I mean by freethinker, the common way its applied, an atheist or agnostic. Such folks are commonly "skeptical" by their definition, that is they are actually hostile to our societies religious traditions. Thats how people use the word.
Solone is a freethinker, Maher is, Stalin was, Ingersoll was.
Technically, its incorrect to use it for Socrates, Plato, Aristotle .... they don't meet the modern definition. Neither did Jefferson, Adams, Franklin .... they were rather more old-fashioned unitarians with an Old Testament view of God.
There were people in antiquity who meet the common definition of freethinker .... Epicurus, Lucretius are two I can think of now. Thomas Paine would have met the definition during the early American period. |
