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Single Idea 2058

[filed under theme 28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / c. God is the good ]

Full Idea

It is impossible for God to be immoral and not to be the acme of morality; and the only way any of us can approximate to God is to become as moral as possible.

Gist of Idea

God must be the epitome of goodness, and we can only approach a divine state by being as good as possible

Source

Plato (Theaetetus [c.368 BCE], 176c)

Book Ref

Plato: 'Theaetetus', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [Penguin 1987], p.73


The 14 ideas with the same theme [view of morality as identical with God]:

A new concept of God as unswerving goodness emerges from Socrates' commitment to virtue [Vlastos on Socrates]
God must be the epitome of goodness, and we can only approach a divine state by being as good as possible [Plato]
No one is good except God [Jesus]
God is love [John]
He that does evil has not seen God [John]
God is the supreme good, so no source of goodness could take precedence over God [Boethius]
God is the good [Boethius]
To say that God promotes what is good is false, as it sets up a goal beyond God [Spinoza]
We say God is good if we think everything he does aims at the happiness of his creatures [Hutcheson]
We can't exactly conceive virtue without the idea of God [Joubert]
Attention to a transcendent reality motivates a duty to foster the good of humanity [Weil]
The only choice is between supernatural good, or evil [Weil]
Moral philosophy needs a central concept with all the traditional attributes of God [Murdoch]
The goodness of God may be a higher form than the goodness of moral agents [Davies,B]