Talk:Doctrine 13/@comment-97.120.52.228-20100918042003

This should be read in conjunction with doctrines 11, and 12. There are among Epicurus' most businesslike recommendations that one should pay attention to the natural world and how things actually work, rather than rely upon speculative myths regarding the wider universe -- gods and demons -- unseen but malevolent forces, etc. He notes that the things closest to us --our fellow humans, are a much more inportant factor in terms of our safety and security (and therefore our happiness etc) than the distant forces of the universe, whatever they turn out to be. In many ways, these doctrines demostrate Epicurus turning the heretofore tradition of philosophy on its head -- as he is more interested in the particulars of our life than the "universals" of reality. Wes Costello