Abstract

A new volume on one of the most influential and most discussed works from antiquity should offer something new. In this truly interdisciplinary volume, a great number of intriguing problems posed by Plato's Timaeus are given a fresh and lucid treatment. Contributors from an unusual range of backgrounds reflect on aspects of Plato's astounding synthesis of natural philosophy, including cosmology, theology, perception, physiology, and more. Plato's synthesis was original, reusing previous ideas for a new vision of the structure and coherence of the physical world: his "likely account" (Tim. 29bc) (as he preferred to call it) showed that a Maker or Creator used a form of "geometric atomism" to build up the universe ..