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1.3: Treasure for Heaven

  • Page ID
    94413
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    See 329d-331b. Cephalus suggests that a certain amount of wealth is needed to bear old age easily: not just to secure the basic comforts of life, but to help us prepare for the afterlife. The traditional stories of the afterlife have it that justice is rewarded and injustice punished. One good thing about wealth is that it keeps us from needing to be unjust: from having to cheat or deceive others in pursuit of money, and from having to die with unpaid debts.

    • Does the pursuit of money ever require a person to cheat or deceiveothers?

    • Consider one of the basic rules of commerce, “Buy cheap, sell dear.” Can a person live by this rule and remain just?

    • Is there any reason to believe that gods exist, and that they care about or are in any way influenced by sacrifices (devotional religious practices)?

    • Is there any reason to believe there will be an afterlife where justice is rewarded and injustice punished?

    • Suppose we had reason to believe there are no rewards or punishments in an afterlife. Would we still have reason to be just?


    This page titled 1.3: Treasure for Heaven is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Douglas Drabkin.

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