Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Dispositional Essentialism and the Laws of Nature' and 'Outlines of Pyrrhonism'

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3 ideas

28. God / A. Divine Nature / 2. Divine Nature
How can we agree on the concept of God, unless we agree on his substance or form or place? [Sext.Empiricus]
     Full Idea: How shall we be able to reach a conception of God when we have no agreement about his substance or his form or his place of abode?
     From: Sextus Empiricus (Outlines of Pyrrhonism [c.180], III.3)
28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / b. Ontological Proof critique
The existence of God can't be self-evident or everyone would have agreed on it, so it needs demonstration [Sext.Empiricus]
     Full Idea: The existence of God is not pre-evident, for if it was the dogmatists would have agreed about it, whereas their disagreements show it is non-evident, and in need of demonstration.
     From: Sextus Empiricus (Outlines of Pyrrhonism [c.180], III.6)
28. God / C. Attitudes to God / 5. Atheism
Fear of the gods was invented to discourage secret sin [Critias]
     Full Idea: When the laws forbade men to commit open crimes of violence, and they began to do them in secret, a wise and clever man invented fear of the gods for mortals, to frighten the wicked, even if they sin in secret.
     From: Critias (fragments/reports [c.440 BCE], B25), quoted by Sextus Empiricus - Against the Professors (six books) 9.54