Single Idea 2649

[catalogued under 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof]

Full Idea

If flutes playing tunes were to grow on olive trees, would you not infer that the olive must have some knowledge of the flute?

Gist of Idea

If tuneful flutes grew on olive trees, you would assume the olive had some knowledge of the flute

Source

Zeno (Citium) (fragments/reports [c.294 BCE]), quoted by M. Tullius Cicero - On the Nature of the Gods ('De natura deorum') II.22

Book Reference

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

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