In Timaeus Plato attempts to describe and explain the structure of the universe: the creator god, the elements, the lower gods, the stars, and men. The companion piece, Critias, is the origin of the story of Atlantis, the lost empire defeated by ancient Athenians. This is the clearest translation yet of these crucial ancient texts.

Now with extra footnotes, by editorial demand! Final version accepted by Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy. -/- This essay consists in a trick and a potential insight. The trick consists in a minimalist interpretation of color mixture. The account of color mixture is minimalist in the sense that, given certain background assumptions, there is no more to Timaeus’ account of color mixture than the list of the chromatic pathēmata and the list of how these combine to elicit perceptions of (...) all the colors. The only potential controversial elements of the minimalist interpretation are the relevant background assumptions and the interpretation of the chromatic pathēmata. The potential insight concerns a motive that Plato, in the guise of Timaeus, may have for presenting an account of color mixture. Specifically, I shall argue that on the minimalist interpretation, Plato may be read as reconciling the Democritrean four color scheme with an older tradi- tion where white and black are the fundamental chromatic opposition. As we shall see, this bears on the interpretation of the chromatic pathēmata. (shrink)

This new edition combines the clearest translation yet of these crucial ancient texts with an illuminating introduction and diagrams.

A study of the significance of Plato's resumption of the simile of model and likeness in the Timaeus, with attention to the place of the Timaeus in the "longer way" that Plato has Socrates announce in the Republic. The reader embarked on the "longer way," I argue, will find in the accounts of the elements and of the kinds of animals unannounced but detailed exhibitions of the "god-given" method of dialectic that Plato has Socrates announce in the Philebus.

". . . one of the masterpieces of classical scholarship. . . . Contemporary work on the Timaeus will inevitably take Plato's Cosmology as its starting point." -- Charles H Kahn, University of Pennsylvania.

Both an ideal entrée for beginning readers and a solid text for scholars, the second edition of Peter Kalkavage's acclaimed translation of Plato's _Timaeus_ brings enhanced accessibility to a rendering well known for its faithfulness to the original text. An extensive essay offers insights into the reading of the work, the nature of Platonic dialogue, and the cultural background of the _Timaeus_. Appendices on music, astronomy, and geometry provide additional guidance. A brief outline of the themes of the work, a (...) detailed glossary, and a selected bibliography are also included. (shrink)

Mit der Ubersetzung des platonischen Dialogs "Timaios" wollte Cicero den Romern einen weiteren Zugang zur Philosophie eroffnen. Da der lateinischen Sprache wichtige Worter fehlten, musste er sich dabei auch als Sprachschopfer betatigen. Das Gesprach kreist um die Erschaffung des Weltkorpers und der Weltseele, die Erschaffung der Zeit und der Planeten, aber auch musiktheoretische Uberlegungen, Gedanken uber die Seele und die Seelenwanderung sowie die menschliche Wahrnehmung spielen eine Rolle. Der Dialog schliesst mit einem Lob der Philosophie, "dem wunschenswertesten und hervorragendsten Gut, (...) das dem Menschengeschlecht von den Gottern als Gnadengabe zugestanden worden ist."". (shrink)

A reprint of the Routledge edition of 1935.

It is now nearly axiomatic among Platonic scholars that the Timaeus and its unfinished sequel the Critias belong to the last stage of Plato's writings. The Laws is generally held to be wholly or partly a later production. So, by many, is the Philebus, but that is all. Perhaps the privileged status of the Timaeus in the Middle Ages helped to fix the conviction that it embodies Plato's maturest theories.

In this article I argue that "Timaeus" 48e-52d, the passage in which Plato introduces the receptacle into his ontology, Contains the material for a satisfactory response to the third man argument. Plato's use of "this" and "such" to distinguish the receptacle, Becoming, And the forms clarifies the nature of his ontology and indicates that the forms are not, In general, self-predicative. This result removes one argument against regarding the "Timaeus" as a late dialogue.

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it may be clear that ears play a role quite different from that of the other sense-organs. Unlike the eyes, nose and tongue, ears cannot be called genuine sense-organs. They only transmit the blow in the air to the brain and the blood in the head that receive the blow. Second, since hearing is defined as a motion extending from the brain to the region around the liver, there is a possibility to (...) assume that the same sound can be grasped by the rational and the appetitive parts of the soul. It gives rise to different emotions: joy in the wise and pleasure in the fool. Furthermore, if sound affects the brain and through the brain it reaches the rational soul, then one may suppose that human reason is open to direct influences from the sensible world and plays a central role in sense-perception. (shrink)

'The god wanted everything to be good, marred by as little imperfection as possible.'Timaeus, one of Plato's acknowledged masterpieces, is an attempt to construct the universe and explain its contents by means of as few axioms as possible. The result is a brilliant, bizarre, and surreal cosmos - the product of the rational thinking of a creator god and his astral assistants, and of purely mechanistic causes based on the behaviour of the four elements. At times dazzlingly clear, at (...) times intriguingly opaque, this was state-of-the-art science in the middle of the fourth century BC. The world is presented as a battlefield of forces that are unified only by the will of God, who had to do the best he could with recalcitrant building materials.The unfinished companion piece, Critias, is the foundational text for the story of Atlantis. It tells how a model society became corrupt, and how a lost race of Athenians defeated the aggression of the invading Atlanteans. This new edition combines the clearest translation yet of these crucial ancient texts with an illuminating introduction and diagrams. (shrink)

Hartshorne and Reese thought that in the Timaeus Plato wasn’t quite a panentheist—though he would have been if he’d been consistent. More recently, Cooper has argued that while Plato’s World Soul may have inspired panentheists, Plato’s text does not itself describe a form of panenetheism. In this paper, I will reconsider this question not only by examining closely the Timaeus but by thinking about which features of current characterizations of panentheism are historically accidental and how the core of (...) the doctrine might most fruitfully be understood. I’ll argue that there is a polytheistic view that deserves to be called panentheistic and that Plato’s Timaeus describes such a view. (shrink)

Plato’s Timaeus was his only cosmological dialogue and for almost thirteen hundred years it provided the basis in the West for educated people’s general view of the natural world. The author provides a translation of this important work, together with the Critias – the source of the legendary tale of Atlantis. He has taken particular care to provide an accurate rendering of Plato’s words and to avoid putting his own or any other interpretation on the works.

". . . one of the masterpieces of classical scholarship. . . . Contemporary work on the Timaeus will inevitably take Plato's Cosmology as its starting point." -- Charles H Kahn, University of Pennsylvania.

in G.Fine (ed.), The Oxford Handbook on Plato, OUP forthcoming.

Ce volume presente une nouvelle edition et la premiere traduction dans une langue moderne du "Lexique platonicien" de Timee le Sophiste. Il presente egalement une histoire, riche de nouveaux materiaux, de la lexicographie platonicienne ancienne. Le texte est preface d'une longue introduction de Jonathan Barnes. This book contains a new edition of the Greek text of the "Lexicon to Plato" by Timaeus the Sophist. There is a rich commentary, and a French translation?the first translation of the work into a (...) modern language. The text is prefaced by a long introduction, by Jonathan Barnes. (shrink)

In a long and important sentence in the Timaeus , Plato explains that, whereas that which truly or really is () cannot come to be in anything else, sensible things, being mere images, must necessarily come to be in something else, on pain of not existing at all.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections (...) in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Platonis Timaeus: Interprete Chalcidio Cum Eiusdem Commentario Ad Fidem Librorum Manu Scriptorum Calcidius, Johann Wrobel, Plato aedibus B.G. Teubneri, 1876 Philosophy; History & Surveys; Ancient & Classical; Philosophy / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical. (shrink)

Both an ideal entrée for beginning readers and a solid text for scholars, the second edition of Peter Kalkavage's acclaimed translation of Plato's _Timaeus_ brings enhanced accessibility to a rendering well known for its faithfulness to the original text. An extensive essay offers insights into the reading of the work, the nature of Platonic dialogue, and the cultural background of the _Timaeus_. Appendices on music, astronomy, and geometry provide additional guidance. A brief outline of the themes of the work, a (...) detailed glossary, and a selected bibliography are also included. (shrink)

Reading the Timaeus as an early attempt at mathematizing natural science runs into serious difficulties. The so-called Platonic Solids are five in number, more by one than the traditional 'elements'. Plato provides a proportional ratio for these elements but this ratio fails to tie in with their geometrical features. Appealing to the authority of mathematics appears to be a rhetorical move with no further consequences.

In _Plato's_ Timaeus _and the Missing Fourth Guest_, Donna M. Altimari Adler offers an original account of Plato's Timaeus from 35a-36d, yielding a new interpretation of the _Timaeus_ scale and cosmic harmony imbedded in the text.

This book examines Platos account in the Timaeus of a third kind and its cosmic members, a material principle and place.

Among all the writings of Plato the Timaeus is the most obscure to the modern reader, and has nevertheless had the greatest influence over the ancient and mediaeval world. The Critias is a fragment and it was designed to be the second part of a trilogy. Timaeus had brought down the origin of the world to the creation of man, and the dawn of history was now to succeed the philosophy of nature. It tells us about Atlantis and (...) Critias returns to this story, professing only to repeat what Solon was told by the priests. The war of which he was about to speak had occurred 9000 years ago. One of the combatants was the city of Athens, the other was the great island of Atlantis. (shrink)

In a recent article written by Mr. G. E. L. Owen to prove that contrary to the general current opinion the composition of theTimaeusmust have antedated that of theParmenidesand its dialectical successors, it is contended that when theTimaeuswas written the analysis of negation given in theSophistcould not yet have been worked out. ‘For’, Mr. Owen writes, ‘the tenet on which the whole new account of negation is based, namely thatτὸ μὴ ὄν ἔστιν ὄντως μὴ ὄν, is contradicted unreservedly by (...) class='Hi'>Timaeus' assertion that it is illegitimate to sayτὸ μὴ ὄν ἔστι μὴ ὄν; and thereby theTimaeusat once ranks itself with theRepublicandEuthydemus.'After brushing aside Cornford's attempt to reconcile this passage of theTimaeuswith theSophist, Mr. Owen concludes his treatment of it with the words: ‘So theTimaeusdoes not tally with even a fragment of the argument in theSophist.That argument is successful against exactly the Eleatic error which, for lack of the later challenge to Father Parmenides, persists in theTimaeus.’An examination of the other arguments put forward by Mr. Owen in support of his thesis concerning the relative chronology of theTimaeusI reserve for another place. Here I propose to consider only the meaning of this one passage and whether it really does imply that theTimaeusmust have been written before Plato had conceived the doctrine enunciated in theSophist.It is a question not now raised for the first time. More than half a century ago Otto Apelt asserted that this passage of theTimaeusis enough to prove that work earlier than theSophists.His assertion did not go unchallenged; and Apelt himself appears to have lost his original confidence in it, for in his later writings on the relative chronology of the two dialogues he did not again refer to it. (shrink)

Plato's Timaeus is one of the most influential and challenging works of ancient philosophy to have come down to us. Sarah Broadie's rich and compelling study proposes new interpretations of major elements of the Timaeus, including the separate Demiurge, the cosmic 'beginning', the 'second mixing', the Receptacle and the Atlantis story. Broadie shows how Plato deploys the mythic themes of the Timaeus to convey fundamental philosophical insights and examines the profoundly differing methods of interpretation which have been (...) brought to bear on the work. Her book is for everyone interested in Ancient Greek philosophy, cosmology and mythology, whether classicists, philosophers, historians of ideas or historians of science. It offers new findings to scholars familiar with the material, but it is also a clear and reliable resource for anyone coming to it for the first time. (shrink)

Plato’s Timaeus contains an argument that vice is involuntary. Here I present an interpretation of that argument and, upon doing so, relate the underlying conception of voluntariness to that found in Aristotle’s Eudemian Ethics. I argue that in the Timaeus, for something to be voluntary it must be caused by the agent’s intellect in a certain way. This idea, in turn, relies on an identification of the agent with her intellect: the reason that what is voluntary must be (...) caused by the agent’s intellect is that what is voluntary is what the agent herself is responsible for. The conception of the voluntary in the Eudemian Ethics differs less radically than one might think. There too Aristotle wishes to respect the idea that there is an important connection between what is voluntary and what is caused by our rational capacities, but he differs in how he fills out the relevant rational capacities. (shrink)