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Single Idea 1828

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

Full Idea

Let us beware of making the Deity interpose in heavenly movements, for that being we ought to suppose exempt from all occupation and perfectly happy.

Gist of Idea

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

Source

Epicurus (Letter to Pythocles [c.292 BCE]), quoted by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 10.25

Book Ref

Diogenes Laertius: 'Diogenes Laertius', ed/tr. Yonge,C.D. [Henry G. Bohn 1853], p.459


The 3 ideas from 'Letter to Pythocles'

God does not intervene in heavenly movements, but is beyond all action and perfectly happy [Epicurus]
A cosmos is a collection of stars and an earth, with some sort of boundary, movement and shape [Epicurus]
We should accept as explanations all the plausible ways in which something could come about [Epicurus]