Modern human rights theory is based on the Judeo-Christian idea that human beings are of tremendous value and worth, because they are made in the image of God
That statement has always been quite a mouthful, what does it mean? Mental image, moral, physiological, top of the food chain? A projection of his own wishful thinking?
You cannot think of any instance, ( the 6000yr history of Egypt for starters) where human beings, members of the society were considered having value? The worth of human beings from the earliest time has been based on his worth within the immediate family, then the tribe & the culture, and the occupation/tasks which he assigns himself & performs. (ultilitarianism)
Then just how far back does animal husbandry go, there are an entire set of morals & ethics that naturally arise with care & treatment of animals, not just humans. Then there is the love of the land & the fruits there on, the Spartans used an early tactic to draw Greek hoplites out from the city walls by chopping down their olive trees in the orchards. Upon seeing this they would rush out to protect them & be cut down to the man, this love of the land is ancient & ties in naturally as we see here. The Greek farmers would sacrifice themselves for those trees...
This idea of "image of God" is not judeo/christian by any stretch of the mind, if there were a source for this it would most certaily be the Hellenes first, then the Indo/Persian second |
