Combining Philosophers

Ideas for PG, M. Tullius Cicero and Graham Farmelo

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5 ideas

28. God / A. Divine Nature / 4. Divine Contradictions
How could God know there wasn't an unknown force controlling his 'free' will? [PG]
     Full Idea: How could God be certain that he has free will (if He has), if He couldn't be sure that there wasn't an unknown force controlling his will?
     From: PG (Db (ideas) [2031])
An omniscient being couldn't know it was omniscient, as that requires information from beyond its scope of knowledge [PG]
     Full Idea: God seems to be in the paradoxical situation that He may be omniscient, but can never know that He is, because that involves knowing that there is nothing outside his scope of knowledge (e.g. another God)
     From: PG (Db (ideas) [2031])
Why shouldn't the gods fear their own destruction? [Cicero]
     Full Idea: Why should the gods not be apprehensive of their own possible dissolution?
     From: M. Tullius Cicero (On the Nature of the Gods ('De natura deorum') [c.44 BCE], I.114)
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / b. Euthyphro question
I wonder whether loss of reverence for the gods would mean the end of all virtue [Cicero]
     Full Idea: I do not know whether, if our reverence for the gods were lost, we should not also see the end of good faith, of human brotherhood, and even of justice itself, which is the keystone of all the virtues.
     From: M. Tullius Cicero (On the Nature of the Gods ('De natura deorum') [c.44 BCE], I.3)
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / d. God decrees morality
God doesn't obey the laws of nature; they are subject to the law of God [Cicero]
     Full Idea: God is not subject to obey the laws of nature. It is nature that is subject to the laws of God.
     From: M. Tullius Cicero (On the Nature of the Gods ('De natura deorum') [c.44 BCE], II.77)