Epicureanism, the name of the philosophy inspired by the teachings of the philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BC), is commonly understood to mean seeking out pleasure and then enjoying things to excess – whether it’s drinking too much, eating too much, or having too much sex. But Epicurus himself was, surprisingly, quite a frugal and restrained fellow. A bit of cheese now and then was, by all accounts, the most indulgent his tastes ever got.

Five Fascinating Facts about Rousseau

Fun facts about the life and work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, author of Confessions

1. His Confessions effectively invented modern autobiography. Before Rousseau, not many public figures were prepared to spill the beans about the intimate details of their private lives – their regrets, their desires, their deepest and darkest secrets – but Rousseau bared all, or very nearly all, in his Confessions.

Five Fascinating Facts about Blaise Pascal

Fun facts about the life and work of Blaise Pascal, mathematician, philosopher, and writer

1. Pascal’s wager is often proffered as a good rational argument for believing in God – but it has a few major problems. ‘Pascal’s Wager’ stems from Pascal’s interest in probability as well as his philosophical writings on the nature of religion. Acknowledging that there is no proof of God in the real sense, Pascal then weighs up the best course of action. Should one accept the premise of Roman Catholicism? (Pascal’s own religion – all others, including other Christian sects, are rejected at the start!) Pascal reasons that if there is a God, it’s better to believe in him because then you will get to heaven. If there isn’t, what have you lost? Nothing. Conversely, if there is a God and you choose not to believe, then the consequences are everlasting hellfire. (The problem with this reasoning, as many philosophers and logicians have since pointed out, is that it presupposes either a gullible God who will be convinced by your display of belief, or a corrupt deity who is prepared to overlook the fact that you’re believing, with your fingers crossed behind your back.) In Pascal’s defence, it should be pointed out that he acknowledged that it was impossible for people to choose to have belief; but he believed that people might develop a sincere belief over time.

Five Fascinating Facts about Herodotus

The life and work of the first great historian

1. Herodotus has been called the ‘father of history’, as he pretty much invented the entire discipline. It was Cicero, the acclaimed Roman orator, who branded Herodotus the ‘father of history’, and sure enough it was Herodotus who first gave us the idea of the historian and ‘history’ as we now understand it. Part of what marked Herodotus out from previous chroniclers or writers on real events was his commitment to objectivity: he wished to follow the evidence and the facts, and to draw conclusions from them. One famous example is his commitment to depicting the Persians – enemy of the Greeks – in an honest and fair light (something which later writer Plutarch sniffily derided, branding Herodotus ‘friend to the barbarians’).

Guest Blog: Landscape and Literature

In this guest post, Professor Roger Ebbatson talks about his new study of landscape in literature of the period 1830-1914, and sketches out some of the key links between people and their environment in this pivotal period in British history. In examining the ‘spaces’ of literary production in the nineteenth century my new book, Landscape … Read more