display all the ideas for this combination of texts
7 ideas
| 622 | There must a source of movement which is eternal, indivisible and without magnitude [Aristotle] |
| Full Idea: There exists an eternal unmoved substance separate from sensible things. It can have no magnitude, and is without parts and indivisible. As the source of movement for infinite time, it must itself be infinite. | |
| From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1073a05) |
| 7603 | God is not a creator (involving time and change) and is not concerned with the inferior universe [Aristotle, by Armstrong,K] |
| Full Idea: Aristotle's god had not created the world, since this would involve an inappropriate change and temporal activity; everything yearns towards god, but god remains indifferent, since he cannot contemplate anything inferior to himself. | |
| From: report of Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], God) by Karen Armstrong - A History of God Ch.1 | |
| A reaction: Trust Aristotle to come up with the only rational and consistent account of a deity anyone has ever offered. Endless paradoxes and inconsistencies arise if god steps into time, makes things, changes, and responds to prayers. |
| 16165 | For Aristotle God is defined in an axiom, for which there is no proof [Aristotle, by Frede,M] |
| Full Idea: Aristotle is committed to the view that strictly speaking there is no proof of the essence and existence of God. There will be a real definition of him as an axiom of special theology, and then a deduction of theological theorems. | |
| From: report of Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], God) by Michael Frede - Aristotle's Conception of Metaphysics p.94 | |
| A reaction: The cynical response would be 'why not start with a Great White Rabbit, then?', but I presume one must read what Aristotle says (late in 'Metaphysics') to understand why this particular axiom is chosen. Economy, power etc.? |
| 610 | The world can't be arranged at all if there is nothing eternal and separate [Aristotle] |
| Full Idea: How is there to be an arrangement of the world at all, in the absence of something eternal, separable and permanent? | |
| From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1060a21) |
| 1555 | People used to think anything helpful to life was a god, as the Egyptians think the Nile a god [Prodicus] |
| Full Idea: In the old days people regarded the sun, the moon, rivers, springs, and everything else which is helpful for life as gods, because we are helped by them, just as the Egyptians regard the Nile as a god. | |
| From: Prodicus (fragments/reports [c.423 BCE], B05), quoted by Sextus Empiricus - Against the Professors (six books) 9.18 |
| 1543 | He denied the existence of the gods, saying they are just exaltations of things useful for life [Prodicus] |
| Full Idea: He says that the gods worshipped by men neither exist nor have knowledge, but that the ancients exalted crops and everything else which is useful for life. | |
| From: Prodicus (fragments/reports [c.423 BCE]), quoted by Anon (Herc) - fragments 1428 19.12 |
| 535 | The gods are just personified human benefits [Prodicus] |
| Full Idea: Things from which benefits to human life have been derived have come to be considered deities, such as Demeter and Dionysus. | |
| From: Prodicus (fragments/reports [c.423 BCE], B5), quoted by (who?) - where? |