J
John_Savage
Guest
Good points. I hate to quibble with somebody who’s obviously a respectful person. I think Hammurabi came up with a code, but it was more like rules for a game than human rights. Even if Cicero expounded natural rights, but they weren’t really taken up by classical Roman society, as far as I know.
I don’t know as much about human rights throughout history in Asian countries.
I don’t know as much about human rights throughout history in Asian countries.
Thanks, John – I enjoy your thoughts as well. I think you make a fair point that our western humanistic values would not exist in their present form without the influence of Jesus and of Christianity in general. Of course, Buddhism and Jainism did develop the notion of “compassion for all sentient beings” – including for animals – independently, even a few centuries prior to the birth of Christ. Buddha counseled loving one’s enemies (“hatred does not cease by hatred; hatred ceases by love, this is an eternal law”) which arguably anticipates Christianity more directly than did Mosaic law (“you have heard it said, ‘you shall love your friends and hate your enemies, but I say to you…’”). And the pre-Christian law of Hammurabi did not permit stealing and wanton murder; nor did cooperation or bonds of affection fail to exist prior to Christ, even though he expanded on social values that already existed.
There’s also Cicero, the Roman orator and jurist, who was one of the first proponents of natural law; granted, he was a theist, but not a Christian.
I think the basic insight of a humanistic ethic echoes a memorable line from the novel Tuesdays with Morrie – “we love each other, or we die.” It’s a matter of collective survival, literally so, in this age of modern warfare and of nuclear energy. Even Nietzsche didn’t anticipate that a wanton glorification of war and of “non-cooperation” could lead to the collective annihilation of humanity. Chemical warfare as used in World War I, let alone the atomic bomb (an image of hell on earth, and of mutual destruction) was not something Nietzsche had conceived of.
The basic axiom of a humanistic ethic, its fundamental assumption which itself is not subject to being proven – that which it holds to be self-evident – is that life is a fundamental human value. Based on this single axiom, one can make arguments as to that which is objectively necessary for our collective survival – peaceful coexistence, respect, cooperation, mutual aid. Legally, its primary maxim is an extension of the pre-Christian Hippocratic oath — “do no harm,” which is not to say that Christianity has not provided great impetus to it.
youtube.com/watch?v=J7ErrZ-ipoE