General Principles exist. They are the things which are "true" for all time for all people for all locations. An prime example is "all people must eat." Another is that "all people are created equal." Yet another is that "every one has the right to free speech."
There simply are some things that are true for every one. Not everyone might like a film or book, but the right to create one of those is a "general principle."
There is also another set of general principles, but these have shfited with the passing of time. Technology has moved the idea of general principles along. The reality is that with technology we have made health care better, so it is clear that the general principles of health care must have been altered from the past.
There is a confusion about some general principles. The big one is probably God. You will hear often that ancient people all had a belief in God or Gods. And it's not true. The general principle is that all people have always had a belief in the creation of the universe that defines how people fit into it. But God is a lot newer concept. After all, God or Gods didn't really come about as a concept until mankind began to record things, whether in stone or writing. We are at a lack of words when we describe ancient prehistory religious beliefs because our current understanding so dominates our thoughts. But did the first humans really belief it "God" -- or did they believe in a supernatural force? Or did they believe in something else, entirely unknown to us. A belief in God is fairly recent in human terms.
It is laughable to see every single prehistory artifact and object and location defined as some sort of "religious" thing. Why do we do this? Because the religions of today, and all of them do it, are just incapable of comprehending a world were people were probably more concerned with day to day survival and they didn't have the time to dwell on the mystical realm of thought. I would think that ancient man spent a lot more time on food and shelter and self-preservation than they did worrying about whether the Gods were appeased.
it is more likely that when they began to settle into villages, and the division of labor allowed some to sit back and think a little more, that they reasoned, "well, you know, maybe there is something out there we can't comprehend. Let's call that 'God' " That guy probably used that to gain some power to survive a little better. |
