Single Idea 2648

[catalogued under 27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 1. Cosmology]

Full Idea

That which has reason is more perfect than that which has not. But there is nothing more perfect than the universe; therefore the universe is a rational being.

Gist of Idea

Things are more perfect if they have reason; nothing is more perfect than the universe, so it must have reason

Source

Zeno (Citium) (fragments/reports [c.294 BCE]), quoted by M. Tullius Cicero - On the Nature of the Gods ('De natura deorum') II.20

Book Reference

Cicero: 'The Nature of the Gods', ed/tr. McGregor,Horace [Penguin 1972], p.132