Initial Objections to Cleanthes’ Argument
- Conclusion is false: God is not similar to man (Demea P 74a)
- We should not let proof of the existence of God be a matter of
"probability." (Demea P 74a) -- It gives "advantages to
atheists."
- The analogy is
weak. (Philo P 74a) --
The universe is not much like
productions of human contrivance. "Every alteration of circumstances
occasions a doubt concerning the event" (P 76a)
- "Thought . . . is no more than one of the springs and
principles of the universe . . ." (Philo P 76a)
- Weak inference from part to whole (Philo P 77a)
Richard Lee,
rlee@uark.edu,
last modified: 21 January 2003
