Editing Natural theology (section)

=== Plato ===
In the ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', written {{circa|360 BCE}}, in the preamble to the account of the origin of the cosmos, we read: "We must first investigate concerning [the whole Cosmos] that primary question which has to be investigated at the outset in every case ... namely, whether it has always existed, having no beginning or generation, or whether it has come into existence, having begun from some beginning."<ref name="NA229"/> The subsequent parts of the text argues for the necessity of a divine craftsman, who rationally constructed the cosmos out of pre-existing chaos (''Timaeus'' 27d-30c) In the ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'', in answer to the question as to what arguments justify faith in the gods, Plato affirms: "One is our dogma about the soul...the other is our dogma concerning the ordering of the motion of the stars".<ref name="NA230">{{cite web| url = https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0166;query=section%3D%231576;layout=;loc=12.966e| title = Plato, ''Laws''}}</ref>

In Book II of the ''[[Republic (dialogue)|Republic]]'' and Book X of the ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'', Plato argues against the following ideas: <ref>Plato, ''Republic'', [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg030.perseus-eng2:2.365/ 365d–e].</ref><ref>Plato, ''Laws'', [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg034.perseus-eng2:10.885/ 885b].</ref>
# Gods do not exist.
# They exist but do not care about humans.
# They are easily persuaded by offerings and prayers.