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The Promethean Attitude Prometheus Unbound

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The Promethean Attitude Prometheus Unbound try. He taught them the significance of the seasons, astronomy, mathematics, the alphabet, language. We read in The Promethean Attitude Prometheus Bound—and this is central for humanism—that "Men were aroused to reason and taught to think" by Prometheus, who made it possible for men "to cease from contemplating Prometheus Unbound death." "Blind hopes I gave," said Prometheus, "to live and dwell with them." Paul Kurtz Prometheus thus challenged the Olympian gods and especially Zeus, who rometheus serves as a symbol for -41 was the symbol of savage power and autocracy. With the stimulation of those who reject the reigning theistic "Does the Promethean myth have orthodoxies and who criticize the temp- reason, the birth of the technological tation of men and women to deify and any meaning for the postmodern arts, and the sciences, Prometheus gave worship the dark unknown in an effort age? Is technology so men and women new interests in life. to appease their fears of death. Prome- dehumanizing and reason so Humans, formerly impotent before the theus is also a symbol for those who wish bankrupt that we must abandon unknown forces of nature, discovered to use human achievements, especially Prometheus and return to belief in that they had new powers, and they were responsible, at least in part, for their own technology, to improve the human the ancient myth of an omnipotent condition and are willing to shape nature destinies. in order to fulfill our needs and purposes. creator of the universe, and/or For teaching humans these skills, The Promethean myth is Hellenistic retreat into a new failure of nerve, Zeus had Prometheus chained to a rock, in origin. It has inspired countless and lapse into nihilistic subjectivity and, as further punishment, had a generations of protesters, atheists, and despair?" vulture (or eagle) pick out his liver secularists, and humanists who herald incessantly. The organ was renewed by Prometheus' heroic virtues. Pitted night and devoured by day. Bound. The poem opens with Hephaes- against this myth are the Mosaic, In Prometheus Bound, Prometheus tos, along with Strength and Force, Christian, and Islamic revelatory myths, declares his defiance: escorting Prometheus in chains, where Hebraic in origin and inspiration. One he is bound to a rock on Mount difference is that the Greeks, at least by To be the bond slave of the rock, is Caucasos. The Prometheus tale is rich the time of the pre-Socratic philos- better than to be Zeus's trusting in imagery. Prometheus, a demigod, was, herald. ophers, knew that the Homeric legends according to Hesiod, the son of the Titan All the gods I hate. were only mythological. They served a Iapetos and Clymene. In a war between I will not become womanized in mind, poetic and moral function, albeit as or entreat [Zeus], whom I greatly the Olympian gods and the Titans, Plato pointed out in the Euthyphro, they loathe, with upturned hand. Prometheus sided with the Olympians. presented a confused ethical message. Let [Zeus] do what he wills, I will not The Titans were defeated and their give in... Judeo-Christian theologians and philos- dynasty was overthrown. Prometheus ophers, still today, have not accepted the was unique in that he grieved for the Zeus eventually frees Prometheus, fact that their Gospels are likewise only sorry state of humankind. Humans, we because Prometheus had the gift of confused mythical fictions spun out of are told by Aeschylus, lived wretched prophecy (for the skeptic a questionable the human imagination. lives huddled in caves (reminiscent of the ability) and foreknowledge of Zeus's Our knowledge of the Promethean Stone Age). Out of love for humankind, doom. If he has a son by Thetis, myth is due primarily to Aeschylus, who Prometheus became their benefactor, Prometheus states, Thetis will "bear a authored three poems, Prometheus the stealing fire from Hephaestos (the god son greater than the father," and the child Firebringer, Prometheus Bound, and of fire and metalwork and son of Zeus), will overthrow him, as Zeus did his Prometheus Unbound. The only one that and bestowing it on man. Ancient man father. Zeus is grateful for this knowl- has survived intact from the long period worshiped fire and the sun; to receive edge. He has Prometheus released from of theistic domination is Prometheus the gift of fire was the beginning of his chains. The vulture is killed by emancipation. It kept humankind warm, Heracles, and Prometheus is restored to This article has been adapted from Chapter 24 of the book Toward a New Enlighten- cooked food, and was basic to tech- dignity. Indeed, Zeus, according to ment: The Philosophy of Paul Kurtz, edited nology. Prometheus taught man the arts legend, established a festival in his honor, by Vern L. Bullough and Timothy J. and sciences—the beginnings of civiliza- and so Prometheus emerges victorious, Madigan (Transaction Publishers. New tion. He taught men how to build houses not a tragic figure. Brunswick, N.J., 1994.) made of brick, and taught them carpen- The Promethean figure has inspired Fall 1994 31 poets and prophets ever since. The The sum of human wretchedness Does the Promethean myth have any central theme is the struggle between And the strength of man with his own meaning for the postmodern age? Is tech- Zeus—who represents violent power and mind. nology so dehumanizing and reason so demands obedient servility—and bankrupt that we must abandon Prome- Prometheus—who represents reason Karl Marx was among the most influ- theus and return to belief in the ancient and the arts and wishes humanity to ential Prometheans of the nineteenth myth of an omnipotent creator of the prosper. It is a clash between authority century. In his doctoral disseration, The universe, and/or retreat into a new and rebellion, tyranny and freedom, Difference Between the Natural Philos- failure of nerve, and lapse into nihilistic obedience and autonomy. Prometheus ophies of Democritus and Epicurus, subjectivity and despair? did not deny that the gods exist, as did Marx extols Prometheus as "the noblest Paul Johnson, a conservative British later Prometheans, but only asserted that of saints and martyrs in the calendar of religious critic, castigates the Prome- humanity has a right to flourish and philosophy." He applauds Prometheus' thean spirit, which he finds dominant in share in power in spite of them. rebellion against the gods and his desire the modern world among intellectuals. to liberate man from oppression. He describes it as follows: he Enlightenment expressed the Although Marx was a humanist, he did Thigh point of modernity's confi- not consider humanism to be simply But there is ... a Promethean spirit dence in the potential of human beings atheistic; this was a negative and abstract in man, proud of man's progress and to use reason, technology, and science form of humanism. He thought human- seemingly limitless capacities, unwil- ism was best realized by communism, ling to submit to the total subordi- in order to create a better future. Goethe, nation which the notion of God poet of the Enlightenment, reveals his which was supposed to emancipate demands, driven first to resistance, distaste for religious superstition and the humankind from all kinds of servility, then to the denial that God exists at tyranny of Zeus in his poem "Pro- not simply from religion, but from unjust all. It is presented as the spirit of metheus ": economic and social systems. Marx said, modernity, the creed of rationalism, the march of science. It preaches the "Follow your own course and let people absurdity of belief in God, the fatuity I know of nothing poorer talk!" of religious doctrine and the positive Under the sun than you gods. We all know what has happened to evil of much of the teachings and Wretchedly practices of the organized faiths. In You feed your majesty Marxism in recent years. Marx had been apotheosized by some of his disciples. the Western world today, perhaps a On imposed sacrifices majority of the people who classify And the breath of prayers He now lies chained in the Caucasus, themselves as educated—that is, they You would waste away his liver devoured by vultures. Unlike have attended the university, they read If children and beggars Prometheus, he has been proclaimed books regularly and regard themselves Were not hopeful fools. dead. Whether he will rebound in some as people who think seriously about the problems of the day and the nature form is hard to predict. Goethe expressed the joyful, exuber- of life—perhaps a majority, would Nietzsche is likewise a nineteenth- ant temper in his own life. He heralded range themselves in the Promethean century prophet of Promethean defi- camp, with varying degrees of Prometheus as master of the Earth and ance. Proclaiming the death of God, he consciousness and enthusiasm. Skep- the inspiration for human independence wished to replace the Christian slave ticism or denial of God is the hall- and power. Prometheus is not only the mark of modern Homo sapiens— benefactor, but the creator of morality with that of the Overman. Thinking Man.' humankind: "Whither is Godo I shall tell you. We have killed him ... you and I. All Johnson attacks Bertrand Russell, A. Here I sit, shaping Man of us are his murderers." J. Ayer, Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin After my image, Heidegger, and other atheistic and A race that is like me he issue for secular humanists today secular humanists. He indicts free sexual To suffer, to weep, Tis not simply atheism versus theism, love, abortion, euthanasia, the move- To rejoice and be glad, or Prometheus versus Christ, but the And like myself ment for homosexual freedom, and To have no regard for you! Human Prospect itself.
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