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The Evolution Of Atheism

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However, as the political world of Greece evolved, atheism would not remain unscathed. An earlier instance of this can be found within the works of Plato, a renowned philosopher. Of all of his works, the tenth book of The Laws is most historically relevant to atheism. Within this text, Plato essentially disavowed all aspects of atheist philosophy, disregarding non-believers as “certain clever moderns” and “young men” with foolish opinions (Whitmarsh 136). Furthermore, he declared the belief in the Greek deities was essentially to the functioning of a “just society,” suggesting legal penalties for all those who undermine the gods (137). However harmful, this work raises the important question of how many atheists there truly were in Plato’s …show more content…

Based upon strictly naturalist ideology, Epicurean philosophy endeavored to reach ‘ataraxia,” or the absence of anxiety and conflict, and such was done by rejecting unfounded beliefs in the supernatural (Whitmarsh 173). Epicurus once wrote, “Death is nothing to us… for the dead cannot feel anything; it is simply the dissolution of one particular cluster of atoms (174)…” This ideology invokes a striking sense of parallelism with modern atheism and could have easily served as a foundation for its development, despite the fact that the Epicureans were never quite successful in completely distancing themselves from the divine …show more content…

Such is due to the aforementioned fact that Whitmarsh tends to speculate on historical events, thus clearly attempting to add to the reader’s prior knowledge of history, rather than to offer a foundation of historical knowledge by developing major concepts. Even Whitmarsh’s purpose for writing the book supports this, as he intends to change the reader’s perspective by offering a revised account of what he or she previously believed to be true. Above all else, throughout Battling the Gods; Atheism in the Ancient World, Tim Whitmarsh offers an enticing and revolutionary account of the classical world, challenging the limitations of historical bias by shining a light on the highly significant yet purposely ignored perspectives of historical

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