Pre-Platonic Thinkers
Xenophanes:
“Man creates god in his own image.”
“The gods have not revealed all things to men from the beginning; but by long seeking men discover what is better.”
Protagoras:
“Concerning the Gods, I am unable to know whether they exist or not, nor form they have; many things prevent this knowledge: the obscurity of the problem and the brevity of man’s life.”
“Man is the measure of all things.”
The greatness of pre-Platonic humanism consisted in precisely accepting for the first time in history, the potentialities and limitation of human intelligence and creativity.
Pre-socratic thinkers saw the imperfection and fallibility of human judgment and knowledge. They therefore concluded that all men are in the same boat of doubt and uncertainty. “There is no aristocracy of those who know” (as Plato thought). Therefore, (and here philosophy merges with politics), if there is no absolute standard of what is right or wrong, the opinions of the majority are to decide.
The teaching of the Sophists shocked many because they emphasized what social reality is rather than what it should be. Accordingly, they were deemed the original progenitors of the Social Contract.
Pericles:
“… we employ wealth, not as a means of vanity or ostentation, but as an opportunity for service. To acknowledge poverty is no disgrace; the true disgrace is making no effort to overcome it.”
Socrates:
“The greatest threat to both the society and the individual is the suspension of critical thought.”
His imminent desire was to transcend the material temptations of life and to achive a life of true spirit on earth – to “practice immortality” in this life.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
