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Single Idea 6250
[filed under theme 28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / c. God is the good
]
Full Idea
We call the Deity morally good, when we apprehend that his whole providence tends to the universal happiness of his creatures.
Gist of Idea
We say God is good if we think everything he does aims at the happiness of his creatures
Source
Francis Hutcheson (Treatise 2: Virtue or Moral Good [1725], §VII.V)
Book Ref
'British Moralists 1650-1800 Vol. 1', ed/tr. Raphael,D.D. [Hackett 1991], p.296
A Reaction
From the point of view of eternity, we might accept that God aims at some even greater good than the happiness of a bunch of miserable little creatures whose bad behaviour merits little reward. The greater good needs to be impressive, though.
The
14 ideas
with the same theme
[view of morality as identical with God]:
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1662
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A new concept of God as unswerving goodness emerges from Socrates' commitment to virtue
[Vlastos on Socrates]
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2058
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God must be the epitome of goodness, and we can only approach a divine state by being as good as possible
[Plato]
|
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6291
|
No one is good except God
[Jesus]
|
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8141
|
He that does evil has not seen God
[John]
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5757
|
God is the supreme good, so no source of goodness could take precedence over God
[Boethius]
|
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5758
|
God is the good
[Boethius]
|
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4825
|
To say that God promotes what is good is false, as it sets up a goal beyond God
[Spinoza]
|
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6250
|
We say God is good if we think everything he does aims at the happiness of his creatures
[Hutcheson]
|
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8105
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We can't exactly conceive virtue without the idea of God
[Joubert]
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23816
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Attention to a transcendent reality motivates a duty to foster the good of humanity
[Weil]
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23754
|
The only choice is between supernatural good, or evil
[Weil]
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22345
|
Moral philosophy needs a central concept with all the traditional attributes of God
[Murdoch]
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20702
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The goodness of God may be a higher form than the goodness of moral agents
[Davies,B]
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