This is a series I should have started long ago. Alas, I had more time then. While I'm even more skeptical of the time I will have to devote to this now, I feel strangely compelled. The greatest charge against the Democratic Party is that they don't have a coherent philosophy. I would contend that the Republicans hardly have one themselves, given their ascension has more to do with money, media manipulation and general criminal behaviour than anything else, but toward the end of grounding
our side I will offer these up for whatever good they may serve. I will try to make this weekly, but don't hold me to that.
Below the fold is just a brief explication of the founder of humanist thought, a Presocratic named Protagoras.
We all know Protagoras' most famous saying, "Man is the measure of all things: of things that are, that they are; of things that are not, that they are not". It comes to us through, Plato, it comes to us through Shakespeare; it comes to us through science.
Protagoras was a 'Sophist', a traveling educator who, among others, was largely responsible for the education of youth in Athens during its miraculous 'democratic phase'. Unfortunately, the term 'Sophist' has been belittled in western history largely due to Plato. In fact 'Sophists' were often idle fodder for Platonic Dialogues, which sought to undermine the principles of democracy practiced by Athens at the time [i.e. See The Protagoras, The Gorgias, and the ridiculous depiction of Thrasymachus at the opening of Republic]. 'Sophist' in its Greek meaning is literally a 'wisdom expert'. In the context of the times, a 'Sophist' was an educator. In our times, it now etymologically stems words like 'sophomore', 'sophomoric', 'sophistry'... etc. You get the idea.
In actuality, Protagoras, and many teachers like him, were the folks going around from door to door, undermining the overarching power of aristocracy. They educated pretty much everyone, from the sons of aristocracy to the folks in the Agora [the market - root of agoraphobia, fear of open places]. As attested to in the `statement we all know', `Sophists' believed in education.
The gods aren't the measure; the aristocracy isn't the measure; social order isn't the measure. No, `Man is the measure'. More properly translated, it is thus: `Of that which is, that it is, humanity is the measure'. In the 5th century bce, this is rather remarkable, especially when linked with such statements as, "As for the gods, I have no way of knowing either that they exist or that they do not exist; nor, if they exist, of what form they are. For the obstacles to that sort of knowledge are many, including the obscurity of the mater and the brevity of human life" and "skill without concern, and concern without skill, are equally worthless". Protagoras, in blatant disregard for the aristocratic powers that silently destroyed the idea and reality of Athenian democracy, exemplfied the idea of equality, i.e. the equation of the individual and the universal. That is, after all, what `equality' means.
In keeping with the original idea of the `moraie' in Greek religion, `Equal' is what we are. Any step made against that fundamental `equality' calls for `dike', justice, a return to equality. It was the way of the Titans, it was the way of the Olympians, it was the way of the tragedians. It became the way of certain philosophers - those that actually taught people. It was the way of `democracy'.
And within Greek religion, it was something that was specifically delineated as the province of humanity. The Orestaia is not a fluke. Hell, Prometheus himself gave us the gift that let us become independent of `the gods'. The message is simple and clear from Aeschylus to Protagoras, "of that which is, that it is, humanity is the measure."
We make justice. We make our world. The gods are irrelevant; the aristocrats are the enemy.
We're back to this ancient economy now. And for an explanation of the reasons for that, maybe you should check out my next, completely incoherent diary.
:)