Plato Nomoi book X last sentence: “let´s aks us if we have done enough to explain the deniers of gods that there are gods or if our explanaition was not enough.”
a simple sentence from plato within the platonic dialogue a common phrase nothing unusual but for the exploration of the ancient world a huge treasure.
it is the simple phrase “to explain the deniers of gods” what bothers us. he says the deniers of gods and by that he gives us great information about the ancient world. there were deniers of god. at last when plato lived. plato knew deniers of god. he doesn´t tell us if they were public like today or hidden only talking in closed groups like the symposion plato often attented to. he doesn´t tell if the deniers of gods were able to speak publicly about their deniyal or have to be a secret society like in most islamic or catholic societies today.
however the statement alone gives us a very important hint. questioning the existence of gods is not an issue of secular modernity it was a topic of dispute in early times already.
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