Note 57 — Chapter VI · THE STUDY OF NATURE. FUNDAMENTAL POSITIONS.

According to Cic. N. D. ii. 30, 75, the Stoics divided the argument as to God’s providential care of the world into three parts. The first part went to establish that if there existed Gods, there must also be a care of the world; for Gods could not exist without having something to do, and to care for the world is the noblest thing that can be done. If, moreover, deity is the highest being, the world must be governed by deity. The same conclusion is arrived at from the wisdom and power of deity, which must always busy itself with what is best and highest. Lastly, it is stated, that inasmuch as the stars, heaven, the universe, and all powers in the world are divine, it is clear that everything must be governed by divine reason. The second part proved that the force and skill of nature produced and sustains all things. All the more reason that a universe so skilfully formed and so harmoniously arranged must be directed by a natura sentiens. And since, in its parts, it could not be more beautiful or adapted to its purpose, it must be true of it more than of any human work of art, that it owes its origin to a forming reason. The third part aims at proving, on physico-theological grounds, quanta sit admirabilitas cœlestium rerum atque terrestrium. ↑