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Single Idea 2655
[filed under theme 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof
]
Full Idea
If someone were to take the celestial globe of Posidonius and show it to the people of Britain, would a single one of those barbarians fail to see that it was the product of a conscious intelligence?
Gist of Idea
If the barbarians of Britain saw a complex machine, they would be baffled, but would know it was designed
Source
M. Tullius Cicero (On the Nature of the Gods ('De natura deorum') [c.44 BCE], II.88)
Book Ref
Cicero: 'The Nature of the Gods', ed/tr. McGregor,Horace [Penguin 1972], p.159
The
20 ideas
from 'On the Nature of the Gods ('De natura deorum')'
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20814
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Eloquence educates, exhorts, comforts, distracts and unites us, and raises us from savagery
[Cicero]
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2645
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Why shouldn't the gods fear their own destruction?
[Cicero]
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2628
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Why would mind mix with matter if it didn't need it?
[Cicero]
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2627
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I wonder whether loss of reverence for the gods would mean the end of all virtue
[Cicero]
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2634
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It seems clear to me that we have an innate idea of the divine
[Cicero]
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2635
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The gods are happy, so virtuous, so rational, so must have human shape
[Cicero]
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2636
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Many primitive people know nothing of the gods
[Cicero]
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2638
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Either the gods are identical, or one is more beautiful than another
[Cicero]
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2640
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We have the death penalty, but still have thousands of robbers
[Cicero]
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2641
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Why believe in gods if you have never seen them?
[Cicero]
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2647
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It is obvious from order that someone is in charge, as when we visit a gymnasium
[Cicero]
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2650
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If a person cannot feel the power of God when looking at the stars, they are probably incapable of feeling
[Cicero]
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2651
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God doesn't obey the laws of nature; they are subject to the law of God
[Cicero]
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2652
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Some regard nature simply as an irrational force that imparts movement
[Cicero]
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2653
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If the parts of the universe are subject to the law of nature, the whole universe must also be subject to it
[Cicero]
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2655
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If the barbarians of Britain saw a complex machine, they would be baffled, but would know it was designed
[Cicero]
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2656
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Chance is no more likely to create the world than spilling lots of letters is likely to create a famous poem
[Cicero]
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2657
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If everything with regular movement and order is divine, then recurrent illnesses must be divine
[Cicero]
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2658
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The gods blame men for having vices, but they could have given us enough reason to avoid them
[Cicero]
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2659
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The lists of good men who have suffered and bad men who have prospered are endless
[Cicero]
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