ABSTRACT
It is inter-esting to note that the basis of the 'ar-r-ogance' identified by Power-ar·ises not fr-om a faith in science bLtt in a faith in the selfsufficiency of the individual. It denotes a cour-age which was impossible for-the philosopher-of the polis, who was fir-mly convinced that the ver-y natur-e of human being is social, and is Ltnacceptable forphi 1 osopher-s who pr-esent a communal ideal of man, like Mar-x and Dewey. It was for-ced, br-iefly, on the 'skeptical ,·philosopher-s of the Hellenistic schools, near·ly conclusively bur-ied by Chr-istian theology, and finally r-evived in a most r-esounding manner-by Ni etzsche 's pronouncement that ·God is dead'; his metaphor not only for the dissolution of r-eligious faith but for 'the devaluation of our-hitherto highest values' - those of the Enlightenment as much as any other-.[6] Nietzsche's pr-onouncement, of course, later became the point of departure of atheistic existentialism.
