Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Herodotus, Plato and Robert Pasnau

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     choose another area for these philosophers

display all the ideas for this combination of philosophers


10 ideas

29. Religion / A. Polytheistic Religion / 1. Animism
The heavens must be full of gods, controlling nature either externally or from within [Plato]
     Full Idea: A soul or souls have been shown to be cause of all the phenomena, and whether it is by their living presence in matter that they direct all the heavens, or by some other means, we insist that these souls are gods. So 'everything is full of gods'.
     From: Plato (The Laws [c.348 BCE], 899b)
     A reaction: This seems to have little to do with the pagan gods on Olympus. It is also notably not monotheistic. It is somewhere between animism and panpsychism. Does he think the rivers and woods contain gods? Probably not. Just the orderly heavens.
29. Religion / A. Polytheistic Religion / 4. Dualist Religion
There must be at least two souls controlling the cosmos, one doing good, the other the opposite [Plato]
     Full Idea: There must be more than one soul (not fewer than two) controlling movement and the heavens: that which does good, and that which has the opposite capacity.
     From: Plato (The Laws [c.348 BCE], 896e)
     A reaction: [Wording compressed - as often with the dialogues] This idea of controlling opposites is found in Empedocles. Presumably this good soul defers to the Form of the Good, as implied by the Euthyphro Question.
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 4. Christianity / b. Transubstantiation
Transubstantion says accidents of bread and wine don't inhere in the substance [Pasnau]
     Full Idea: Transubstantiation maintains that the accidents of the bread and wine endure after consecration without inhering in the substance.
     From: Robert Pasnau (Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 [2011], 10.3)
     A reaction: It's a big puzzle to outsiders why softness and nice taste should have theological significance. If it is the body and blood of Christ, presumably a miracle has occurred, so normal theories don't apply. It is the key difficulty for scholastic metaphysics.
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / a. Immortality
The Egyptians were the first to say the soul is immortal and reincarnated [Herodotus]
     Full Idea: The Egyptians were the first to claim that the soul of a human being is immortal, and that each time the body dies the soul enters another creature just as it is being born.
     From: Herodotus (The Histories [c.435 BCE], 2.123.2)
Soul is always in motion, so it must be self-moving and immortal [Plato]
     Full Idea: All soul is immortal, for what is always in motion is immortal. Only that which moves itself never ceases to be in motion.
     From: Plato (Phaedrus [c.366 BCE], 245c)
Whether the soul pre-exists our body depends on whether it contains the ultimate standard of reality [Plato]
     Full Idea: The theory that our soul exists even before it enters the body surely stands or falls with the soul's possession of the ultimate standard of reality.
     From: Plato (Phaedo [c.382 BCE], 092d)
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / b. Soul
Something is unlikely to be immortal if it is imperfectly made from diverse parts [Plato]
     Full Idea: Something is unlikely to be immortal if it's a compound, formed imperfectly from diverse parts.
     From: Plato (The Republic [c.374 BCE], 611b)
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / d. Heaven
Is the supreme reward for virtue to be drunk for eternity? [Plato]
     Full Idea: (the poets think) 'the supreme reward of virtue was to be drunk for eternity'.
     From: Plato (The Republic [c.374 BCE], 363d)
     A reaction: A perceptive thought. Most people consider the best life to contain endless fun and physical pleasure, so a boozy bawdy holiday in the sunshine ticks all the boxes.
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 3. Problem of Evil / a. Problem of Evil
There must always be some force of evil ranged against good [Plato]
     Full Idea: The elimination of evil is impossible, Theodorus; there must always be some force ranged against good.
     From: Plato (Theaetetus [c.368 BCE], 176a)
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 3. Problem of Evil / d. Natural Evil
God is responsible for the good things, but we must look elsewhere for the cause of the bad things [Plato]
     Full Idea: God and God alone must be held responsible for the good things, but responsibility for bad things must be looked for elsewhere, and not attributed to God.
     From: Plato (The Republic [c.374 BCE], 379c)