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Single Idea 1555
[filed under theme 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / c. Teleological Proof critique
]
Full Idea
In the old days people regarded the sun, the moon, rivers, springs, and everything else which is helpful for life as gods, because we are helped by them, just as the Egyptians regard the Nile as a god.
Gist of Idea
People used to think anything helpful to life was a god, as the Egyptians think the Nile a god
Source
Prodicus (fragments/reports [c.423 BCE], B05), quoted by Sextus Empiricus - Against the Professors (six books) 9.18
Book Ref
'The First Philosophers', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP 2000], p.249
The
28 ideas
with the same theme
[denying that order and harmony prove God]:
1535
|
Democritus said people imagined gods as the source of what awed or frightened them
[Democritus, by Sext.Empiricus]
|
1555
|
People used to think anything helpful to life was a god, as the Egyptians think the Nile a god
[Prodicus]
|
5707
|
The universe can't have been created by gods, because it is too imperfect
[Lucretius]
|
2657
|
If everything with regular movement and order is divine, then recurrent illnesses must be divine
[Cicero]
|
2232
|
You can't infer the cause to be any greater than its effect
[Hume]
|
6960
|
Analogy suggests that God has a very great human mind
[Hume]
|
6958
|
How can we pronounce on a whole after a brief look at a very small part?
[Hume]
|
6965
|
The universe may be the result of trial-and-error
[Hume]
|
6964
|
From our limited view, we cannot tell if the universe is faulty
[Hume]
|
21279
|
If the divine cause is proportional to its effects, the effects are finite, so the Deity cannot be infinite
[Hume]
|
21280
|
From a ship you would judge its creator a genius, not a mere humble workman
[Hume]
|
21282
|
Design cannot prove a unified Deity. Many men make a city, so why not many gods for a world?
[Hume]
|
21281
|
This excellent world may be the result of a huge sequence of trial-and-error
[Hume]
|
21283
|
Humans renew their species sexually. If there are many gods, would they not do the same?
[Hume]
|
21284
|
This Creator god might be an infant or incompetent or senile
[Hume]
|
6963
|
Why would we infer an infinite creator from a finite creation?
[Hume]
|
6966
|
Creation is more like vegetation than human art, so it won't come from reason
[Hume]
|
6967
|
Order may come from an irrational source as well as a rational one
[Hume]
|
21286
|
Motion often begins in matter, with no sign of a controlling agent
[Hume]
|
21287
|
The universe could settle into superficial order, without a designer
[Hume]
|
21288
|
Ideas arise from objects, not vice versa; ideas only influence matter if they are linked
[Hume]
|
21256
|
A surprise feature of all products of 9 looks like design, but is actually a necessity
[Hume]
|
6204
|
Using God to explain nature is referring to something inconceivable to explain what is in front of you
[Kant]
|
6206
|
From our limited knowledge we can infer great virtues in God, but not ultimate ones
[Kant]
|
21332
|
We don't get a love of 'order' from nature - which is thoroughly chaotic
[Mill]
|
18977
|
The wonderful design of a woodpecker looks diabolical to its victims
[James]
|
18979
|
Things with parts always have some structure, so they always appear to be designed
[James]
|
20708
|
If God is an orderly being, he cannot be the explanation of order
[Davies,B]
|