Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Herodotus, Plato and DH Mellor / A Oliver

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5 ideas

27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 1. Cosmology
Clearly the world is good, so its maker must have been concerned with the eternal, not with change [Plato]
     Full Idea: If the world is beautiful and its maker good, he had an eye on the eternal; if not, on that which is subject to change; clearly the world is the fairest of things, and he the best of causes, so it is eternal.
     From: Plato (Timaeus [c.349 BCE], 29a)
If the Earth is spherical and in the centre, it is kept in place by universal symmetry, not by force [Plato]
     Full Idea: If the earth is spherical and in the middle of the heavens, it needs neither air nor force to keep it from falling. The uniformity of heaven and equilibrium of earth are sufficient support.
     From: Plato (Phaedo [c.382 BCE], 108e)
27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 3. The Beginning
If the prime origin is destroyed, it will not come into being again out of anything [Plato]
     Full Idea: If the prime origin is destroyed, it will not come into being again out of anything.
     From: Plato (Phaedrus [c.366 BCE], 245d)
     A reaction: This is the essence of Aquinas's Third Way of proving God's existence.
If the cosmos is an object of perception then it must be continually changing [Plato]
     Full Idea: The cosmos is visible, tangible and corporeal, and therefore perceptible by the senses; therefore it is an object of opinion and sensation, and therefore change and coming into being.
     From: Plato (Timaeus [c.349 BCE], 28d)
Movement is transmitted through everything, and it must have started with self-generated motion [Plato]
     Full Idea: Motion is transmitted to innumerable things, and this must spring from some initial principle, which must be the change effected by self-generated motion.
     From: Plato (The Laws [c.348 BCE], 895a)