362 /l/-42
Physics
Sextus PH 3.2-12 [III-42]
Ch. iii On God
- Since, then, most have declared that god is a cause that is most
active [in the world], let us examine god, but let us first note that, following
[the rules of the everyday conduct of] life, we say undogmatically that
gods exist and that we revere them and we say that they are providential.
But we speak as follows to counter the rashness of the dogmatists.
We ought to consider the substances of things conceived by us; for
example, whether they are bodies or incorporeal. We should also consider
the form of things, for no one would be able to conceive a horse not
having previously learned what the form of a horse is. Further, one is
obliged to conceive of that which is conceived of as existing somewhere. - Now since among the dogmatists, some say that god is a body and
others that god is incorporeal; some say that god has a human form and
others that he has not; some say that he is [located] in a place, others
that he is not; some say that he is in the cosmos, others say that he is
outside it, how shall we be able to acquire a conception of god when we
do not agree about his substance nor about his form nor about his location?
Let them first agree and make consistent their thinking so that they can
say that god is such and such. After they have outlined his nature to us,
then let them require us to acquire a conception of god. But so long as they
disagree without coming to a decision, we do not know what conception we
are to acquire from them on the basis of an agreement. - But, they say, conceive of something blessed and indestructible, and
believe god to be this. But this is silly. For just as one who does not
know Dion is not able to understand his accidents qua Dion, so we who
do not know the substance of god, will not be able to learn what his
accidents are and [so] to form a conception. 5. Apart from these considera-
tions, let them say to us what something blessed is, whether it is something
that acts according to virtue and has providential knowledge concerning
those things under his control or whether it is something that is inactive
and has no troubles itself nor does it give trouble to anyone [else]. And
since they disagree about this without coming to a decision, they have
made the words "that which is blessed" inconceivable to us, for which
reason god is also inconceivable. 6. But even granted that we have a
conception of god, it is necessary to suspend judgement concerning
whether he exists or not, at least as far as concerns what the dogmatists
say. For the existence of god is not self-evident. And if god impressed
his own existence upon us, the dogmatists would have agreed on his