A Revelation of Thought.
Western Civilization (even such as it is today…) owes a great debt of gratitude to ancient Greece. Modern art, architecture, literature, philosophy, logic, science, and even democracy all have their roots in Classical Greece. Before Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras, humanity had a very different method for coming to “know” the truth about the world.
Centuries before the Classical period in ancient Greece, there was an explosion of thoughts and ideas that originated in India. The Upanishads, a collection of texts of a religious and philosophical nature, were written between 800 and 500 BC(E). The Upanishads chronicled the answers to questions that people are still asking today. “Where do we come from?” “What are stars?” “Why is there war?” “What does it mean to live a good life?” The Upanishads and other writings of this nature were said to have been dictated by the gods and written down by their chosen scribes. These scribes, or gurus, were special people who were believed to have a “direct line” to God, with whom they could converse on all of the mysteries of life. Eventually, even high priests, kings, and wealthy members of society were given the ability to speak on behalf of God. Needless to say, to claim authority from God became an excellent way to garner attention and power.
During approximately the same time, the ancient Greeks were doing the same thing. Works of literature were written as guides to human behavior. These works were intended to show that the gods controlled everything and were involved in the minutiae of our daily lives (Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, for example). It was believed that the gods moved the world like a chess board. Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, and Aristophanes (among many others) were well-known playwrights and poets who helped to flesh-out the role that gods played in the lives of everyday citizens.
In about 500 BC, however, a revolution of thought began. It was no longer good enough to accept things on faith alone. Among the leaders of this revolution was Socrates, an enigmatic figure who became best known through the writings of his pupils, Plato and Xenophon. Socrates became the father of modern philosophy and gave the world the Socratic Method before being sentenced to death for the crimes of heresy and sedition. The Socratic method is a form of debate that relies on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thought.
Also during this time, humanity saw the rise of the Skeptics. Skeptics, from the Greek skeptikos, meaning “a thoughtful person,” were those who questioned the beliefs that had been elevated to status of truth. Skepticism became the basis of both philosophy and critical thinking in ancient Greece. Put simply, skepticism is an attitude of questioning — a state of mind that doubts the truth of claims that are unsubstantiated. The skeptics of ancient Greece demanded evidence and logic where, previously, “revelation” and “divine wisdom” had been considered to be good enough.
With this evolution in thought came new ways of asking questions about the world. The questions now being asked were, “How do you know that’s true?”, and “Where is your evidence?” Ideas that were once held as fact and truth crumbled in the absence of evidence.
This Classical period in ancient Greece seems to be the point at which the human brain “came online”, so to speak. It was the point at which our modern human brain began to realize that we were no longer primitive cave dwellers, and that we possessed the ability to unlock knowledge that had previously been deemed to be held only by the gods (and their few chosen scribes, or gurus). People began to ask questions like, “How?”, and “Why?”. They no longer seemed satisfied with “Because God, who you can’t see, feel, or hear, said so.” With this shift in the paradigm, science, physics, mathematics, and astronomy were born. Students and philosophers began to promote the idea that the observation of physical phenomena could ultimately lead to the discovery of the natural laws that govern the world in which we live. The motion of the stars and planets were mapped, the circumference of the earth, as well as the distances from the sun and moon, was calculated. This new way of studying the world even provided ways to use data and patterns to make accurate predictions regarding things like solar eclipses (a phenomenon that was previously believed to be the action taken by a god who had been angered by his subjects). A critical blow was eventually struck to the prevailing “wisdom” that the Earth was the center of the solar system when the observation of the phases of other planetary bodies no longer justified belief (another act that was punishable by law). Despite the great resistance to reason, one by one the shackles began to fall from the limbs of the Platonian cave dwellers as they stumbled out into the light of reality.
Just as the gods of fire and water were rendered obsolete once basic understanding was achieved, the rest of the gods began to follow suit in the wake of critical thinking and rational skepticism. I don’t know many who still hold Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, and Apollo in high esteem. The gods that managed to survive this purging of outdated thought increasingly became gods of the gaps. As our knowledge of the world increased, the number of things for which these gods were believed to be responsible decreased. (Will someone please bring Bill O’Reilly up to speed on how the tide works? We can explain that. We can.)
To this day, skepticism remains at the very heart of some of our most treasured societal institutions. Science relies on evidence to justify claims. We collect evidence by forming and testing hypotheses. In science, you can’t actually prove anything to be true. You can prove something to be false, or you can say that it has an ever-increasing probability of being true. There is always that element of skepticism that gives the field its self-purifying and self-refining nature. In our judicial system, compelling evidence is required to support the position of the accuser. Rightfully, the burden of proof is on the one making the claim. Innocence is assumed until sufficient evidence is presented to conclude otherwise. The jury is to remain skeptical of the claim being presented until the point at which a sufficiency of evidence has been obtained to validate the claims of the accuser. Even our constitutional government relies heavily on skepticism. That is the reason our forefathers built checks and balances into our system of government and why they believed that no power should be above question.
Humans no longer have to be imprisoned by the revelation of “divine” wisdom. We no longer need be held hostage by those claiming to be gods or claiming to speak for the gods. There is but one revelation on which we should place any weight and importance, and that is the revelation of critical thought. Ask for evidence, ask for proof, ask, “How do you know that?” and always remember the words of the late astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author, Carl Sagan:
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
