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To my eyes the main difference between today and ancient societies is lack of central narratives. Greek philosophy was hung up on appeals to nature, souls, and

by meroes 8y ago

To my eyes the main difference between today and ancient societies is lack of central narratives. Greek philosophy was hung up on appeals to nature, souls, and the greats unequivocally believed in a creator god of some kind (not the Pantheon). Today philosophy is much more detached from these ideas that were once central. Today a rational explanation of reality leaves little necessity for invoking God. Greeks could take solace in the unexplainable by chalking it up to a creator's will. We don't have that luxury anymore. Science has been so powerful in explaining reality that the natural instinct is no longer to invoke theistic reasonings. We take the wait and see approach. Well wait and see is antithetical to narrative building. Yet at this point there are no other tenable stances to take. Agnosticism is the only justifiable stance to take, but it is a very unfulfilling one for many people. There are smaller narratives around today such as humanism (and capitalism?), but they are not all encompassing. Would love to hear others' thoughts about the (in my opinion) unqiue philosophical setting three centuries of deferring to science has left us.

bitexploder 8y ago
I don’t see that much has changed. Life events unfold around us largely out of our control. We have a few scraps of knowledge and can frame our place differently, but nothing fundamental about human existence has changed. We live a bit longer. We have some cool gadgets. But we still die. We have not spread beyond earth. People still murder and kill and conquer and the only way to save ourselves is through ourselves. Call it a creator. Call it life. Most of it, we have no control over, just like the ancient Greeks. Until we radically alter the human condition, not much changes.
danmaz74 8y ago
For a time, science had a very strong finalistic narrative too - that science itself would remove all misery from the world. The strength of this narrative is much diminished today, even if it's not dead - it's often visible on HN, especially when commenting on themes like climate change. Personally, I envy those who still believe in that vision.

by meroes 8y ago

bitexploder 8y ago

I don’t see that much has changed. Life events unfold around us largely out of our control. We have a few scraps of knowledge and can frame our place differently, but nothing fundamental about human existence has changed. We live a bit longer. We have some cool gadgets. But we still die. We have not spread beyond earth. People still murder and kill and conquer and the only way to save ourselves is through ourselves. Call it a creator. Call it life. Most of it, we have no control over, just like the ancient Greeks. Until we radically alter the human condition, not much changes.

danmaz74 8y ago

For a time, science had a very strong finalistic narrative too - that science itself would remove all misery from the world. The strength of this narrative is much diminished today, even if it's not dead - it's often visible on HN, especially when commenting on themes like climate change. Personally, I envy those who still believe in that vision.