Monday, October 7, 2013
Humanism vs. The Theses
Looking at Lucretius' humanist view in his book, On the Nature of Things (discussed in The Swerve), and Luther's 95 Theses, both seem like a challenging way of living. Do you think it would be easier to live like Lucretius and "conquer [your] fears, accept the fact that [you] and all the things [you] encounter are transitory, and embrace the beauty and pleasure of the world" (6). Or would it be simpler to live by the way of the 95 Theses and live perfectly in the eyes of your faith and god?
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I feel like most people would find it easier to live by the 95 theses. For the most part, people are scared of things that challenge or confuse them. Most people try to create fears or obstacles rather than conquer them, and many people are confused, disgusted, and/or terrified by the world around them. I feel that it is more of a challenge to live by Lucretius' philosophy (though, personally, it's the one I prefer) because it is easy to follow a to-do list.
ReplyDeleteI actually think that it would be easier to not live by Luther's theses. There would be a lot of religious rules to follow instead of embracing the beauty of the world. If people lived by Lucretius' ideas then they would have a more free and easy life. People could explore and live how they want to, but the theses are like rules made by somebody else.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emily that it would be easier to live by Lucretius' beliefs. I think that Luther's 95 theses (in addition to his beliefs) said that men are all sinners, and that only a select few people are faithful, but you have no control over if god chooses to give you faith or not. I feel like for me, this would be hard because it seems as though you don't get to control your own fate, in a sense. In Lucretius' work, he states that men have ultimate power over everything, and they make all of their own decisions. This is the opposite of Luther's ideas that there is no free will, and that everything is controlled by God.
ReplyDeleteAt the time, I think it would have been easier to live by the Lucretian ideals. The embrace of beauty was quickly becoming the predominant view, and provided a less strict lifestyle. Whereas the 95 Theses was still an emerging set of beliefs, and most people who openly lived by them would have been persecuted. Plus, Luther's set of rules were more stern, and one could only live happily by them if they had the 'divine spark' in them.
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