more on this theme     |     more from this text


Single Idea 461

[filed under theme 28. God / A. Divine Nature / 2. Divine Nature ]

Full Idea

God is equal in all directions to himself and altogether eternal, a rounded Sphere enjoying a circular solitude.

Gist of Idea

God is a pure, solitary, and eternal sphere

Source

Empedocles (fragments/reports [c.453 BCE], B028), quoted by John Stobaeus - Anthology 1.15.2

Book Ref

'Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers', ed/tr. Freeman,Kathleen [Harvard 1957], p.56


The 22 ideas from Empedocles

Empedocles says things are at rest, unless love unites them, or hatred splits them [Empedocles, by Aristotle]
There is no coming-to-be of anything, but only mixing and separating [Empedocles, by Aristotle]
Wisdom and thought are shared by all things [Empedocles]
Empedocles said good and evil were the basic principles [Empedocles, by Aristotle]
The principle of 'Friendship' in Empedocles is the One, and is bodiless [Empedocles, by Plotinus]
Empedocles said that there are four material elements, and two further creative elements [Empedocles, by Aristotle]
Empedocles says bone is water, fire and earth in ratio 2:4:2 [Empedocles, by Inwood]
Fire, Water, Air and Earth are elements, being simple as well as homoeomerous [Empedocles, by Aristotle]
The elements combine in coming-to-be, but how do the elements themselves come-to-be? [Aristotle on Empedocles]
Love and Strife only explain movement if their effects are distinctive [Aristotle on Empedocles]
In Empedocles' theory God is ignorant because, unlike humans, he doesn't know one of the elements (strife) [Aristotle on Empedocles]
Maybe bodies are designed by accident, and the creatures that don't work are destroyed [Empedocles, by Aristotle]
For Empedocles thinking is almost identical to perception [Empedocles, by Theophrastus]
'Nature' is just a word invented by people [Empedocles]
Substance is not created or destroyed in mortals, but there is only mixing and exchange [Empedocles]
Nothing could come out of nothing, and existence could never completely cease [Empedocles]
If the one Being ever diminishes it would no longer exist, and what could ever increase it? [Empedocles]
All change is unity through love or division through hate [Empedocles]
God is a pure, solitary, and eternal sphere [Empedocles]
One vision is produced by both eyes [Empedocles]
It is wretched not to want to think clearly about the gods [Empedocles]
God is pure mind permeating the universe [Empedocles]