Abstract

In the Philebus, Plato reinterprets the traditional Olympian pantheon in terms of a nationalistic account of the cosmos which grounds the alternative to hedonism which Socrates defends. From the metaphysics of the Philebus, we can grasp 'Zeus' as a formal characteristic of the cosmos, required by any teleological account, and internal to the intelligible order of the universe, rather than standing outside of it. The universe is at once rationally ordered and good in virtue of the relation of reason to goodness itself. Notwithstanding the rationalistic bias of Plato's theology, the 'good' is prior to and responsible for the divine.