The Consolations of Philosophy

My reading over the past week has been fairly fragmented. Bits here and there on the tram or over lunch. But I've finally made it through Alain De Botton's chapter on Epicurus from Consolations of Philosophy, which was a pleasant read. De Botton first outlines Epicurus' ideas on pleasure and desire, then measures it up against today's consumer society. Some thoughts parallel my own, which I tried to articulate in my post to the PHI110 discussion group. In particular, the tactic of selling goods by aligning them with psychological needs;

...expensive objects can feel like plausible solutions to needs we don't understand. Objects mimic in a material dimension what we require in a psychological one.

And further;

The prevalence of idle opinion is no coincidence. It is in the interests of commercial enterpirses to skew the heirarchy of our needs, to promote a material vision of the good and downplay an unsaleable one.

Tonight I need to catch up on Epicurus' "Letter To Menoceus" and "Leading Doctrines", and then I can move onto Week 2.