- Finally, if there are still people who are not sufficiently convinced of the existence of God and the soul by the reasons I have given, I want them to understand that all the other propositions they consider themselves more certain of—such as having a body, the existence of stars, and the earth—are actually less certain. Even though we have a strong moral assurance of these things, and it might seem absurd to doubt their existence, no one in their right mind can deny, when it comes to metaphysical certainty, that there is enough reason to doubt. This is evident when we consider that, while asleep, we can imagine ourselves having a different body, seeing other stars, and another earth, even though none of these things are real.
- Star Tales - Ursa Minor (ianridpath.com)
The Little Bear was said by the Greeks to have been first named by the astronomer Thales of Miletus, who lived from about 625 to 545 BC. The earliest reference to it seems to have been made by the poet Callimachus of the third century BC, who reported that Thales ‘measured out the little stars of the Wain [wagon] by which the Phoenicians sail’. The little bear was evidently unknown to Homer, two centuries before Thales, for he wrote only of the Great Bear, never mentioning its smaller counterpart.
- Finally, if there be still persons who are not sufficiently persuaded of the existence of God and of the soul, by the reasons I have adduced, I am desirous that they should know that all the other propositions, of the truth of which they deem themselves perhaps more assured, as that we have a body, and that there exist stars and an earth, and such like, are less certain; for, although we have a moral assurance of these things, which is so strong that there is an appearance of extravagance in doubting of their existence, yet at the same time no one, unless his intellect is impaired, can deny, when the question relates to a metaphysical certitude, that there is sufficient reason to exclude entire assurance, in the observation that when asleep we can in the same way imagine ourselves possessed of another body and that we see other stars and another earth, when there is nothing of the kind.