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Originally Posted by HarryT
Yes - what's called the Myth of Er. It's that that the early Church liked so much, because it puts forward the idea of the existence of the soul after death, and that good deeds are rewarded, and bad deeds punished. But it's philosophical rather than religious in nature - there are no gods involved. |
Its fascinating that even though the Republic is an attempt to postulate a perfect and moral state from logic alone, Plato still feels the need at the end to add on a supernatural element to round of the system. I suppose thats where atheists really differ. We can live without filling in the gaps. But the rise of modern scientific knowledge has made this dramatically easier these days, I feel. It would probably be hard if not almost impossible to be an atheist without that kind of support.