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7/29/2019 On Divination and Astrology and the Trinity of Plotinus
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OnDivination
and
Astrology
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- the attempt to predict future events whichon the face of them are fortuitous
Marcus Tullius Cicero
De Divinatione
- a form of conversation betweenMarcus Tullius Cicero and his
brother Quintus about divination
Divination
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Divination was practiced inRome in many ways:
Study of the stars(Astrology)
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Observation of the flight of the birds
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Inspection of the entrails of sacrificed animals
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Interpretation of dreams
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Consultation oforacles
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De Divinatione
-denies the equivalenceand denounces divinationas puerile superstition
-defends divination andclaims that religion standsor falls with the belief in it
Quintus Cicero Marcus Cicero
-draws his argument from
Chrysippus-based his arguments toCarneades
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Quintus Cicero
We do not know the
reason that links the signand the signified, but wedo know that there is one.
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Marcus Cicero
If you seek something, asksomeone learned on thatmatter, not a soothsayer.
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Not all soothsayerspredictions cometrue: but then doctorstoo make mistakes
from time to time.
Quintus Cicero
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Marcus Cicero
There are many cases where the
advice of divines was falsified ordisastrous: both Pompey andCaesar, for instance, had happydeaths foretold to them.
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If the gods know the future, and do not tell it to us,then they do not love us, or they think such knowledgewill be useless, or they are powerless to communicate
with us. But they must know the future, since the future iswhat they themselves decree.So, they must communicate the future to us, and mustgive us the power to understand the communication,
which is the art of divination. Fatea single united series of interconnected causes.
Quintus Cicero
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Marcus Cicero
If an event is a genuine matter of chance,then it cannot be foretold, because there is no
equivalent of the causal series that enablesastronomers to predict eclipses. On the other hand, if future events arefated, then foreknowledge of a future disasterwill not enable one to avoid it, and the godsare kinder to keep such knowledge from us.
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Marcus Cicero
The predictions that divines offer us contradicteach other: as Cato said, it is a wonder thatwhen one soothsayer meets another they cankeep a straight face. It can be argued that against all portents thatwhatever is impossible to happen never in facthappened; and if what happened was something
possible, it is no cause for wonder. -
Chrysippus Mere rarity does not make a portent: a wiseman is harder to find than a mule in foal.
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The belief that mens careers are predictablefrom the positions of the stars at their birth is
worse than folly: it is unbelievable madness. Twins often differ in career and fortune. The observations on which predictions are
based are quite erratic: astrologers have no real
idea of the distances between heavenly bodies.
Marcus Cicero
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Most of the dreams turn out false, and sosensible people pay no attention to them.
Since we possess no key to interpret dreams,for the gods to speak to us through them would
be like an ambassador addressing the Senate inan African dialect.
Marcus Cicero
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"Wherefore, just as it is a duty toextend the influence of true
religion, which is closely associatedwith the knowledge of nature, so itis a duty to weed out every root ofsuperstition.
Marcus Cicero
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TheTrinity ofPlotinus
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The metaphysics of Plotinusbegins with a Holy Trinity: the
One , Spirit and Soul.- Bertrand Russel
With some qualification it can besaid that:
The One (Platonic God) Intellect (Aristotelian God) Soul (Stoic God)
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1. The One
-The One of the Parmenides and the Idea of the Goodin the Republic-Beyond being power and dignity-Utterly simple and undivided, all of a piece, andabsolutely unique
-The most real thing there is-No predicates can be applied-Our awareness of it is not through science orunderstanding
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2. Intellect-Pure activity- the world of Being, Thought and Life; also containsdesire as an essential element: always desiring andalways attaining its desire
- Two different accountsa) Intellect emanates from the Oneb) daring to apostatize from the One
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3. Soul-Has an arrogant desire for independence, which took the form
of a craving metabolism
- Time- is the continuous, restless succession of thoughts
and actions-
the life of the soul in its transitory passage fromone episode of living to the next-The immanent, controlling element in the universe of nature-incorporeal
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THE ONEThe absolute and self-
sufficient
contemplation
NOUSThe Divine Mind
Eternal andTranscendent
SOUL-the dynamic, creative temporal power, both
cosmic (World Soul) and individual (e.g.human consciousness)
The world of the
emanation/revolt
contemplation
emanation/revolt
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ThankYou!