Is man the measure of all things? And what does Protagoras mean by this exactly? Some have called him the father of relativism, but we will see in this article that Protagoras actually meant something very different by his famous statement. Read on to see how this relates to issues such as the Civil Rights […]
Category Archives: Western Civilization
51. Heraclitus – Fire as the Universal Principle
This article is a repost of Post 32. This repost was prompted by some very interesting comments and challenges left by an perceptive reader named Al. Below is one of his comments: “Your statement, “Heraclitus did not believe in universal flux” is not accurate at all. You take away Heraclitus’s major contribution to philosophy. Precisely, […]
50. The Volcanic Winter of 536 A.D. and the Beginning of the Dark Ages in the West
In 536 A.D., an Icelandic volcano explosion occurred, blanketing the Earth with such thick ash that it plunged the entire planet into a volcanic winter for the next several years. Nothing like this had ever happened before or since. Day looked like night and the temperature dropped significantly. Several centuries later, people still felt the […]
24. The Ionian Philosophical Revival – from Death to Life
The Greek Dark Ages commenced with the fall of Troy in the 12th century.1 It continued for several centuries until a ray of light finally dawned in the region of Ionia in western Asia Minor in the eighth and seven centuries BC.2 This flourishing of art and culture is known as the Ionian Enlightenment or the […]
23. Hesiod and the Creation of the World
“Chaos was first of all, but next appeared Broad-Bosomed Earth.” -Hesiod from Theogony Hesiod’s Theogony was monumental in advancing Greek thinking because its subject matter was no less than the origin of the universe.1 It is the most complete surviving Greek account of the creation of the universe. Hesiod described not only how the universe came into being, but […]
22. Homer – from the Glory of the Battlefield to the Virtue of the Homestead
“My mother Thetis tells me that there are two ways in which I may meet my end. If I stay and fight, I shall not return alive, but my name will live forever; whereas if I go home my name will die, but it will be long ere death shall take me.”1 -The Iliad, Achilles talking to […]
21. Divine Revelation and the Ultimate Purpose of History
Revelation occurs at the interface between God’s transcendence and His immanence.
1. The Harmony and Tension Between Faith and Reason
“What does Jerusalem have to do with Athens? -Tertullian, Church Father (155A.D.-220A.D.) After his 51 A.D. encounter with the Greek philosophers at the Areopagus, the Apostle Paul would probably have answered the above question with, “Not much.” Up until this time, Hebrew faith and Greek philosophy had been developing on parallel paths. It seems as […]