Intro to Modern Humanism, part 2: Ancient Precursors of Humanism
Socrates (469-399BCE) believed that people are basically good and that vice is caused by ignorance; therefore knowledge is a virtue. Plato (circa 428-c. 347 BCE) also shared this view. Although Socrates did believe in God, he attempted to develop a secular ethical system. In Plato's Euthyphro, Socrates asks if something is good because God ordains it, or if God ordains it because is it already good. If the former, theistic morality is reduced to mere obedience. And if the latter, God's existence is not necessarily for morality. This is known as the Euthyphro dilemma. Socrates' constant questioning of conventional religious beliefs of the time led to his conviction of the charge of atheism, treason and corruption of the youth and subsequent execution via poisoning.
Democritus (460? -370? BCE), known for his theory of atoms, said that all there is, is what we can know through our senses and that the world works naturally and without planning. He also wrote that cheerfulness is the highest good.
Aristotle (384-322 BCE) wrote extensive lecture notes on logic as a means of gaining knowledge. He taught that science and philosophy must balance sensory observations and rational deduction. Although Aristotle did believe in a god, it was not a personal god, but what he called a "Prime Mover", meaning the eternal source of motion in the universe. He was a naturalist, believing that everything that exists is natural with nothing being supernatural, and rejected the idea of an immortal soul.
Epicurus (341-270 BCE) taught that the meaning of life is the pursuit of happiness, with intellectual pleasures being preferable to sensual ones. He also thought that natural forces cause the existence of different kinds of living things, and that only those kinds that can survive reproduce - an idea very similar to the modern evolutionary theory of natural selection. Like the Roman poet Lucretius (94? -55? BCE), Epicurus rejected the notion of an afterlife and believed that the elimination of fears related to gods, dying and the afterlife is essential to true happiness.
Cicero (106-43 BCE) was a Roman orator, lawyer, politician, and philosopher who emphasized the importance of knowledge, education and cultivation of the arts. He also believed that because humans share reason, we form a kind of community, that people who share common laws form a political community, and that we have duties to both these communities. The purpose of involvement in politics then, is
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