Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - Deification Of Beneficial Things - Sadler's Lectures episode artwork

EPISODE · Sep 19, 2025 · 11 MIN

Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - Deification Of Beneficial Things - Sadler's Lectures

from Sadler's Lectures · host Lectures on classic and contemporary philosophical texts and thinkers by Gregory B. Sadler

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of how beneficial things, forces or people come to be deified by human beings. He discusses three dynamics by which this takes place. Something useful to us derives from and is named after the god from which it comes. Some useful or beneficial force gets turned into a divine being. Or a human being who is particularly beneficial to other human beings comes to be regarded as divine, and in some cases arguably does become divine To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc

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Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - Deification Of Beneficial Things - Sadler's Lectures

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