“Extinction is nothing to us”: Epicurean reflections on global crisis and care for the future

On July 21st and 22nd the Epicurean Festival returns to the Rotonda a Mare in Senigallia, now in its seventh edition with the patronage of the Municipality and the Vivere Senigallia newspaper

On July 21 and 22, the Epicurean Festival returns to the Rotonda a Mare in Senigallia, now in its seventh edition . The title chosen for this year – Extinction is nothing to us – reworks one of Epicurus' most famous phrases: "death is nothing to us, when we are there she is not there, when she is there we are not" .

The festival addresses the great concerns of the present : global warming, the extinction of numerous living species, the increasingly precarious habitability of the planet, up to the re-emergence of the nuclear risk. In such a context, the Epicurean philosophy risks being misunderstood as an invitation to indifference: a “carpe diem” reduced to pure personal enjoyment, disinterested in tomorrow.

On the contrary, the festival aims to show how Epicurus' thought offers tools to deal with the anxiety of the future without giving in to despair . Happiness, for Epicurus, is linked to serenity, friendship and care for others even when others will live after us. We are reminded of this not only by his letters and his will, but also by the testimonies of thinkers such as Diogenes of Oenoanda, who had the Epicurean doctrine engraved on a public wall to share it with the city.

A fundamental role in rediscovering Epicurus' thought is also played by the Papyri of Herculaneum , an extraordinary collection of Epicurean texts preserved in the Villa of the Papyri, buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD and which in recent years we have been able to read thanks to highly advanced techniques linked to artificial intelligence.

During the festival, the new call for the Netoip Prize will also be announced, dedicated to the best university thesis on Epicurus and Epicurean philosophy , confirming the attention paid to new generations of scholars.

The Epicurean Festival will be held on July 21 and 22 from 6 to 11 pm at Rotonda a Mare, under the patronage of the Municipality of Senigallia and the Vivere Senigallia newspaper.