EPICURUS TODAY — Free Ebook Edition
Classical Epicurean Philosophy Restored: The Epicurus They Don’t Teach You
EPICURUS TODAY is a free ebook collecting the most important analytical articles from this website in a single convenient volume, organized across five parts: Introduction, Physics, Canonics, Ethics, and Additional Topics.
The ebook is suitable for any standard epub reader — including free apps available for iPhone, Android, Kindle, Kobo, and desktop computers. Many epub reading apps also support text-to-speech, which means you can have the book read aloud to you while commuting, exercising, or going about your day — a convenient way to work through the philosophy systematically at your own pace.
The ebook is a living document: it is updated as articles are revised and new articles are added. Check back periodically for the latest edition. The full text of every article is always freely available on this website.
EPUB: for Apple Books, Kobo, Moon+ Reader, and all standard ebook readers. | AZW3: for Kindle devices and the Kindle app — no conversion needed.
What the Ebook Contains
Section titled “What the Ebook Contains”The ebook opens with a Preface that introduces Epicurus and the major principles of his philosophy, explains why this site goes counter to the mainstream interpretation, and serves as a guide to what follows. The Preface is followed by five parts:
Part One: Introduction establishes how the book is organized, why the mainstream interpretation of Epicurus gets him wrong, how his philosophy relates to the modern world, and why the Tetrapharmakon — the most widely cited “summary” of Epicurean philosophy — is one of the most damaging misrepresentations in the history of philosophy.
Part Two: Physics covers the natural-science foundation on which everything else rests — atoms and void, the rejection of supernatural forces, the Epicurean response to idealism and intelligent design, and how the full richness of the observable world emerges from purely natural processes.
Part Three: Canonics presents the Epicurean theory of knowledge — how reliable knowledge is possible, why the Skeptical tradition is wrong, and why getting this right is the prerequisite for everything in the ethics.
Part Four: Ethics is the heart of the collection — thirteen articles covering pleasure as the goal, the full cup model, the relationship between virtue and happiness, friendship, justice, and the most important errors that have distorted Epicurean ethics in modern reception.
Part Five: Additional Topics covers mind viruses and their Epicurean cures, the physical location of the Garden and what it tells us about Epicurus’s engagement with the world, Epicurus against the appeal of authoritarian religion, the two great Roman defenders of the philosophy, and a detailed commentary on the Principal Doctrines and Vatican Sayings.
The ebook closes with a Notes section collecting source attributions and further reading for each article.
How to Read It
Section titled “How to Read It”On your phone or tablet: Download the epub file and open it with any epub reading app. Free options include:
- Moon+ Reader (Android) — excellent text-to-speech support
- Apple Books (iPhone/iPad) — built-in, supports text-to-speech via Accessibility settings
- Kobo app (iOS and Android)
- Lithium (Android)
On a Kindle: Download the Kindle Edition (AZW3) file above and transfer it to your Kindle via USB, or send it using Amazon’s Send to Kindle service. The AZW3 format is Kindle’s native format and requires no conversion.
On a desktop computer: Calibre is the recommended free epub reader and library manager for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Text-to-speech: Most epub readers include built-in text-to-speech or support your device’s accessibility text-to-speech feature. In Moon+ Reader, enable text-to-speech from the menu. In Apple Books, go to Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Speak Screen.
About This Ebook
Section titled “About This Ebook”This ebook was prepared by Cassius Amicus, founder and editor of EpicurusToday.com and administrator of the EpicureanFriends.com discussion community. The articles collected here have emerged from more than ten years of community discussion, research, and ongoing engagement with the primary Epicurean texts.
Article drafts were prepared with the assistance of Claude AI. All opinions, editorial decisions, and judgments as to content are solely those of Cassius Amicus, who is solely responsible for everything presented here.
Comments, corrections, and suggestions are welcome at EpicureanFriends.com.