Logic 101

Non-Christian philosophers from the time of the Greeks until the late 1990s had three things in common. First, they were rationalist. That means they believed everything was balanced on the premise of reason alone. They believed that man could begin from himself and gather enough information to form his own universe. Rationalism rejects any knowledge outside of man himself, with a special exclusion reserved for God.

Second, they took reason seriously. They accepted the fact that the mind thinks in terms of antithesis. To elaborate, that with their minds people can come to the conclusion that certain things are true while certain other things are not true, that some things are right in contrast to other things being wrong.

Logic 101:
“A” is “A” and “A” is not “non-A”

Third, they believed in the validity of reason. Non-Christian philosophers, before 1800, were also optimistic. They thought they would and could succeed in their goal to establish by reason alone a unified and true knowledge of what really is. When that happened people would have the answers to all the questions of the universe and for all that people are and all they think. They hoped for something, which would unify all knowledge and all of life.
To be continued…

Malum quidem nullum esse sine aliquo bono
"There is, to be sure, no evil without something good."