The Greek philosopher Protagoras.
what does man is the measure of all things mean to the Greeks?
"man is the measure of all things
The Greek philosopher Protagoras.
The statement "man is the measure of all things" is attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras. This means that individual human experiences and perceptions determine truth and reality.
Protagoras
Protagoras
Perhaps you refer to the famous statement of Protagoras (c.485-c.410 B.C.): Man is the measure of all things. This means, on the one hand, that all qualities must be understood in human terms, and on the other, that only humans can measure things.
The expression is Man ( meaning human beings) is the measure of all things. This saying, from a fragment of Protagora, has been variously interpreted. Perhaps it means that we can only understand things in human terms.
Protagoras apparently wrote :(on knowledge) "The only real ill-doing is the deprivation of knowledge."(on reality) "Man is the measure of all things: of things which are, that they are, and of things which are not, that they are not."(on the divine) "Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be, because of the obscurity of the subject, and the brevity of human life."
protagoras dogmatic, rhetorical, and relative, he was the opposite of everything Plato believed in
Jewish thought is God-centered. Hence God's will is the measure of all things. Greek thought is man-centered. Hence 'man is the measure of all things.' Thus, it could be said that much Jewish thought is religious whereas Greek thought is inherently secular, although major generalizations always have their exceptions.
Marcus Aurelius