Who is cleanthes

Demea argues for the position of religious Orthodoxy, and insists that we cannot possibly come to know the nature of God through reason. He believes, in fact, that we cannot ever know the nature of God at all because God's nature is inherently beyond the capacity of human comprehension.

Philo, the philosophical skeptic, agrees with Demea that God is incomprehensible and provides the most convincing arguments for this position. Cleanthes argues the position of empirical theism—the position that we can come to know about God by reasoning from the evidence afforded us by nature—against these two opponents. Cleanthes bases his belief in empirical theism on the argument from design. According to this argument, the complex order and beauty of our universe can only be explained by positing the existence of an intelligent designer, that is, God.

The argument is supposed to work by way of analogy an argument of this form is called an argument by analogy : 1 The world resembles a finely tuned machine.

By looking at nature, in other words, we obtain overwhelming evidence that God's intelligence resembles human intelligence though of course, in much more perfect form. The argument from design is supposed to be the best case that can be made for the claim that religious belief can be rational. By showing that the argument from design fails, Hume hopes to prove that religious belief cannot possibly be based on reason.

Philo the skeptic delivers Hume's objections to the argument from design. In part II he attempts to demonstrate that the argument from design is not even an actual instance of the sort of argument it purports to be, and as such is faulty.

The argument from design seems to be an argument by analogy, but it does not work even under this rubric. First, the analogy between machines and the universe is weak at best, and as such any reasoning based on this analogy must also be weak.

Second, the universe and a machine are not strictly analogous phenomena because they are not independently existing entities, rather the universe is a whole and a machine is a part of it. Philo also argues that it is not true that all order we experience is caused by intelligence that we can sense.

Some order, such as that found in organic bodies, is caused by generation and vegetation. There is no reason, then, to think that just because the world is ordered, it is necessarily a result of intelligent design. Finally, an inductive argument that is, an argument that argues for a conclusion based on past evidence , which the argument from design certainly is, requires repeated experience of the phenomena in question i. Compare your two lists. Consider whether you are honestly spending your time doing the things that you value.

Journal on your understanding of your use of your time regarding the things you truly value. Consider how you might change your life to better allocate your time. Along with presenting the fascinating lives of all the well-known and not so well-known Stoics, Lives of the Stoics distills timeless and immediately applicable lessons about happiness, success, resilience, and virtue.

The book is available for pre-order and is set to release on September 29! Who Is Marcus Aurelius? Who Is Seneca? Who Is Epictetus? Who Is Cleanthes? Who Is Cato? Roman Senator. Mortal Enemy of Julius Caesar. Who Is Zeno? An Introduction to the Founder of Stoicism. Who Is Cicero? Who Was Panaetius? Spreading Stoicism from Greece to Rome.

Who Is Paconius Agrippinus? Who Is Porcia Cato? Who Is Gaius Rubellius Plautus? Who Is Chrysippus? Who Is Diotimus? But we need to step back. Who was this industrious philosopher? Lead me on, O Zeus, and thou Destiny, To that goal long ago to me assigned. Fate guides the willing, but drags the unwilling. Cleanthes Beliefs There are several beliefs that are attributed to Cleanthes. The Dialogues are a series of discussions about the rationality of religious belief between the fictional characters Cleanthes, Philo, and Demea.

Demea represents religious dogmatism and insists that we cannot come to know the nature of God through reason. Philo, the philosophical skeptic, agrees with Demea that God is incomprehensible but insists that he might be morally corrupt. Cleanthes argues that we can know about God by reasoning from the evidence we find in nature. Philo seems to agree with him.

Demea goes on to explain that God is the First Cause, meaning that the world operates on a system of cause and effect, so there must be an original cause to have started the world in motion, and that First Cause is God. The design and order of nature reveal that there must be an intelligent designer, or creator, whose intelligence resembles our own. Cleanthes also states that things that are very familiar and present to us need no reason to establish their truth, such as the knowledge that food nourishes the body.

Philo disagrees with Cleanthes and argues that just because the world is ordered, there is no reason to believe that this order is a result of intelligent design. He explains that the example of the design of the universe supposes an acceptance of cause and effect, which in turn supposes that the future will resemble the past.