There are several reasons, but two distinct social trends are readily identifiable, one a general trend and the other more particularly associated with the Epicurean tradition. Both are associated with the rise of Christianity.
With regard to the general trend, in the ancient world philosophy, science and religion were not distinct. The process of religion separating out from philosophy coincides with the growth of the monotheistic belief systems.
The Jewish tribes of the Levant are identified as the source of the first great monotheistic culture, and it was from this tradition that Christianity emerged. A new attitude entered the intellectual scene.
Imagine two thinkers in dispute. Each tries to persuade the other of the correctness of his or her views, and to demonstrate the errors in the thinking of the other. This is the stuff of philosophical disputation.
In contrast the two may hold a further attitude, namely, that the view of the other is not only erroneous, it is bad, wrong, dangerous. It is his or her duty to convince the other of their error, because to believe as they do is, in some sense or other, unacceptable.
Toleration of the opposing view is replaced by its opposite - intolerance. In the previous lecture I already referred to it with our current popular term 'polarization'.
It arises when arguments don't count anymore because the point of view of the other is disqualified as dangerous. Of course this value judgement is always based on some dogmatic ideological or religious convictions.
Nothing new under tee sun. In May 2009 I started the "25+ Women Philosophers" project and the second woman I talked about was Hypatia. It is a sad story about the highly intelligent and educated daughter of a librarian.
Alexandria, the capital of Egypt when it was part of the Greek Empire, sometime in the third century BCE became the home of a great library founded by the Ptolemaic Kings.
This library housed the cultural heritage of the Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, Egyptians and Jews. The goal was to attract outstanding scholars, philosophers and scientists, to create a great community of learning. It was a spectacular success.
Amongst the thinkers who worked there were some of the greatest intellects of the ancient world, and the advances made in human knowledge were extraordinary. To mention a few names: Euclid, Archimedes, Eratatostenes, positing that the earth was round, and a number of astronomers.
The library must have been huge. It is reputed to have held over half-a-million scrolls. A project to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek was successfully undertaken there by seventy scholars.
For centuries many religions had coexisted together in Alexandria. But then hell broke loose. The monotheists were the disputants that were intolerant of contrary views held by others.
The seeds of the destruction of the Alexandrian culture were in the conflict between the traditional cults of pagan worship and the newer monotheistic cults.
Centuries of religious pluralism under paganism, three faiths living side by side in a spirit of mingled rivalry and absorptive tolerance, were coming to an end.
Hypatia was the most distinguished member of the pagan elite. She is an extraordinary figure in history. She had a prominence unheard of for a woman in classical society
based on her brilliance as an astronomer, mathematician and philosopher. She became the object of the Christians’ wrath, and was accused of being a witch. In 415 or 416 CE a mob of fundamentalist Christians killed her.
The whole intellectual tradition crumbled. The great collection of the library was
lost to decay, worms and wanton destruction by Christians.
The second particular social trend that led to the virtual disappearance of the materialist tradition concerned the particular hostility the Christians felt towards Epicureanism.
Epicurus had nothing to offer the Christians. The denial of Creation, the indifference of deities towards humans, the injunction to not fear death, the derision of religious ritual, the pursuit of happiness...all this was despicable and disgusting for the Christians.
But despite these dark centuries we are discussing materialism here still. This moment in history wasn't enough to eradicate materialism from the mind of homo sapiens and with reason, I'd say.
Thank you all again...
Main Sources:
MacMillan The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1995
http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.htm
R.G. Brown/J. Layman, "Materialism", Routledge (2019)
TABLE OF CONTENT -----------------------------------------------------------------
1 - 100 Philosophers 9 May 2009 Start of
2 - 25+ Women Philosophers 10 May 2009 this blog
3 - 25 Adventures in Thinking 10 May 2009
4 - Modern Theories of Ethics 29 Oct 2009
5 - The Ideal State 24 Febr 2010 / 234
6 - The Mystery of the Brain 3 Sept 2010 / 266
7 - The Utopia of the Free Market 16 Febr 2012 / 383
8. - The Aftermath of Neo-liberalism 5 Sept 2012 / 413
9. - The Art Not to Be an Egoist 6 Nov 2012 / 426
10 - Non-Western Philosophy 29 May 2013 / 477
11 - Why Science is Right 2 Sept 2014 / 534
12 - A Philosopher looks at Atheism 1 Jan 2015 / 557
13 - EVIL, a philosophical investigation 17 Apr 2015 / 580
14 - Existentialism and Free Will 2 Sept 2015 / 586
15 - Spinoza 2 Sept 2016 / 615
16 - The Meaning of Life 13 Febr 2017 / 637
17 - In Search of my Self 6 Sept 2017 / 670
18 - The 20th Century Revisited 3 Apr 2018 / 706
19 - The Pessimist 11 Jan 2020 / 819
20 - The Optimist 9 Febr 2020 / 824
21 - Awakening from a Neoliberal Dream 8 Oct 2020 / 872
22 - A World Full of Patterns 1 Apr 2021 / 912
23 - The Concept of Freedom 8 Jan 2022 / 965
[13:22] herman Bergson: The floor is yours.....^_^
[13:23] herman Bergson: Well...guess you aren't that shocked by the questionmarks I put behind religions :-)
[13:23] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): everyone is still reading through the list behind you
[13:23] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): lol3
[13:23] Daruma Boa: Yes, I think it used to be almost like it is now. The Cjhristians were led by men who didn't like it when someone else had an opinion
[13:24] herman Bergson: Nor behind the peculiar behavior of homo sapiens to invent gods
[13:24] herman Bergson: Look at American politics and the role of these evangelicals....
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): IN GOD WE TRUST
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): pssss
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeed
[13:25] Daruma Boa: I think it's important for mankind to find meaning in life. But it's bad when meaning is imposed. Everyone has a different perspective on life
[13:25] herman Bergson: They worked more than 50 years on getting free abortion overthrown....
[13:26] herman Bergson: That is an interesting point Daruma....
[13:26] herman Bergson: Does everyone have indeed a different perspective in life?
[13:26] herman Bergson: I tend to disagree with you here ^_^
[13:26] Daruma Boa: Yes. Everyone has other experiences and other values
[13:27] oola Neruda: I left the church after being told one has to obey the men and women should not speak about things... even being raped.... they could not object....
[13:27] herman Bergson: But what about Human Rights? That is a shared perspective for instance?
[13:27] Daruma Boa: The Christian church wants power of people. For example
[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): omg oola
[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm indeed
[13:27] oola Neruda: men are the boss
[13:28] oola Neruda: obey
[13:28] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): its all about power and opression in the end
[13:28] herman Bergson: A violation of Human Rights oola...
[13:28] oola Neruda: and ego... shame
[13:28] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm
[13:28] Daruma Boa: Yes and pagans, witches and so on - Shamans see the world that everyone is a part of nature and the world
[13:28] herman Bergson: But yes...power is a phenomenon in human behavior
[13:28] Daruma Boa: So everyone is responsible
[13:29] Daruma Boa: I think humans have no ide what power is
[13:29] Daruma Boa: The problem is our ego
[13:29] Daruma Boa: And this ego is we have to overcome
[13:29] herman Bergson: When individuals come to power, a lot of them suffer of a corrupted mind after a while
[13:30] Daruma Boa: true
[13:30] oola Neruda: like trump
[13:30] herman Bergson: They begin to believe that only they are right
[13:30] Daruma Boa: cos all humans are stuck on the aterial plane
[13:30] Daruma Boa: material
[13:30] herman Bergson: No...not Trump....he was already deranged ever before
[13:30] Daruma Boa: ahhh
[13:30] Daruma Boa: kill him
[13:30] Daruma Boa: please
[13:30] oola Neruda: at last...king of the world
[13:31] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeed, look at elon musk, zuckenberg and Jeff bezos. It started as a good idea but now they have all succumed to the god of hybris and greed
[13:31] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): MOOORE MOOORE MOOOOOOOOOOOOR
[13:31] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
[13:31] herman Bergson: Indeed Bejiita
[13:31] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): sigh
[13:32] Daruma Boa: We need more positive and also constructive energy in life
[13:32] Daruma Boa: More open minds
[13:32] herman Bergson: Basicly, I guess, all humans have the same perspective....survival, shelter, food, procreation....and so on....
[13:33] herman Bergson: security
[13:33] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and the results speak for themself. Zuckenberg think he can make money on a metaverse looking like its from the early 90s and elon is wrecking havik with twitter, not that i like twitter anyway but
[13:33] Daruma Boa: Yes, but they mostly forget what they are are able to do in life
[13:33] herman Bergson: The way we try to achieve this differs
[13:33] Daruma Boa: A lot ppl think they are victims
[13:33] Daruma Boa: We are not!
[13:33] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): that just care about getting more without delivering any value back
[13:34] Daruma Boa: true bejita
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): speaking of, my golf course in unreal 5 is taking shape!
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and im ONE developer
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): using the correct tools
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): learn before u dom thats my mantra
[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): do
[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): zuck have not done this, just stares in his fat wallet
[13:35] Daruma Boa: ;-)
[13:36] Daruma Boa: Yes when u get a lot of money u loose your values...
[13:36] herman Bergson: So materialism is put away for a thousand years or so and revived after discovering Lucretius again in 1417 by Poggio Bacciollini
[13:37] herman Bergson: So..get ready for the revival :-)
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ah
[13:37] theo Velde is offline.
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:37] Daruma Boa: Everything comes back till it is solved
[13:37] Daruma Boa: Karma
[13:37] herman Bergson: If this ends all questions and remarks......
[13:38] Daruma Boa: Yes, its the way to enlightment I guess
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): i guess
[13:38] bergfrau Apfelbaum: Your name is missing on the wall Herman
[13:38] herman Bergson: thank you for your attention again :-)
[13:38] bergfrau Apfelbaum: thank you Herman and class
[13:38] herman Bergson: Yes Daruma.....there is a light at the horizon indeed....
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aaa yes the god of philosophy Herman Bergson!
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): YAY! (yay!)
[13:38] bergfrau Apfelbaum: yayy
[13:38] Daruma Boa: Yes - the light is a train!;-))
[13:38] herman Bergson: To be presented in coming lectures :-)
[13:39] Daruma Boa: *GIGGLES* :)~~~~
[13:39] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): :9
[13:39] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:39] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman
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