ANCIENT HUMANISM
From Philosopedia
ANCIENT HUMANISM
It could be said that in all its various forms, humanism is merely the natural and to-be-expected by-product of mankind’s progression from savage primitivism to an increasingly advanced form of civilization and culture.
As the human species has developed, it has become progressively more self-reliant, self-confident, and self-assertive. The early priestly kingdoms allowed people almost no initiative or individuality, and the later feudal and military governments were little or no improvement.
From the days of Sargon of Akkad, who united Babylonia approximately 2525 B.C.E., to those of the empires of the Assyrians, Hittites, Persians, Tartars, and Turks, little progress was made concerning betterment of the welfare of mankind or the encouragement of science. However, with the development in the ancient Hellenistic culture of the city-states or polis, a degree of stable civilization came into being and humane government might be considered to have entered into its childhood stage, at least from a Eurocentric point of view.
From this Hellenic civilization came a philosophical concept developed by Sophists which held that man was not just another part of the universe, as was believed by earlier Greek philosophers, but that he was the center. Protagoras of Abdera, ancient anticipator of pragmatism and believer in the relativity of truth, accented this change of thought by his maxim,
- Man is the measure of all things; of the being of things that are, and of the non-being of things that are not.
Such a concept that man is the measure, that he is capable, within limits, of mastering his own fate, is one which is basic to ancient humanism. It helped turn the study of nature to the study of man and his social relationships; as a result, man came to think of mankind as being capable of changing the universe–in order to improve mankind’s own lot, and as a gesture of the mastery men and women held over their own fate.
“Man” in Old English or Anglo-Saxon was universal and referred to all humans equally. Waepman was the word for a male human, wifman for the female human. Although some contemporary feminists object to the use of “man” to include women as well as men, the translation of Protagoras’s “man” is meant to be gender-free. The newly coined pronoun “(s)he” is considered by many to be redundant.
In common with many contemporary humanists, the Sophists emphasized the spirit of free inquiry into all knowledge, displayed a marked interest in social legislation and public affairs, and created a furor over their questionings of religion and outright agnosticism. Protagoras, for instance, was banned from Athens on grounds of impiety for having said,
- Concerning the gods I am unable to say whether they exist or not, nor, if they do, what they are like.
However, the Sophists insisted that a person’s religious beliefs are entirely his own; and included among their later numbers were such theists as Gorgias, Scopelian, and Julian the Apostate, the last of whom was known for his inconstant adherence to Christianity. Julian, in fact, tried unsuccessfully to reform paganism and reestablish it in the Empire.
The Stoics were also ancient humanists. Stoicism, in fact, was a blend of humanism and supernaturalism. However, the Stoics rejected the superstitious and anthropomorphic elements of religion and substituted allegorical explanations in their stead. Believing that reason was the vital principle of the universe, they taught that “all men are of one blood, of one family, and all and each are sacred to one another. Harmony with nature and oneself is the ideal life,” wrote Willystine Goodsell in Conflict of Naturalism and Humanism (1910), a masterful study of ancient humanism. Their synonyms for “God” were Zeus, Providence, the Universal Law, and Nature. Their system of ethics was man-centered. They were concerned not only with making the individual more self-sufficient and independent of externals, but also with making the individual a good member of society and a citizen of the world. In the time of a caste-ridden world, they helped further the cause of humanitarian legislation.
The Epicureans were also ancient humanists. Although Epicureanism has been attacked vigorously in the past, scholars today are reinterpreting the philosophy and feel that it offers much more of a positive outlook than formerly had been admitted. The Epicureans were humanists in that they taught men to look to themselves rather than to gods, for they believed the gods were not interested in human affairs. Contrary to popular opinion, Epicurus’s ethical system was not simply one of eating, drinking, and being merry. He taught that one should lead a simple life with few desires, that friendship is the most valuable feature of living, and that prudence is a cardinal virtue. Because he believed that there is nothing evil about death since the dead have no feelings and that for the living death exists not and therefore is not to be feared, he deduced that we should concentrate upon present happiness. His attitude toward fun and merriment has been the most contested of his ideas; however, he did not advocate the complete satisfaction of physical appetites–rather, he stressed the “lasting pleasures of the mind.” Epicurus was the first to have brought forward the philosophical concept of chance in the universe, and he taught that there exist no deities nor is there any immortality. His most important link to contemporary humanists is his calling upon the natural sciences to serve human needs.
Also, Epicurus proclaimed that the sole value of knowledge is in relation to action. “Therefore,” he reasoned, “the supreme purpose of philosophy should be to introduce tranquillity and happiness into human life.” His was an outlook that was meant to sweep away the chimeras and religious scruples and superstitions that enchain man and destroy their happiness.
Plato stands apart as one who did not agree with Protagoras that man is the measure of all things. He believed that God is the measure of all things in the highest degree - a degree much higher than any mere man of whom the followers of Protagoras talk.
Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) as well as Kongfu-zi (Confucius), Socrates, and Sophocles are among the other ancient humanists.
As non-Eurocentric scholars expand their studies, more and more sages can be expected to be added to the list of ancient humanists.
