Are These Truths Really Self-Evident? A Q&A with Rémi Brague (Nathaniel Peters and Rémi Brague, 6/25/26, Public Discourse)
Rémi Brague: Declaring these principles as if they were self-evident truths required some nerve. They were not so for the ancient world; on the contrary. As for human equality, for instance, we read In Homer’s Odyssey that when a man is enslaved, he loses the half part of his wits. The Founding Fathers, who were steeped in the classics, knew that full well. Consequently, they had to ground the principles on an idea they borrowed from the Bible: the will of a benevolent Creator God.