Timaeus (dialogue)
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Timaeus is a theoretical treatise of Plato in the form of a Socratic dialogue, written circa 360 B.C. The work puts forward speculation on the nature of the physical world.
The dialogue features Socrates, Critias, Timaeus of Locres and Hermocrates as speakers.
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Preliminaries to the Main Discussion
The dialogue takes place the day after Socrates described his ideal state. In Plato's works such a discussion occurs in the Republic. Socrates feels that his description of the ideal state wasn't sufficient for the purposes of entertainment and that "I would be glad to hear some account of it engaging in transactions with other states." (19b)
Hermocrates wishes to oblige Socrates and mentions that Critias knows just the account. (20b) Critias goes on to tell the story of Atlantis, and how Athens used to be an ideal state that went to war with Atlantis. (25a) Critias believes that he is getting ahead of himself, and mentions that Timaeus will tell part of the account from the origin of the universe to man.
Content
Accounts of the Physical World Are Likely
Timaeus starts his account by making a distinction between the physical world, which is the world of change, and the eternal world. Since, "a description of what is changeless, fixed and clearly intelligible will be changeless and fixed," (29a) it follows that a description of what changes and is likely, will also change and be just likely. In a description of the physical world, one "should not look for anything more than a likely story." (29b)
He goes on to suggests that since nothing "becomes or changes" without cause, then the cause of the universe must be a Demiurge or God, a figure Plato refers to as the Father of the Universe. Using the eternal and perfect world of "forms" or ideals as a template, the Demiurge set about creating our world, which formerly only existed in a state of chaos. Plato describes this chaos as a lack of homogenuity or balance, in which the four elements (earth, air, fire and water) were shapeless, mixed and in constant motion. The essential act of the creator is to bring order and clarity to this chaos and disorder.
Why the Universe Was Created
Timaeus goes on to state why the universe was created. God or a demiurge being good wanted there to be more good in the world. This notion is the kernel of Leibniz's optimism, and is an expression of the principle of sufficient reason, which states that nothing in the universe happens without a reason.
The Elements
Plato's Timaeus conjectures on the composition of the four elements which the ancient Greeks thought made up the universe: earth, water, air, and fire.
Plato conjectured each of these elements to be made up of a certain Platonic solid: the element of earth would be a cube, of air an octahedron, of water an icosahedron, and of fire a tetrahedron. Each of these perfect polyhedra would be in turn composed of triangles. Only certain triangular shapes would be allowed, such as the 30-60-90 and the 45-45-90 triangles. Each element could be broken down into its component triangles, which could then be put back together to form the other elements. Thus, the elements would be interconvertible, so this idea was a precursor to alchemy.
Plato's Timaeus posits the existence of a fifth element (corresponding to the fifth, remaining, Platonic solid) called quintessence, of which space itself is made.
Timaeus also discusses music theory: e.g. construction of the Pythagorean scale. Timaeus mentions the lost continent Atlantis, and discusses the creation of the world by a Demiurge.
See also
External links
- Plato's Timaeus Translated by Benjamin Jowett:
- At Project Gutenberg (includes Jowett's introduction): http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1572
- At the Classics in the History of Psychology website: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Plato/Timaeus
- Kevin Brown's discussion of Plato's Timaeus (http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath096.htm)fr:Timée