More Pre-Socratics

Well, reading as much as I can on Parmenides and his colleagues from about 500 or so years before Christ and having a great time doing it. I wonder what Xenophanes or some of those other Greeks would have thought about someone reading their stuff on the subway of all things. Can't say that they would have liked it, but for me it's one of the few places that I can do it.

One of the things I read last night is that in this particular circle it was held that reason had to have some kind of edge over the senses as we really couldn't rely on them for truth. You had to use logical proofs to come near to the truth, but even then the truth was considered somewhat impossible to achieve. You had to understand you weren't looking for absolute certainty, just to get as close to it as possible. Therefore, you had to always consider that somebody else might come up with something better. What a powerful thought; that you had to remain scheptical of your own thoughts.

There was also the idea that the gods were conventional. That is, they were creations of convention and differed from society to society. There might be a god or gods, but that didn't mean our belief in them was true or that the myths we hold are valid. They were conventions, nothing more, and therefore not true. Could someone explain that to George Bush?

Just announced today that no weapons of mass destruction exist or existed. We fought a war on a lie. Now we have to live with it. Beliefs are far more dangerous than schepticism. One must remain critical.