Reason and Necessity
Essays on Plato''s Timaeus
Published on 31. December 2000
191 pages
978-1-914535-15-4 (ISBN)
Description
Plato's Timaeus contains a powerful and influential myth, of the construction of the universe by a divine craftsman. A god imposes reason on necessity, to bring order from a primeval 'receptacle' of disordered matter. There results the 'child' that is the cosmos - a copy of an eternally-existing perfect model. Here eight new essays from a distinguished international cast, explore aspects of this challenging work: the principles of the mythical narrative, how the world soul and human body are formed, implications for illness - mental and physical, the importance of music and harmonious proportion. Later developments are also treated: Aristotle's theory of generation, the commentary of Proclus and elements of modern evolutionary theory.
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12/2000
Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd
€75.71
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Content
- Cover
- Title page
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Outline of topics in Plato's Timaeus
- 1. Myth, science and reason in the Timaeus
- 2. How to build a world soul: a practical guide
- 3. How to build a human body: an idealist's guide
- 4. The body's fault? Plato's Timaeus on psychic illness
- 5. Timaeus on music and the liver
- 6. Aristotle's understanding of Plato's Receptacle
- 7. Proclus on demiurgy and procession in the Timaeus
- 8. Zoogony and evolution in Plato's Timaeus, the Presocratics, Lucretius and Darwin
- Bibliography of main editions, commentaries and translations
- Index locorum
- General Index
