The Religion of Nature Delineated · Chapter
Endnotes explained
This chapter compiles endnotes that provide commentary, citations, and philosophical reflections on themes such as moral good and evil, happiness, truth, reason, prayer, and the nature of the deity.
What happens
This chapter compiles endnotes that provide commentary, citations, and philosophical reflections on themes such as moral good and evil, happiness, truth, reason, prayer, and the nature of the deity. It references a wide range of classical, Jewish, and Christian sources, including Plato, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Maimonides, and Joseph Albo, among others.
Themes in this chapter
Moral Good and Evil
The endnotes debate the nature of good and evil, referencing classical and Jewish sources on whether virtue is natural or forced, and whether the righteous suffer undeservedly.
Truth and Reason
Discusses the role of reason in discerning truth, the unreliability of popular opinion, and the need to follow the one who knows truth, as in Socrates' advice in the Crito.
Natural Religion and the Deity
Engages with the problem of evil and divine justice, citing Virgil and Cicero on the suffering of the just, and Jewish sources on theodicy and transmigration.
Characters to notice
- Plato
Referenced for the assertion in the Republic that no man is just voluntarily, and for the Socratic view in the Crito that one should heed the one who knows truth rather than the multitude.
- Cicero
Cited for his enumeration of good men who suffered (De Natura Deorum) and for discussions on the ultimate good, honor, and natural law (De Finibus, De Legibus).
- Virgil
Quoted from the Aeneid regarding the fall of the just Ripheus, illustrating the theme of undeserved suffering.
- Horace
Quoted from the Satires on the difficulty of equating all sins and on turning virtues into vices.
- Maimonides
Referenced for the principle that prayer without earnestness is no prayer (Mishneh Torah).
- Joseph Albo
Quoted from Sefer ha-Ikkarim on prayer as a branch of providence.
Key passages
“ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἑκὼν δίκαιος ἀλλ’ ἀναγκαζόμενος”
No man is just voluntarily, but is forced to be so.
Attributed to Glaucon in Plato's Republic, illustrating the view that justice is not natural but imposed.
“Cadit et Ripheus, justissimus unus Qui fuit in Teucris, et servantissimus aequi. Dis aliter visum”
Ripheus also was slain, who was one of the most just men amongst the Trojans, and a very strict preserver of equity; but the Gods must be submitted to.
From Virgil's Aeneid, used to illustrate the theme of undeserved suffering of the righteous.
“Virtutes ipsas invertimus”
We turn even virtues into vices.
From Horace's Satires, commenting on human moral corruption.
“Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἡδὺ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ὡς τὸ λαλεῖν τὰ ἀλλότρια· καὶ μάλιστα ἐὰν τύχωσιν ὑπ’ εὐνοίας τινὸς ἢ μίσους ἑλκόμενοι, ὑφ’ ὧν καὶ φιλεῖ κλέπτεσθαι ὡς τὰ πολλὰ ἡ ἀλήθεια”
There is nothing so delightful to men, as prating about things that don't belong to them, especially if they are drawn into it by love or hatred, and they are apt to conceal truth as they do most other things.
From Gregory Nazianzen's Second Oration, on the human tendency to gossip and distort truth.
“ἀλλ’ ὅ, τι ό ἐπαίων περὶ τῶν δικαίων, καὶ άδίκων, ὁ εἶς, καὶ ἀυτὴ ὴ ἀλήθεια”
But what he says who can distinguish betwixt the just and the unjust, the only one who is truth itself.
From Plato's Crito, advocating for following the one who knows truth rather than the multitude.
