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RELIGIONS AND PHILOSOPHIES (by J. Butler)
It is possible to trace a quest of human beings for an understanding of the nature of man and principles of human society. It is natural, when we come to civilized socie ties, to find the beliefs of a primitive man elaborated and built into systems of beliefs, or religions. Religions are conscious efforts to make a coherent theory out of the various elements of the primitive complex of ideas, i.e., to rationalize what the primitive had arrived at by trial and error.
The human urge was to unite all experiences into a coherent theory, to find a theory of life which is not only satisfying as giving an explanation of natural phenomena, but also as explaining the nature and purpose of human life.
Let's start with Greek religion. The gods of the Greeks, as portrayed by Homer, are probably ancestors, who are very much like a human family. Living on the Mount Olympus, they have both the vices and virtues of mortals. Like human beings they can love and hate.
The Egyptian religion was a much more closely organized system of ideas — a rationalization of natural happenings as well as a theory of human life and death. It acknowledges the dominant facts of the Egyptian world: the ever present sun, the source of all energy, and the rising and waning of waters of the Nile, bringing life and fertility.
The sun was worshipped as the source and origin of everything. The deity of the Nile was traditionally a good and beloved king of Egypt who suffered a violent death but rose again and was again worshipped as a deity. He was then transformed into the god of the Nile, and his death and resurrection were celebrated each year as a symbol of the fall and rise of the river.
The Pharaoh was on earth as a representative of the sun of the sky and he fulfilled the functions of both of a high priest and fertility deity. Because he was immortal as a God, his body was preserved after death with the greatest care.
The Egyptian religion was obviously an attempt to unite into a coherent theory, natural knowledge and the basic or ganization of the state with speculations about human life.
The Greek Gods were in fact too grotesque for the intelli gent Greeks to accept. And the ridicule of the Gods by Greek poets and playwrights was an important stimulus to the de velopment of philosophical ideas. The philosophers doubted if the Gods did not rule the worlds, who and what did?
This led to the remarkable effort of the Greek philoso phers to establish ideas of general validity and to discover for themselves the basic principles of human life. It was an at tempt to establish rules of life based on reason and argument, rather than tradition. These were the Greeks who first at tempted to distinguish what is true from what is untrue by reasoned argument. In other words, they set up the human intellect as the judge and arbiter of truth. They questioned everything and tried to find meaning and explanation. They were, however, much more interested in the problems of hu man life than in the interpretation of nature; at least that was their greatest contribution to human knowledge.
Greek science was in fact a mass of hypotheses. Thales who had learned geometry and astronomy in Egypt was the first to try to construct a natural cosmology. The prime sub stance, he thought, from which all else was made, was water.
Anaximenes thought air was the primitive element. Heraclitus preferred fire. Empedocles allowed four elements: earth, fire, air and water. Heraclitus believed the world to be the scene of perpetual change. Democritus believed that every thing was composed of indivisible and indestructible atoms.
This is, of course, a very incomplete account of Greek science. Later philosophers turned away from it as useless. Socrates considered natural science unworthy of attention placing above all the principles of human society that should be studied and could be determined by reason and argument. The Socratic method had the most profound consequences in turning progressive thought away from the study of nature.
But Greek philosophy influenced Christian thought and therefore reached the medieval world mainly through the works of Aristotle, who summed up all the ideas and knowledge of the ancient world. He distinguished between matter and form, but the form was not conceived as being capable of independent existence, like Plato's ideas. But God remained the first cause in the universe, because the universe must have been started and put into motion by something which itself must be eternal and unmoved. So he arrived at the idea of God as the unmoved mover.
The Christian doctrine absorbed elements from all these varying beliefs of the ancient world. It incorporated the cult of the dead and a belief in personal resurrection from the Egyptians and the idealism of the Greeks.
Being a synthesis of human knowledge, Christianity was a great feat of abstraction and generalization since it summed up many of the experiences and interpretations of the pre vious civilizations from which it drew its ideas.
(from ^Science and Human Society*)
II. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
Why did religions appear?
What theory did the primitive men try to find?
Why do we say that Greek Gods were like human beings?
Whose religion was much more organized: the Greeks' or Egyptians'?
What did the Egyptian religion acknowledge?
How were the Sun and the Nile worshipped?
Who was considered to be the representative of the God on earth?
What kind of attempt was the Egyptian religion?
Why did Greek philosophers doubt in gods?
What did they attempt to base their rules of life on?
What were they much more interested in?
What was Greek science like?
13. What influence did Greek philosophy have on Chris-
tian thought?
III. COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES:
Religions are conscious efforts to make ... .
The human urge was to find a theory that could ... .
The gods of the Greeks are very much like ... .
They have both the vices and ... .
The Egyptian religion was a rationalization of ... .
The Pharaoh was on earth as a representative of ... .
The Egyptian religion was an attempt to ... .
The Greek philosophers doubted if the Gods ... .
The Greek philosophers made efforts to ... .
10. The Greeks were much interested in ... .
Greek science was a mass of ... .
Greek philosophy influenced ... .
The Christian doctrine absorbed elements from ... .
IV. FIND IN THE TEXT THE FACTS TO PROVE THAT:
The gods of the Greeks are very much like a human family.
The Egyptian religion was an attempt to unite natural knowledge and speculations about human life.
The Greek philosophers attempted to discover basic principles of human life.
The Christian doctrine absorbed elements of many religions.
V.COULD YOU EXPLAIN WHY WE SAY THAT:
1. The Egyptian religion was an organized system of ideas.
2. Greek religion stimulated Greek philosophers for
speculating about principles of human life.
3. Greek science was a mass of hypotheses.
4. Christianity was a synthesis of the previous civiliza-
tions.
DIVIDE THE TEXT INTO LOGICAL PARTS AND MAKE UP AN OUTLINE OF THE TEXT.
SPEAK ON THE FOLLOWING POINTS:
Greek religion.
Egyptian religion.
Great Greek philosophers.
Christianity.
WORD STUDY
I. GIVE UKRAINIAN EQUIVALENTS FOR: To trace a quest; a coher/ht theory; by trial and error; the human urge; vices and virtues; general validity; reason and argument; the judge and arbiter of truth; perpetual change; unworthy of attention; eternal and unmoved; the unmoved mover; personal resurrection; a synthesis of hu man knowledge.
II. GIVE ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS FOR: Система верований; цель человеческой жизни; пре док; смертный; признавать; плодородие; божество; ог ромный вклад в человеческое знание; первичная суб станция; средневековый мир; первопричина; вселен ная.
HI. ARRANGE IN PAIRS OF SYNONYMS:
|
To trace |
to dislike |
|
To portray |
to set up |
|
To hate |
to attempt |
|
To acknowledge |
to regard |
|
To unite |
to picture |
|
To establish |
to reveal |
|
To discover |
to found |
|
To distinguish |
to understand |
|
To try |
to follow |
|
To base |
to recognize |
|
To construct |
to combine |
|
To consider |
to differentiate |
|
To conceive |
to build |
IV. GIVE ANTONYMS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS: Impossible; sophisticated; vice; eternal; birth; fall; primitive; treatment; share; immortal; divisible; useful; dependent; following.