John Sellars
Is god a mindless vegetable? Cudworth on Stoic theology
Sellars, John
Authors
Abstract
In the sixteenth century the Stoics were deemed friends of humanist Christians, but by the eighteenth century they were attacked as atheists. What happened in the intervening period? In the middle of this period falls Ralph Cudworth’s True Intellectual System of the Universe (1678), which contains a sustained analysis of Stoic theology. In Cudworth’s complex taxonomy Stoicism appears twice, both as a form of atheism and an example of imperfect theism. Whether the Stoics are theists or atheists hinges on whether their God is conscious and intelligent, or alive but unconscious like a plant or vegetable. Is God sentient or is he a mindless vegetable?
Citation
Sellars, J. (2011). Is god a mindless vegetable? Cudworth on Stoic theology. Intellectual History Review, 21(2), 121-133. https://doi.org/10.1080/17496977.2011.574339
Journal Article Type | Article |
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Publication Date | Jun 1, 2011 |
Journal | Intellectual History Review |
Print ISSN | 1749-6977 |
Electronic ISSN | 1749-6985 |
Publisher | Taylor & Francis (Routledge) |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 21 |
Issue | 2 |
Pages | 121-133 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1080/17496977.2011.574339 |
Keywords | Stoic theology, Cudworth, God |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/971545 |
Publisher URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17496977.2011.574339 |