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Epicurean Philosophy: what we can learn from the successes and failures of 2000 year old cosmology

Ben Pennell (CITA) — October 25, 2023

Abstract

Around 400 BCE, the Greek philosopher Democritus suggested that the universe was made out of indivisible atoms, and this belief would form the basis of Epicurean philosophy a century later. In Rome, Lucretius wrote the most complete explanation of Epicurean philosophy and description of its cosmological model in his 7000 line poem: The Nature of Things. Lucretius got many things right, some seeming to be far ahead of his time, while he also got many more things wrong. Learning from Lucretius’ brilliance and pitfalls can be helpful for thinking about how we are approaching science and cosmology in the 21st century.