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, in particular one of the arguments for the existence of the gods presented by Balbus, which we can call the argument from degrees of being. This type of argument doesn't fit neatly into the modern conventional classification of ontological, cosmological, and teleological arguments for the existence of the divine. It works by noting that there are different degrees (gradus) of being, going from bare being through plants, animals, humans, and other higher rational beings (gods), arguing that the top grade of being cannot be empty or non-existent.

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