The Presocratics are usually understood as primarily rejecting mythical accounts and turning to rational ones. This is true, but it needs to be taken strictly. It is a very different thing to reject (or downplay) myth and prefer reason than it is to say (as it often is) that philosophy must concern the things of reason alone. These things are so different that one might even go so far as to claim that one rejects myth because they recognize that there is a reason to be followed above human reason (this seems to be Plato’s argument in the Republic- we reject the poets when they lie about the gods, and tell only human stories).
The Presocratics (or even the whole of Greek Philosophy from Thales to Plotinus) does not tell us what to do with revelation, nor does it establish human reason, as human, as the supreme authority in philosophical discourse. In fact, the whole of Greek philosophy seems adamantly opposed to both the idea that human reason is the highest reason, and that man can live well apart from the divine aid.
John Farrell said,
February 14, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Now try pointing that out at the next meeting of the Atheists Alliance, and see what happens to you.
Arturo Vasquez said,
February 14, 2008 at 5:14 pm
The later Neoplatonists, of course, were all about a level of union with the One higher than dianoia. Iamblichus even thought that it was ritual (theurgy) that brought us into union with the Truth over and above “reason”. Indeed, philosophy itself was conceived as a form of ritual, and mathematics was the hightest theurgical act of all. This is all very far removed from us now.
a thomist said,
February 15, 2008 at 7:31 am
It gets better- we could talk about st. Thomas’s argument that sacrifice to God belongs to the natural law (just because you don’t have faith doesn’t let you off teh hook- you still have to sacriice a chicken, or something, a reason demands).
And even if many have fallen away from philosopic devotion, there’s no reason why some individual has to fall away from it. It would be great to bring it back in a university too, where it belongs.
OFT said,
February 16, 2008 at 3:04 pm
In fact, the whole of Greek philosophy seems adamantly opposed to both the idea that human reason is the highest reason, and that man can live well apart from the divine aid.>>
I agree, so how did Jefferson and Franklin believe reason was superior to revelation? They were too smart for their own intelligence.