In the West, political life was “invented” in the ancient Greek city-states, known as poleis. These cities operated as republics, characterized by relatively small economic inequality and limited surpluses. Without the means to support a king or a bureaucratic class and without the wealth to hire mercenaries, the citizens themselves had to fight their own battles and decide when to engage in war. As a result, political participation became highly valued.
In these city-states, there was no centralized priestly caste, and little concern with life after death, at least compared to other civilizations of the time. This created space for speculative natural philosophy, allowing the free flow of questions, whether through inquiry or disregarding the divine. While others sought answers through faith, poetry, or priests claiming divine intuition, the Greeks relied on reason. Mysticism is inherently limited. Reason enables a continuous, rational inquiry into the nature of reality, a dialogue that began in ancient Greece and never ceased. This was the beginning of the liberation of reason.
The Greeks largely rejected absolute monarchy. A fully functioning mind should belong to a free man, living in an autonomous polis governed by laws created by its citizens, not by gods or kings. These were revolutionary ideas, which had never flourished to such an extent in history until that moment.
The Greeks had a bold, almost arrogant, relationship with divinity. They placed man in a high position compared to other civilizations, yet at the same time, they recognized human limitations. This duality was so important that two phrases stood out at Apollo’s temple in Delphi: “Know Thyself” and “Nothing in Excess.” They understood that man was fallible and, therefore, had to exercise moderation or risk being overwhelmed by his impulses. As Aristotle put it: “As man is the best of the animals when perfected, so he is the worst when separated from law and justice.”
Another distinctive movement in the Western tradition was the Judeo-Christian religion, which began as a persecuted faith but, after centuries of conflict, became the dominant force within the Roman Empire. This religion sharply separated an all-powerful deity from humanity and imposed great moral demands. After integrating into the Roman Empire, this fusion curtailed many aspects of political and philosophical freedom in other civilizations. Nevertheless, Christianity indirectly inherited the rational conception developed by the Greeks and absorbed by Rome, leading to profound internal struggles.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes that had overthrown Rome lacked the organization to establish a new empire of similar scale. In the absence of centralized authority, the Christian Church stepped in, enforcing obedience and uniformity. Yet, despite its influence, the Church never fully controlled the emerging states. In this fragmented landscape, freedom was not deliberately planned; it emerged as an unintended consequence of decentralization. Within these spaces, towns and cities gradually reappeared, bringing with them a renewed foundation for political autonomy and self-governance.
In Italy, some cities managed to extend their control over surrounding territories, evolving into powerful city-states reminiscent of the ancient Greek poleis. The ongoing power struggle between the Church and secular rulers allowed these cities to gain increasing autonomy. Within them, the foundations of the modern world began to take shape. While still Christian, their outlook and values became increasingly secular compared to the medieval period. This shift is exemplified by the Florentine poet Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, who challenged the traditional view of human nature. He argued that man is more than a mere mortal, unlimited by nature and endowed with free will, unbound by external constraints.
We have made thee neither of heaven nor of earth, Neither mortal or immortal, So that with freedom of choice and with honor, As thought the maker and molder of thyself, Thou mayest fashion thyself in whatever shape thou shalt prefer. Thou shalt have the power out of thy soul’s judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, which are divine.
- Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola
Machiavelli, another Florentine, took this shift even further: “Fortune is a woman, and it is necessary to hold her and beat her, and fight with her.” Today, such imagery reminds us of the unimaginable suffering women have endured throughout history. In its historical context, Machiavelli’s words reflect his belief that fortune must be actively controlled rather than passively accepted. The ancient Greeks would have called this hubris: the kind of violent arrogance that leads men to see themselves as more than human, ultimately bringing about their downfall.
Francis Bacon, influenced by Machiavelli’s perspective, urged humanity to use reason to force nature to reveal its secrets. To dominate and exploit it for the sake of improving human material well-being. He believed this approach would lead to progress and the overall betterment of the human condition. This way of thinking was at the heart of the Scientific Revolution and remains central to modern technological advancements.
Hobbes and Locke applied a similar framework to politics, introducing a concept the Greeks had never envisioned: natural rights, inherent to man, whether as part of nature, as master of nature, or as a gift from a benevolent God. In either case, these rights were considered absolute. Their vision also marked a departure from the Greek idea of man as fundamentally part of a community. Instead, they saw man first as a solitary being, with nothing permitted to interfere with his right to defend his life, liberty, and property.
In the early modern period, freedom and the elevation of reason faced a major threat from the rise of absolute monarchies. When King Charles I attempted to impose religious conformity, aligned with tighter political control, on a kingdom long accustomed to legal traditions and relative freedom, the result was resistance and upheaval. The Protestant Reformation played a crucial role in reinvigorating the cause of individual liberties, encouraging ideas that would later fuel both the American and French Revolutions. These movements and the institutions they established became the foundation of modern liberal thought, shaping politics, science, technology, and society.
Science and technology have frequently been criticized for undermining human community and distancing humanity from nature and itself, deepening class divisions, fostering weapons of mass destruction, and causing environmental harm. With the weakening of religious authority, traditional foundations for morality and political order also began to crumble. Nietzsche captured the gravity of this transformation in his famous metaphorical declaration, “God is dead.” Dostoevsky, reflecting on this idea, warned that without belief in divine authority, humanity would find itself without moral limits: “If God is dead, all things are permitted.”
The consequences of adopting a nihilistic outlook would be immeasurable. Without religion or reason as guiding forces, humanity would be left only with will and power. In such a world, only strength matters. Without moral or rational foundations, rights and freedoms become meaningless, leaving no protection for the weak and only dominance by the strong.
Criticism of science, technology, and the Western outlook is neither new nor unfounded. It would be naïve to ignore the darker consequences of placing reason and individual rights at the very core of civilization. When unchecked, rationality and personal autonomy dominate, and society inevitably faces conflicts, turmoil, instability, and uncertainty. Such tension, however, is precisely the environment where freedom arises and thrives, not in societies characterized by uniformity or strict harmony, but rather within spaces defined by fragmentation, division, and power struggles.
Freedom is born from conflict, not unity or hegemony. Yet the same forces that sustain freedom also allow inequality and instability to emerge. The Western tradition’s enormous successes have brought a dangerous arrogance, risking the erosion of its own greatest achievements.
One way to address these modern challenges is to revisit the ancient wisdom from which Western civilization emerged. Examining their insights, limitations, and profound understanding of human nature may offer valuable guidance in confronting the complexities of our times.
(Note: The ideas presented in this note were inspired by and adapted from Yale University’s lecture “Introduction to Ancient Greece,” presented by Professor Donald Kagan.)1
Footnotes
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YaleCourses, 2008. Introduction to Ancient Greek History (CLCV 205) [video online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FrHGAd_yto (Accessed: 9 March 2025). ↩