Philosophical Dictionary
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Aristotle on Friendship: Why Modern Life Makes It Nearly Impossible
By Markus Uehleke
Why is making close friends as an adult so hard? Aristotle said real friendship requires living together and sharing your days, something almost nobody does anymore. Schopenhauer's porcupine parable might explain the rest. What happens when neither solution is available to you? -
Epicurus on Death: “Death Is Nothing to Us” and His Recipe for a Happy Life
By Markus Uehleke
Epicurus told his students that death is nothing to us: while we exist, death is not here, and when it comes, we are gone. Lucretius added a mirror argument, Thomas Nagel objected, and Epicurus faced his own death with a letter about a happy day. Does the argument hold, and what did he mean by pleasure?