Introduction to Philosophy	Notes	This is not a substitute for coming to class - or for reading the material.	Richard Lee
Philosophy 2003		Copyright © 2006, Richard Lee	Autumn 2006

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)

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Richard Lee, rlee@uark.edu, last modified: 21 January 2003