Chapter 11 – Pre-Renaissance Worldviews

Every society must work out and articulate a view of the physical universe, a way of seeing the world, a way that then becomes the base on which the society’s value system is to be built. This is no minor matter; while philosophers may dally over the questions in a theoretical way, real folk have to deal with life. They have to have some code in place that helps them decide how to live. World view, values, and behaviors must form a coherent system under which each individual is empowered to make decisions and take action so the entire society can efficiently operate, cooperate, and survive in its always changing, always demanding environment.

All societies know this in some deep way. Societies up until our time have integrated their worldviews, values, and morés to the extent that they have because people everywhere know implicitly that their worldview is their guide when they are trying to decide whether an act that feels morally right is practicable – whether what is called morally right can work in reality. No one wants to strive for what he/she believes does not exist.

Therefore, before we begin constructing this new system, we need to get our thinking into the necessary mindset by considering the most salient peaks in the histories of some societies of the past, in order to see how systems of world views, values, and behaviors coordinate and evolve. We shall get into thinking carefully about human societies and their ways of life by studying the past. 

                                                           

                         

                              G.W.F. Hegel (artist: Jakob Schlesinger, via Wikimedia Commons)

In this chapter, Philosophy students will notice parallels between aspects of my ideas and the philosophy of Hegel, and I admit freely that similarities exist. But I also have some major points of disagreement with Hegel, which I will explain along the way. For those readers who are not Philosophy students, please note that I will give only a very quick version of my understanding of Hegel. If you find the ideas presented here interesting, you really should give Hegel a try. His writing is difficult, but not impossible, and it has also been interpreted by some disciples who write more accessibly.¹ Now back to our analysis of the world views, values, morés, and behavior patterns that are discernible in the history of some of the societies of the West.

                                            

                                             

                        “Saturn devouring one of his children” (Goya) (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

For instance, let’s consider the ancient Greeks, the ones who came long before Socrates’ time. They portrayed the universe as an irrational, dangerous place. To them, the gods who ran the universe were capricious, violent, and cruel, a phrase which also described the Greeks’ worldview. Under this view, humans could only cringe fearfully when confronted with the gods’ testy humors. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hades, Athena, Apollo, and the rest were all lustful, jealous, cruel, and unpredictable. Zeus especially wielded thunderbolts; Poseidon could inflict earthquakes; Apollo, plagues.

But as Greek culture advanced, the Greek worldview evolved. By the Periclean Age, Greek plays were portraying humans challenging the gods. After all, they had been given the secret of fire by their patron, Prometheus. As the Greeks' worldview with its attached system of values evolved, it guided them toward a smarter, braver lifestyle. They began trying to explain reality in ways that made room for people to understand and manipulate the events in their world, not cringe away from them. Once their worldview included those possibilities, they began to create practical action plans that enabled humans to cause, hasten, or forestall more and more events in the world. They tried out the daring action plans, and when some worked, more daring plans followed. (Edith Hamilton articulates these ideas well.²)

It is important to see that human individuals and groups will normally not attempt any action they think of as taboo. Ancient tribes who happened upon an action that seemed contrary to, or outside of, what was appropriate for humans in their worldview only grew upset and fearful. Whether the action got results or not, the only thing most of those people wanted to learn was how to avoid putting themselves in the same situation again. They sought to avoid it for fear of bringing the gods’ wrath down on them. Once in a while, a genius might question his society’s worldview and even describe an alternative one, but he often paid dearly for such audacity—by being ostracized or put to death.

                                                                    

                            

       Euripides, Greek tragic playwright (credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen, via Wikimedia Commons)

However, changes in a society’s worldview and then in the society’s values and morés can also evolve more gradually, helped by many lesser geniuses. By the Golden Age of Athens, philosophers, writers, and artists were offering works that only a few centuries earlier would literally have been unthinkable. Their worldview had evolved to allow for at least some degree of human free will. The works of Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Euripedes, and Pythagoras could only have been produced under a worldview in which a person could conceive of actions challenging the orthodox beliefs of the tribe and even the forces of the universe. Even though the challenge might only rarely succeed, once it did it drew adherents because it worked. It made life better.