display all the ideas for this combination of philosophers
5 ideas
| 24220 | As the highest value, God cannot be proved [Weil] |
| Full Idea: By definition, in so far as he is the highest value, God is indemonstrable. | |
| From: Simone Weil (Lect 4: Ethics and Aesthetics [1933], p.171) | |
| A reaction: An extremely platonist (or neo-platonist) view of God. I'm not sure I grasp how God could be both a being and a value. Presumably a proof must rely on a highest value. |
| 23754 | The only choice is between supernatural good, or evil [Weil] |
| Full Idea: In all the crucial problems of human existence the only choice is between supernatural good on the one hand and evil on the other. | |
| From: Simone Weil (Human Personality [1943], p.86) | |
| A reaction: This idea strikes me as absurd, but I include it for a fuller picture of Simone Weil. Aristotle (my hero) is referred to, and labelled as more stupid than a village idiot. |
| 23816 | Attention to a transcendent reality motivates a duty to foster the good of humanity [Weil] |
| Full Idea: Anyone whose attention and love are directed towards the reality outside the world recognises that he is bound by the permanent obligation to remedy …all the privations of soul and body which are liable to destroy or damage any human being whatsoever. | |
| From: Simone Weil (Draft Statement of Human Obligations [1943], p.225) | |
| A reaction: [abridged] An interesting attempt to articulate the religious motivation of morality. The Euthyphro question remains - of why this vision of a wholly good higher morality should motivate anyone, unless they already possess a desire for that good. |
| 24192 | My love makes me believe in God; the inconceivability of this God makes me disbelieve [Weil] |
| Full Idea: True contradictories. I am sure there is a God in the sense that I am quite sure that my love is not illusory. I am sure there is not a God in the sense that I am quite sure nothing real can be anything like what I conceive when I pronounce this word. | |
| From: Simone Weil (Gravity and Grace [1942], 'Atheism') | |
| A reaction: [She adds that inconceivability doesn't mean illusory] I can't see a feeling of love as a reason for theism. But the inconceivability of God isn't a good reason for atheism. |
| 23892 | The only legitimate proof of God by order derives from beauty [Weil] |
| Full Idea: The only legitimate proof [of God's existence] from the order of the world is the proof from the beauty of the world. | |
| From: Simone Weil (God in Plato [1942], p.89) | |
| A reaction: She finds this proof in Plato. Hume's critique never (I think) mentions beauty, although in the 18thC love of the sublime could play that role. For me, the human experience of beauty doesn't have such cosmic significance. |