Logos and Tropoi in the Theology of the Early Stoa (in Macedonian) (original) (raw)

This article discusses the theological implications of the terms logos and tropos. In it, I examine the four types of arguments (i.e., the four tropoi) for the existence of God (i.e., Logos), relying mostly on Cicero’s classification given in the De Nature Deorum, all the while drawing comparisons with and using the material from Sextus’ work Pros Physikous, where the term tropos as applying to a type of argument for the existence of God was first used. The four tropoi in Cicero and Sextus, respectively, are the following: (a) ex operibus dei, (b) е consensu omnium, (c) argument from recorded epiphanies, (d) argument from predictions and oracles; and (a) е consensu omnium, (b) ex operibus dei, (c) reductio ad absurdum, (d) argument from the absurdities that follow from the conclusions of the opponents. I also touch upon some of the arguments that Cicero expounds out of the framework of his four tropoi. Next I turn to the Socratic and Platonic arguments for the existence of God, compare them with the Stoic ones and briefly explore their possible influence on the latter. Finally, I try to point out what the Stoics are actually trying to prove with their arguments. As far as the issue of the plausibility and the efficiency of the Stoics' theological arguments is concerned, it is being addressed here only sporadically, in course of presenting the tropoi themselves.