Rationalism, By Titus Lucretius Carus

1247 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Religion vs philosophy

Titus Lucretius Carus was a roman poet and a philosopher. He was born in 99B.C. and died 55B.C. As a philosopher he was very well known for his work on Epicureanism, or as we refer to it today, The Nature of Things. After reading his work, I believe that the source of religious belief is born within the fundamental nature of man and religious teaching embodies a deep concern shared by philosophy, for us as humans to possess knowledge of our world as a whole. No politics or laws will keep man from believing what they want, and we will always have a longing for political rule or higher power. The breakdown of society is far worse than society itself.
Lucretius’ account of his work invites the more enterprising atheists to become more informed and familiar with the patina of a respected tradition, blurring their ability to decipher between enlightenment and classical rationalism. In order for enlightenment rationalism to achieve its end, it must fundamentally transform not only the nature of philosophy itself, but also what we as humans understand as the good life. Religion gives rise to and is born with the unreasonable and uninviting desire to make man at home in what seems to be very close to an uncaring world. With this being …show more content…

There is no religion that worships a stone, or a person who is just like everybody else. But our entire existence we have been trying to find the crack in the stone of morals and have been struggling to find out what we should really believe. Politics will not help us discover this higher power, because it simply does not exist. No Declaration of Independence or Bill of Rights is going to help us answer our questions. Coinciding with politics will only allow you to be stressed and distraught with the inside truths each government doctrine brings. The gods would not be following a sheet of paper, and Lucretius used his common sense to realize

Show More
Related

  • Filling the Void: Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill and Others on Identity

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is common knowledge that in the past religion and myths were just ways for societies to explain events and occurrences that citizens of ancient societies did not have enough advanced knowledge to understand. It was also used as a way to oppress others, as seen in the explanation of class order and royalty as God placing a person where they were meant to be and that there was nothing one could do about it, because who can go against God himself? Religion played an even bigger part than that though, being a large part of every person’s identity and something for a country and its people to unit over. But as society slowly aged, and governments were reorganized and re-structured, one can see a reduction in religion being a part of someone’s identity. It is hard to imagine being without an identity so it came as no surprise when, as the void left by religion was opened, people began to create an identity that had to do with different ideas and ideologies. More specifically, new political movements, ideas of nationalism, and change of social norms brought on by many writers and theorists such as Karl Marx, John Mill, and many others. The spread of such ideas was also helped by the spread of public education and rising literacy rates in western society.

    Read More

  • Religion: An Evolutionary Coping Mechanism?

    1879 Words  | 4 Pages

    Imagine that you’ve been suffering through a time of immense hardship and you are economically disadvantaged. You haven’t eaten in days, you’re home is about to be foreclosed, and you are hopeless about finding employment. You take what little food you have left, scrounge together whatever possessions of yours that have value, and for good measure throw in your first-born son. Taking all of these items, you then light them on fire and utterly destroy them. If this happened today, no doubt would a person be arrested and deemed a risk to himself and others. But for centuries, people carried out these sacrificial rituals, wasting precious resources and time & energy, in hopes that things would get better. Religion is immensely costly both in terms of resources and time. We know that the most evolutionary fit creatures do not waste their energy on pointless tasks and that everything done in life is because the reward is bigger than the risk. So we ask ourselves, what is the reward of following religion given its immense expenditure. How has religion survived for so long and what does it offer to those who follow it? Furthermore, how did religion come to being and what purpose did it serve in the early days of its inception? When human beings first invented agriculture and settled down, the foundations of society began shaping. Tribes grew and became more permanent, people interacted with each other in more sophisticated ways, and civilization formed. Through this communal “puberty”, culture was born and memes (ideas, behaviors, and styles that spread from person to person) came to being. If we look at religion through an inverse perspective, one that says human society and culture developed religion as opposed to religion dictating so...

    Read More

  • Civilization and Its Discontents, by Sigmeund Freud

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...en civilization and the individual. Living in a nation still recovering from a brutally violent war (Germany), Freud began to criticize organized religion as a collective neurosis, or mental disorder. Freud, a strong proponent of atheism, argued that religion tamed asocial instincts and created a sense of community because of the shared set of beliefs. This undoubtedly helped a civilization. However, at the same time organized religion also exacts an enormous psychological cost to the individual by making him or her perpetually subordinate to the primal figure embodied by God.

    Read More

  • Greek And Roman Religion Essay

    609 Words  | 2 Pages

    Originally the Romans and the Greeks worshiped a lot of gods linked to the forces of nature. To be influenced by other people, they introduce new goods. The religious freedom is a particular side of the freedom of expression, representing the free and intellectual individual will of binding and choosing or not a religion. The particular aspect consists in that religion is not limited by its transposition in faith, but gives rise to practices ensuring the free exercise of religion. One of the most extremely felt, dominant and a significant force in civilization is religion. Religious thinking inspires human action and religious groups to put in order their shared religious expressions. The ancient Greek and Roman culture had an intensely rooted spiritual background and all the citizens were intensely spiritual. The gods and goddesses who they believed in have stories about them. The stories have helped everyone to learn on how things were created and to learn about the two cultures. Religious expressions let people to liberally express his or her knowledge through re...

    Read More

  • War in Christianity and Islam

    622 Words  | 2 Pages

    Religion has always played a major role in the development of human society. This is the main reason why it has so often been used for unjust purposes. The concept of war is in complete opposition to what Islam and Christianity teach their followers. Still, by different means, religion was and is often brought into play to cater for the interests of powerful people.

    Read More

  • American Civil Religion and Politics

    508 Words  | 2 Pages

    My major area of study is Political Science, and even if you haven’t majored in political studies you know that there are few things left untouched by politics. Religion, of course, is no exception. Issues concerning religion are some of the most hotly contested topics in politics today. Consider as an example, the seemingly never-ending conflict in the Middle East over rights to Israel. It can be argued that this conflict has as much to do with politics as it does with religious beliefs. However, I think the way in which politics most closely relates to the study of world religions is in its creation of so- called “civil religion.”

    Read More

  • Religion Essay

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    As far as mankind’s history can date, religion has had quite an intimate relationship with people. Although maybe it hasn’t always been identified in the same way as we identify religion today, spread across the world we have the remains of pyramids, temples, and even written in ancient texts from centuries ago dedicated to god, to the afterlife, to what lies on the other side. And up to today’s times, religion has grown along with man.

    Read More

  • Christian Faith And Ethos Reflection Paper

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    Though there are many religions that are still practiced in the world, it is important to see what role they play in culture and thinking. When religion is taken in healthy amounts with a strong mind, religion can be a blessing and a gift to people everywhere. It can provide hope to people who need it the most, while inspiring others to take action and make positive changes. However, overdosing on religion can cause equal amounts of pain and anger.

    Read More

  • The Role of Religion in Politics

    2726 Words  | 6 Pages

    The role of religion in politics is a topic that has long been argued, and has contributed to the start of wars, schisms (both political and religious), and other forms of inter and intra-state conflict. This topic, as a result of its checkered past, has become quite controversial, with many different viewpoints. One argument, put forth by many people throughout history, is that religion and the government should remain separate to avoid any conflicting interests. This view also typically suggests that there is one, or several, large and organized religions like the Roman Catholic Church, which would be able to use their “divine” authority to sway the politics of a given state by promising or threatening some form of godly approval or disapproval. By leveraging their divine power, individual figures within a religion, as well as the religion as a whole, could gain secular power for themselves, or over others. A second view, which was developed by many theologians through history, suggests that that without religion there would be a general lack of morality in the people and leaders of a given state, which would give way to poor political decisions that would not be in the interest of the people and perhaps even God (or the gods). This argument, however, does not address the fact that morality can exist without religion. In sociology, it is commonly accepted that social norms, which include morality, can result from any number of things. Religion, laws, or the basic desire of survival can all create these norms, so it suffices to say that as a society, our morals reflect our desire to live in relative peace through the creation of laws that serve to help us to survive. The argument of whether or not religion and politics should mix...

    Read More

  • Choruses from the Rock by T.S. Eliot

    811 Words  | 2 Pages

    Man cannot live without religion. Man cannot live without God. If the true God is not available, then man is bound to create home-made gods. "The Church disowned, the tower overthrown, the bells upturned, and what have we to do but stand with empty hands and palms turned upwards in an age which advances progressively backwards?" Yes, T.S. Eliot is right. In his poem, Choruses from “The Rock,” Eliot berates society for losing their faith in God and placing it in non-Christian symbols. This is exactly the movement that will harm us all in the long run.

    Read More

  • The French Revolution and Christianity

    1720 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the course of history, man has looked to religion for answers. Curiosity as to how we got here and why we are have driven people to seek out answers to these somewhat unanswerable questions. Over the past few thousand years, several varying religions have been established, some more prominent than others. Many of them share a similar story of a divine creator who has always been and will always be. In the case of Christianity, whether true or not, it has proven to be beneficial to society as a whole. The Bible set the standard for the moral compass that humans live their lives by to this day. The key fundamental problem with religion, although not the fault of religion, is that man has often used it as a gateway to power and prominence. In the case of the 18th century Gallican church, the French were abusing their religious powers, thus creating vast inequality throughout France, which eventually led to a rebellion against the church, and the eventual destruction of the church within France.

    Read More

  • Religion : Religion And Religion

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    For thousands of years, religion has exerted a great influence over economic and political life. Even today religion is called upon to support rulers, contacts and other legal procedures.

    Read More

  • Religion is Unnecessary

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    Religion is the biggest killer of all time, with many countries being destroyed. The reason is simple. A religion that allows its faithful to "stray...

    Read More

  • Religion and Civilization

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion helps establish mankind’s place in the order of the universe. As civilization began to be established through the domestication of animals, the irrigation and cultivation of agricultural crops, and life became more complex (moving from mainly a hunter/gather existence to one that could settle down and have more time to consider advanced ideas) people began to consider questions such as, where life comes from, is there a creator or creators who helped make the world, and what happens after we die. Religion helped answer some of these questions. It gave people purpose, meaning, and perspective. Religion helped establish nations in the case of religious theocratic governments. In many of the ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians, the Mayans, and even Mesopotamia, the priests and other religious leaders played prominent roles in help shaping the laws and government of these civilizations. As his...

    Read More

  • Religion: A Catalyst for Global Discord?

    1049 Words  | 3 Pages

    For centuries, there’s always been debate of the cause of war and hatred in the world. Some blame human nature, others blame their own existence. Many people blame the government or the economy but those who generate the perspective of those around the globe are lead to blame religion due to the different issues it causes world-wide. Religion should be regulated due to its promotion of unattainable goals, war, hatred, fear, and rendering of scapegoats.

    Read More

More about Rationalism, By Titus Lucretius Carus

Open Document