WHETHER THE WORLD BE AN ANIMAL.
Democritus, Epicurus, and those philosophers who introduced atoms and
a vacuum, affirm that the world is not an animal, nor governed by any
wise Providence, but that it is managed by a nature which is void of
reason. All the other philosophers affirm that the world is informed
with a soul, and governed by reason and Providence. Aristotle is
excepted, who is somewhat different; he is of opinion, that the whole
world is not acted by a soul in every part of it, nor hath it any
sensitive, rational, or intellectual faculties, nor is it guided by
reason and Providence in every part of it; of all which the heavenly
bodies are made partakers, for the circumambient spheres are animated
and are living beings; but those things which are about the earth are
void of those endowments; and though those terrestrial bodies are of an
orderly disposition, yet that is casual and not primogenial.