Review:Plato , Timaeus

The Timaeus is the most obscure and repulsive to the modern reader of all the writings of Plato, and has nevertheless had the greatest influence over the ancient and mediaeval world. The Timaeus is Plato’s attempt to describe how the world came into being. Plato states that it is only a “likely story” nonetheless, it is an excellent summary of Platonic metaphysics and was extremely influential later in antiquity.

Like any Platonic dialogue, the Timaeus is dynamic and multifarious—a complex interplay between muthos and logos, art and argument, theatrics and theory. The purpose of this entry is not to render a definitive interpretation of the dialogue, but rather to reveal the possibilities afforded by a close reading of the text. The arguments of Timaeus provide insight to Plato’s thoughts on the existence of God.

The focus of the discourse is the generation of the world and the creation of man. The foundation of his discourse is that the universe has “become” ( been created) and thus must have become by some cause, “for without a cause nothing can be created.” Timaeus goes on to conclude that the universe must have been caused by a creator. Timaeus’ conclusion that there is a creator is also based on his observation that the world is “the fairest of creations” and therefore could not be the result of anything other than an intelligent cause. Timaeus acknowledges that some creatures (animals, man) are not perfect, and concludes that they were patterned after created things - yet they were still created. Timaeus' universe is not caused out of nothingness, but rather gets transformed from chaos into order. Timaeus supposes that the creator fashioned the universe out of fire, earth, water and air – the four elements which were themselves primeval in a sense, and that he patterned it in the shape of a globe because that is the most perfect shape for it - since it has no need of eyes, ears, feet etc. Receptacle, which is the spatial substratum of the universe and the link between the eternal and the finite. The Receptacle exists between the eternal realm and the finite realm. The eternal realm is unchanging and is the model upon which the design of the finite realm has been based. The building materials of creation, the four elements, existed before creation/time, and were used by the creator to build the universe.