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Single Idea 14

[filed under theme 28. God / C. Attitudes to God / 3. Deism ]

Full Idea

If there are no gods or if they care nothing for human affairs, why should we bother to deceive them?

Gist of Idea

If the gods are non-existent or indifferent, why bother to deceive them?

Source

Plato (The Republic [c.374 BCE], 365d)

Book Ref

Plato: 'Republic', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP 1993], p.54

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A Reaction

There is incipient deism here, as well as atheism.

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The 5 ideas with the same theme [belief in a remote and detached God]:

22089

Am I a God afar off, and not a God close at hand? [Jeremiah]

1558	Clearly the gods ignore human affairs, or they would have given us justice [Thrasymachus]

14	If the gods are non-existent or indifferent, why bother to deceive them? [Plato]

1828	God does not intervene in heavenly movements, but is beyond all action and perfectly happy [Epicurus]

5710	Gods are tranquil and aloof, and have no need of or interest in us [Lucretius]