Reply To: Humanism

[ckocsis]

According to the American Humanist Association, Humanism is “a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism or other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good”.
Basically, humanists believe that even without divinity in the picture, humans are ethical and good. I think the value the Greeks placed on human beings is very evident in their artwork. For example, Exekias’s Ajax and Achilles Playing a Game depicts two people playing dice. Playing dice is a very human thing to do. Before the Greeks, people were usually only depicted in artwork doing something heroic, like fighting a tiger, going to war, or interacting with gods. In this piece, something very mundane and human is depicted in the same way a heroic scene would be, showing how the Greeks valued human nature.