green numbers give full details.     |    back to list of philosophers     |     unexpand these ideas

Ideas of Numenius, by Text

[Greek, 120 - 180, Born at Apamea, in Syria.]

160 fragments/reports
p.354 There is a remote first god (the Good), and a second god who organises the material world
     Full Idea: Numenius argues that material reality depends on intelligible being, which depends on a first god - the Good - which is difficult to grasp, but which inspires a second god to imitate it, turning to matter and organizing it as the world.
     From: report of Numenius (fragments/reports [c.160]) by Dominic J. O'Meara - Numenius
     A reaction: The interaction problem comes either between the two gods, or between the second god and the world. The argument may have failed to catch on for long when people scented an infinite regress lurking in the middle of it.