on divination and astrology and the trinity of plotinus

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!

on divination and astrology and the trinity of plotinus

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