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From: laura@utzoo.UUCP (Laura Creighton)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: empirical skeptics' basic assumption
Message-ID: <4124@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 21-Jul-84 12:44:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.4124
Posted: Sat Jul 21 12:44:45 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Jul-84 12:44:45 EDT
References: <861@pucc-h>, <863@pucc-h>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
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Sorry Jeff, but you are wrong.

The principle of objective reality came out of Greece, not Judea. Various
Jewish enclaves which did not get Hellenized provide a contrast with 
the Jews which most people are familiar with. Thanks to the Roman Empire,
Greek thought got spread around a lot.

Not all Greek thought was what we might call today ``materialism''. The
Stoics would have gotten on rather well with the Hindus (who were
around at the same time) and later with the Buddhists (when Buddhism
started up.) They didn't get along with the followers of Aristotle
at all from all reports. (Stoicism lasted a long time.) What the
Pythagoreans were doing is still more or less a mystery, since they were 
a very secret society.  What is very interesting is that all of these
conflicting philosophies were able to coexist in more-or-less harmony.
Considering the extremes involved, it is a pretty impressive
accomplishment.

Laura Creighton
utzoo!laura