The Greek Philosophers

Post No. 5 Read Time: 2 minutes.

The Ancient Greeks

When the ancient Greeks traveled to India and other places, they found that rules, morals, and customs varied from region to region. This observation led to the development of philosophy, a field dedicated to the study of wisdom, moral inquiry, and introspection.

Socrates contributed to this development by emphasizing freedom. He recognized that different individuals have unique frameworks guiding their lives, which broadened his understanding of humanity. In response to conflicting moral codes, he chose to dedicate his life to seeking wisdom that could provide insight into these differences. He developed the method of asking probing questions.

Aristotle’s ideas significantly influenced Western civilization. He observed that specific rules, laws, and customs varied across regions. Instead of being discouraged by these differences, he argued that humans naturally develop governing attitudes. As their knowledge grows, they respond to reason, logic, and order.

Plato believed in the immortality of the soul and viewed philosophical inquiry as a means to test existing concepts. He asserted that learning is about rediscovering forgotten knowledge—latent within consciousness—rather than creating new information. Through priori reasoning, individuals recognize the eternal forms with which they were familiar before birth.

Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato have significantly influenced beliefs and lifestyles throughout history. Their teachings encourage individuals to achieve their potential, despite often confronting the realities of sin and self-criticism.

The concept of natural law emerged from the synthesis of biblical teachings on the inherent value of mankind and the Greek belief in human rationality. The combined wisdom of Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, and others led to the formulation of natural rights.

SUMMARY

Big Idea

The development of philosophy in ancient Greece, especially through the teachings of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, fostered a new approach to understanding morality, wisdom, and the nature of law and human rights. Their insights laid the groundwork for the concept of natural law by blending Greek rationalism with biblical views of human value.

Key Points

Ancient Greeks noticed that moral codes and customs varied between regions, prompting deeper philosophical inquiry.

Socrates introduced the method of questioning and emphasized the importance of individual frameworks for understanding life.

Aristotle observed the diversity of laws and customs but saw them as a reflection of humans’ capacity for reason and governance.

Plato asserted that learning is the recollection of innate knowledge and believed in the immortality of the soul.

The philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle have had a lasting influence, encouraging self-discovery, moral inquiry, and the pursuit of potential despite human flaws.

The concept of natural law emerged from the integration of Greek philosophical thought and biblical teachings about human dignity and rationality.

How Does God Accomplish His Work on Earth?

The prophet Isaiah foretells the birth of Christ and the marvelous work and wonder.

Post No. 5 Read Time 6 minutes.

These I will make my rulers. –Abraham

Although American society is more prosperous than ever, skepticism about God’s existence has grown. Christianity in the U.S. has declined over the past 15-20 years but now appears stable, with Christians making up about 60-63% of the population.

Skeptics often struggle to reconcile faith with science, seeking evidence before belief. While many acknowledge the historical Jesus and value his teachings, they reject claims of his divinity and supernatural events like the resurrection. Most skeptics also lack a personal experience with prayer, seeing it as going unheard.

Both believers and non-believers make compelling points. Mill noted that understanding all sides is essential. Atheists argue for restricting religion in government and society, while believers highlight the value of religious morals and accountability to God.

In his Farewell Address (1796), George Washington argued that morality and religion are key to national prosperity. James Madison noted that political institutions rely on self-governance guided by religious principles such as the Ten Commandments. While to some degree ethics can exist apart from religion, dismissing religious belief as unimportant is unfounded.

To broaden our perspective, we need influential thinkers who will revive moral philosophy and reintroduce timeless truths for every generation. Drawing on historic wisdom, they help us balance introspection with life’s challenges and guide us toward ethical ideals rooted in respect for others.

During periods of uncertainty, increasing complexity, and prevailing pride, a close examination of the world reveals that, despite perceptions of divine absence, it is ultimately God who is deserving of the most steadfast loyalty and reverence. As Emerson observed, “Nature is too thin a screen; the glory of God bursts through everywhere.”

Throughout history, prophets, philosophers, and religious leaders have conveyed moral principles which contribute to evolving concepts of human values. Promoting moral truths that broaden human understanding, the belief that all individuals have inherent value, rooted in the idea that “God created man in his image,” emerged early on. Later, the Greeks were inspired with the concept that men and women are naturally meant to use their reason.

Plato argued that the immortal soul recalls knowledge through inquiry, viewing philosophy as rediscovering what was once known. Using priori reasoning, we access truths understood before birth, a view echoed by Joseph Smith who defined such knowledge as “that which was from the beginning.” Plato’s concept of divine ontology included reason, will, and natural law. The integration of Greek rationalism with Judeo-Christian beliefs about human value contributed to natural law theory.

Many influential figures throughout history, such as Cicero, Augustine, Da Vinci, Gutenberg, Columbus, Luther, Newton, Handel, Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Wilberforce, Lincoln, and King Jr., played key roles in human progress across various fields. Collectively, their contributions and those of many others significantly advanced society.

Furthermore, artists, scholars, scientists, and prominent individuals from the Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment eras were motivated by the advancement and improvement of mankind. Their contributions, alongside those of parents and committed leaders, facilitated the expansion of individual liberty and the dissemination of knowledge.

Samuel F.B. Morse invented the Morse Code

Enlightenment thinkers, though separated by time and distance, explored the foundations of morality and education, shaping ethical principles that drove intellectual and societal progress. Most believed mankind could understand its purpose through adherence to higher laws, influenced by social contracts, moral agency, religious teachings, classical education, cultural values, universal truths, natural law, popular consent, the combination of Judeo-Christian principles, and common sense. Adherence to these ideals meant that nations would foster progress and virtue.

Using Enlightenment language, Thomas Jefferson stated: “We are not in a world ungoverned by the laws and the power of a superior agent. Our efforts are in his hands, and directed by it; and he will give them their effect in his own time.”

Affirming that we are not left alone in our mortal journey, Jefferson further grounded his ethics in a universal, innate “moral sense” that he believed was given to all human beings by their Creator as the true foundation of morality. Described in scripture as the Light of Christ, the gift of conscience has also been defined as “the spark of divinity.” It is given to every person that comes into the world to help us judge good from evil.

The Founding Fathers initiated revolution and constitutional government, leading to expanded civil and religious liberties, a free-market economy, and pluralism. A participant in the Federalist with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, and America’s first Chief Justice, John Jay, declared, that God works for our good in every circumstance—testing our gratitude in prosperity, our contentment in mediocrity, our submission during misfortune, our faith in darkness, and our steadfastness under temptation. We are called upon to act wisely and trust him with the outcome.

Author John A. O’Brien argues that belief in God’s existence is based not on conscience as a mystical or infallible faculty, but on the moral order of the universe reflected in our conscience’s directive to do right and avoid wrong. Alfred North Whitehead described God as a figure who guides the world through an emphasis on truth, beauty, and goodness, while Francis Bacon believed that denying God diminishes human dignity.

In summary, our founding documents, with the advances of liberty, religious freedom, and economic prosperity, are based on Judeo-Christian and free market principles. The aim of these principles is to foster the development of the individual through liberty and justice founded in righteousness-affirming mutual respect.

Key historical moments, from ancient eras through the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the Second Great Awakening in America, set the stage for religious liberty and the restoration of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith’s birth in 1805 marked a pivotal step in establishing God’s kingdom on the Earth, with many dedicated individuals significantly advancing this work.

Referencing Francis Bacon’s view that deep study removes doubt, I witness that our Father in Heaven is real; that he loves mankind; and that he desires our happiness and return to his presence. Historically, he has chosen key individuals and sent them to this world to help set moral standards, encourage freedom, protect people, and advance human potential.

Finally, in his greatest work of all in behalf of the human family, God sent his Son to bring us immortality through his atonement and resurrection. Thus, our great hope is to be raised in immortality unto eternal life through devotion and dedication to keeping his commandments. This is God’s ultimate work on behalf of mankind.

SUMMARY

Big Idea

Throughout history, the achievements of influential individuals have been woven into a greater divine plan. Directed by God, this plan encourages human progress, the expansion of freedom, and guides mankind toward eternal life. The advancement of liberty, religious freedom, and economic prosperity rests on enduring principles that foster the development of individuals through liberty, justice, and mutual respect.

Key Points

God’s plan unfolds through the actions and contributions of key historical figures, including prophets, religious leaders, philosophers, and innovators, each engaged in his work.

Prominent personalities—such as Adam, Moses, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Buddha, Socrates, Columbus, Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Wilberforce, Lincoln, King, and many others—have played pivotal roles in promoting freedom, truth, and the well-being of mankind.

Artists, scientists, and thinkers from the Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment inspired progress and helped spread knowledge, while everyday individuals—including parents and dedicated leaders—also contributed to positive change.

The founding documents and principles of democracy in America are rooted in Judeo-Christian values and a free-market economy, aiming to cultivate liberty, righteousness, and individual development.

Major historical events, from ancient civilizations to the Constitutional Convention and religious awakenings, have enabled greater religious freedom and the restoration of spiritual truths.

All Men Are Created Equal

A Rebuke to Tyranny and Oppression

When considered in light of the most common charge leveled against America’s Founding Fathers, and against our nation itself, that they were hypocrites who did not believe in their stated principles, and therefore the country they built rests on a lie, two of the leading theological doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, properly understood and taught, would have significant impact on our culture. These teachings would refute the machinations of politics and selfish human interests, as well as undo the destructive theories that continue to divide Americans and tear at the fabric of our country.

First, is the powerful teaching of premortal life. Simply stated, man was in the beginning with God.

More specifically, in the premortal realm, order, agency, and eternal truths prevailed. Setting themselves apart through faithfulness, diligence, and devotion, leaders, including those who would discover, colonize, and establish the American nation, emerged. Born when and where they would be needed the most, these faithful individuals would be called upon to assist God in the development and progress of His work on earth.

Demonstrating the pattern of heaven, these noble and great souls would come forth as ancient philosophers, pagan or Israelite, as well as the great characters of modern times. In renewal, invention, translation, reform, discovery, science, enlightenment, music, colonization, the struggle for freedom, emancipation, union, statesmanship, diplomacy, religious ideals and philosophy, educational pursuits, and innovations, they would find in Christ the keys to human advancement and the source of the marvelous truths they would advocate.

Contrary to the greatest acts of mighty men, which have been carried out to depopulate nations and to overthrow kingdoms at the expense of the lives of the innocent, the blood of the oppressed, the moans of the widow, and the tears of the orphan, these noble and great ones would be inspired in doing what they do for the amelioration, liberty, and advancement of the human race. Unfolding under the umbrella of divine design, their leadership and accomplishments would be progressively refined to correspond with human understanding of God’s intentions.

Second, the inspiring assertion that our founding documents, and our nation itself, were created by the hands of wise men who were prepared in the premortal realm for that very task and raised up by God in mortality for that very purpose. Moreover, upon the foundation of the existential nature of freedom, over the course of centuries, God would employ a wide variety of methods and individuals to prepare the way and assist His chosen servants in the creation of this nation.

In 1620, upon boarding the Mayflower, the Pilgrims were worried about how self-government might be established upon their arrival in America. Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in one of the most significant acts in history, they drew up the Mayflower Compact.

Drawing heavily on the Long Letter, which had been presented by their spiritual leader, John Robinson, in Holland, the Mayflower Compact spelled out ideas for the group’s legal and social organization in the New World. For the role it played in inspiring this document, John Adams would credit Robinson’s Long Letter as foundational to the United States Constitution.

The aim of the Pilgrim enterprise, undertaken to escape religious persecution in the Old World and to seek the opportunity for self-government in the new one, was underscored by their belief that the Renaissance and Reformation were not ends but means to greater light. And even though God had not revealed His whole will to them, they knew they wanted to “be as a city upon a hill, [for] the eyes of all people are upon us” (John Winthrop).

In 1687, our notion of the structure of the natural world expanded dramatically with Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity. The concept of a higher law, divinely ordained, was strengthened.

If Newton had been able to discern the particular laws that God had established to govern the movements of the planets in the heavens, how much more certain it was that He had ordained such laws for the direction of human societies. Accordingly, acting on John Locke’s assertion that the natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and that ordinary individuals could form new communities and governments simply by agreeing to do so, confident of the fact that their rights were guaranteed by God Himself, the Founding Fathers would source human rights to the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.

Having gained a foothold in the New World, the parade of great and noble souls in pursuit of God’s will, continued to unfold. With a collective yearning for divine and practical guidance in an era of constitutional thinking, colonial America was richly blessed by the influence of George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather, John Wesley, and James Otis.

In 1776, building upon the momentum of the Great Awakening, and further magnified by clarity of intellect, profundity of knowledge, and revolutionary genius, a powerful combination of noble and great souls would come together in Philadelphia. Bound together in their love of freedom, this most remarkable generation of public men in history would deliver a compendium of self-evident truths, truths they regarded as “sacred and undeniable.”

Envisioning an empire of liberty traveling westward, they were looking forward to the destined moment when America would give the “law” to the rest of the world in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: “Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Pledging their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, they would declare independence, affirm that “all men are created equal,” state that rights come from God, and enshrine in the American consciousness the supernal principle of consent of the governed.

Also in 1776, Adam Smith would publish The Wealth of Nations, which, through the invention of a market economy, would unleash a movement that would more profoundly revolutionize the world between 1800 and the present day than any other singe force. Defining freedom of thought as the most critical goal of the America Revolution, Thomas Jefferson would author the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, thus laying the groundwork for the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. And Edward Gibbon, seeking to answer the questions, “what happened, and could it happen again” would publish The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Eleven years later, the Founding Fathers, led by George Washington, whose “very presence in Philadelphia certified the connection between the two founding moments: the first to win independence and the second to secure it” (Ellis), would give birth to the Constitution of the United States of America, “the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man” (Gladstone). Basing their work on “just and holy principles,” the Framers would establish the foundation and legitimacy of our nation.

Meanwhile, on July 13, 1787, in New York, the Confederation Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance which protected civil liberties and outlawed slavery in the new territories. Simultaneously in Great Britain, William Wilberforce, in combination with other noble and great souls, began a determined effort to abolish the slave trade and then to abolish slavery itself in all English possessions.

As indicated in the small sampling of noble and great ones aforementioned, foreordination is the premortal selection of individuals to come forth in mortality at specified times, under certain conditions, and to fulfill predesignated responsibilities. In the totality of these few examples, through what they accomplished as individuals and in groups, as well as in the movements they led and supported, the discovery, colonization, and establishment of America was to be a significant part of “a marvelous work and a wonder,” as foretold by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah.

While “many Americans labor under the illusion that slavery was somehow a uniquely American evil, it was the Western world’s repudiation of slavery, only just beginning to build at the time of the American Revolution, which marked a dramatic sea change in moral sensibilities. The American Founders were living on the cusp of this change, in a manner that straddled two worlds” (1776 Report).

The Framers of America’s founding documents knew that slavery was incompatible with the idea that “all men are created equal.” Yet, in the formative years of the United States, there was insurmountable social, cultural, and political opposition in the fight to end human bondage in America.

Remarkably, on December 16, 1833, with the issue of slavery unresolved, the Prophet Joseph Smith quoted the Lord. Referring to one of the “just and holy principles” upon which this nation was founded, he wrote, “It is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (DC 101.79-80).

In the fight against tyrannical practices, our history is one of common struggle and great achievement. Our ancestors won independence, created a government, and tamed a wilderness. In addition, over 600,000 lives were lost in the successful effort to end human bondage.

Interpreting the Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln noted, “They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all . . . and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere.”

Having based our political legitimacy on the eternal principles of liberty, justice, and consent of the governed, Thomas Jefferson was singled out by Lincoln, who wrote, “All honor to Jefferson–the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce in a merely revolutionary document, an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times . . . a stumbling-block to the very harbingers of re-appearing tyranny and oppression.”

In their appeal to both reason and revelation, our founding documents speak to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” to the principle of freedom, and to the will of “We the People.” Working together, they are “an outgrowth, in practical terms, of man’s desire to protect the principle of free agency by defining the role and limits of civil authority” (G. Homer Durham).

Having established America as a city on a hill, those who came before brought forth eternal truths and a desire to share those truths with the rest of mankind. Under the protection of the Constitution of the United States, the spread of Christ’s gospel can go forward as the greatest motivational power in the world to be and to do good. Revealed as a trail of clues, our founding documents have given us the opportunity to establish and maintain a Republic, if we can keep it, and to offer universal peace and prosperity to all mankind, if they will receive it.

For additional information on America’s Grand Design, please see: http://www.americasgranddesign.com