God and Greek philosophy : studies in the early history of natural theology
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
God and Greek philosophy : studies in the early history of natural theology
(Issues in ancient philosophy)
Routledge, 1994, c1990
- : pbk
Available at 9 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
"First published 1990"--T.p.verso
Bibliography: p. 311-324
Includes indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This is a study of the main arguments for the existence of a god or first causal principle in the ancient Greek philosophers. Gerson's study of ancient Greek philosophers includes the pre-Socratics - Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and sceptics, and Plotinus. In the Greek philosophers, arguments for the existence of God are a part of natural theology, which is distinguished from and held to be superior to mythic and civic theology. Unlike a Jewish, Christian or Islamic context, where natural theology is subordinated to scriptural principles, Greek natural theology is actually a type of scientific realism. God is a hypothetical entity postulated as an ultimate explanation of various data. A central aim of this book is to show the continuity of the Greek idea of wisdom and its identity with what can be loosely called "natural theological reasoning". From the beginning of philosophy in Greece until its substantial absorption in Jewish, Christian and Islamic thought, there is an ongoing dialogue with the notion of the divine as its focus.
The book explores the relationship between arguments in natural theology and metaphysics, and examines different theories of causality underlying theological argument. It argues that the culmination of Greek natural theology is the distinctive creation metaphysics of Plotinus.
by "Nielsen BookData"