CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2015
| Author | Theologou, Anastasia |
|---|---|
| Title | Man is the Measure of Cosmos Democritus and Protagoras:values and beliefs in Naturalism |
| Summary | Ιn my thesis I explore the naturalistic views by Democritus and Protagoras regarding the origins of living beings and morality. My main claim is that although both of them share crucial ideas of naturalism and humanism, they differ significantly in their conception of morality. Democritus’ thought is based on his theory of physics and emphasizes the power of the individual, while Protagoras stresses the importance of social emotions and political interaction. Drawing evidence from the myth of Prometheus in Plato’s Protagoras, the account of prehistory in Diodorus Siculus and the myth in the Statesman, I explore the coherent link of humanism in Democritus and Protagoras and their antithesis with Plato’s philosophy. The conclusions that I reach is that Democritus’ conception of humanism leaves room for absolute individual autonomy and an ideal state to be unnecessary to have higher authority and law, while Protagoras’ theorizing of human nature praises the universal character of democracy. |
| Supervisor | Istvan Bodnar |
| Department | Philosophy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2015/theologou_anastasia.pdf |
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