Dogmatism Character of Religion Essay -- Religion

â€Å"Plato’s Dream† is a short story written in 1756 by the French philosopher and satirist Franà §ois-Marie Arouet who published under the name of Voltaire. In this story, He explained the doctrine taught by Plato to his disciples. The scene is about Demiurgos, the creator of the infinite space, who wanted to test the geniuses of his supreme creatures. He gave each one a planet to organize. One of his creatures, Demogorgon, received the earth. He worked on it and arranged it as well as we have it today. Because of the magnificent job he did, he believed he would receive the utmost praise from his brothers; instead, he was ridiculed and criticized because of his imperfections that they noted supposedly. The brothers not only criticized Demogorgons’ work, but also seem to have a critique towards each other’s work. Since they were not able to agree with each other’s work, they kept going back and forth in their disputes. To put an end to it, the cre ator Demiurgos called for peace amongst his supreme creatures and decided to be the ultimate judge. Through his examination of their work he found both great discoveries as well as flaws, which was not a surprise to him since his creatures had a lot of knowledge and imperfections as well. Demiurgos concluded and stated that he is the only one who could create perfection and had the power to give immortality. This fable written by Voltaire is a sharp philosophical criticism of religious doctrine. He is known as a deist, which is a belief or doctrine that declares the existence of a god and its influence in the creation of the universe without relying on sacred scripts or being a member of a formal religion. â€Å"Plato’s Dream† portrays the dogmatic character of religion, and argues for principles ba... ...not sponsor a blind belief in God in the darkness of its mysteries. Works Cited Englander, Alex. â€Å"Kant’s Aesthetic Theology: Revelation as Symbolisation in the Critical Philosophy.† NeueZeitschriftfà ¼rSystematischeTheologie und Religionsphilosophie.53.3 (2011). 304. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 April 2012. Rist, John.† Morality and Religion: Some Questions about First Principles.† Philosophical Investigations.34.2. (2011). 215. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 April 2012. Voltaire. â€Å"Plato’s Dream.† Trans. Literature a World of Writing: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Ed. David L. Pike and Ana M. Acosta. Boston: Pearson 2011. 429-430. Print. Wittgenstein, Ludwig Josef Johann. â€Å"Wittgenstein and religiousdogma.†International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. Ed. Hoyt, Christopher.61.1 (2007). 42. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 April 2012.