Sounds Familiar

EPICURUS ON THE GODS

“For the gods exist; of them we have distinct knowledge. But they are not such as the majority think them to be. For they do not maintain a consistent view of what they think the gods are. The impious man is not he who confutes the gods of the majority, but he who applies to the gods the majority’s opinions. For the assertions of the many concerning the gods are conceptions grounded not in experience but in false assumptions, according to which the greatest misfortunes are brought upon the evil by the gods and the greatest benefits upon the good. Men being always at home with their own virtues, they embrace those like themselves and regard everything unlike themselves as alien.”

Epicurus. Letter to Menoeceus. Circa 300 BCE.

COMMENT

Epicurus presents us with the conclusion to an ontological argument for the existence of god and then moves on to a critique of the multifarious creeds, each of which uniquely defines with metaphysical certitude the essence and attributes of that god. In observing the contemporary scene, we might be tempted to ascribe the gift of prescience to this great and much-slandered philosopher. We observe today the consequences of blind belief in fundamentalist systems whose lines are so vividly drawn that tolerance is out of the question. And then we stumble upon this ancient critique of the idea of the alien other. Apparently—and comfortingly, in a perverse way—it must have been thus throughout human history since Epicurus no doubt drew upon his own empirical observations in coming to this unflattering assessment of the rabble. Small wonder he preferred his garden to the marketplace.

CS