The Ancient World According to Plato - Essay Example

Plato’s Timaeus Plato’s Timaeus is an account that seeks to explain the origin of the universe during the ancient days of Plato’s time. This account is in the form of a dialogue that the narrator uses to explain his own views about how the world came into being. As compared to earlier accounts of cosmogonies and cosmologies, the exists many similarities and contrasts even though the account is from the narrator’s own explanation (Sarah 20). Examples of earlier accounts of cosmogonies and cosmologies include the creation story that is found in the bible and The Bing Bang Theory. Similarities with Plato’s Timaeus are the existence of a Supreme Being as in the biblical Creation Story (John 15). The Timaeus also resembles other earlier accounts of cosmogonies and cosmologies as in the belief of fire, earth air and water existing in the beginning. This resembles the Sumerian cosmogony and other Mesopotamian cosmogonies where they believed fire, earth air and water were features in the ‘first’ earth. The existence of a God in Plato’s Timaeus is similar to existence of gods in other cosmogonies such as those of the Babylonians, Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Hebrews and Sumerians (Sarah 25). Plato tries to explain the perfection of the world in its formation and existence. This is in resemblance to other cosmogonies that detail how calculated and perfect the earth was in its creation and was made imperfect by the activities of mankind (John 17). Man is also a key subject as Plato’s Timaeus and other cosmogonies try to explain the origin of earth. Therefore in this paper, I am going to give a critical analysis of the main aspects of Plato’s Timaeus, while at the same time explaining the important role of man in Plato’s Timaeus (Sarah 29). I am going to explain the analogy between the coming to be of Timaeus’ discourse and the coming to be of the cosmos, the general structure of the Timaeus, the genesis of the order of celestial bodies and the order of the human soul and body and the relation between myths and “scientific” explanations in the Timaeus (John 19). Looking at the general structure of Timaeus, we hear of Plato’s belief that the world is always striving to become. The world is also said to not change at all as well as have no becoming (Sarah 30). The physical world is what is referred to s the cosmos by the narrator, Plato. He states that everything in the world happens for a time and then passes away, but was never real. Plato believes that it was not the work of a Supernatural intelligent being that created the earth, but someone of manual labour that cause the existence of the cosmos (John 25). The craftsman that created the universe is called The Demiurge (Creator). This craftsman created the world out of nothing but yet copied the art from somewhere else. Since the physical earth had to possess a tangible form, earth and fire were the ingredients that Plato chose to represent the physical earth. These two forms were solid and needed two intermediates to have them combined. The two intermediates Plato chose were air and water (Sarah 47). Arranged proportionally, these elements were fire, air, earth and water. Timaeus considered the cosmos to be a living being, unique, spherical, possessing a soul and also being temporal. There existed human beings that consisted of a soul, body and other parts (Marsilio 10). Looking at Plato’s Timaeus distinction between being and becoming, we learn that some thins in the universe never become but always are; while others are but never truly become (John 27). Understanding is what makes a thing that is and only is to be grasped. Opinion and lack of reason is what makes one grasp something that becomes but never is. The universe is believed to have become since it is tangible and has a body (Sarah 53). Hence the universe can be perceived. Things that have become are beloved to have originated from something else (Marsilio 14). Hence the universe is believed to have been caused by the work of a Craftsman. The beauty of the universe is believed to be supreme and hence the goodness of the Craftsman should also be of highest praise (John 32). Celestial bodies exist to give account of time in the universe. The soul of the world is composed of a harmonic mixture of proportionately placed portions of both the divisible and the indivisible (Sarah 61). Heavenly or celestial bodies are considered to be divine. The stars are fixed to day or night, the moon is placed in its position to mark lunar month and the sun is places in its position to mark a year. The movements of these celestial bodies are what are believed to be the cause of time (Marsilio 20). The number of different kinds of living creatures believed to exist include heavenly god, winged creatures, water creatures and land creatures. Gods were believed to be existent at the start of time. The Demiurge is said to have instructed the gods to create mortals that is mankind (Sarah 70). The human soul is not believed to have been made of the purest forms but of the leftovers from the creation of the soul of the universe. Hence mankind is considered to be of lower quality or grade. Every man’s soul is believed to have been linked to a star. At the time of death, a man’s soul is said to return to its star only if good. Bu the soul for a bad soul had to be reincarnated for a second try in the world (John 36). These correlations and beliefs are currently seen as mere myths. However, similarities to real life in the belief that the human body is composed of hands and limbs. The human form is also believed to have eyes and vision and has purposes of hearing and seeing (Marsilio 29). Chora as described by Plato is referred to as the third kind. This is a hard notion to comprehend as it deals with forms and the imitations of the various forms. Various analogies are used by the author to explain of forms and third imitations (Sarah 73). The various analogies employed include a gold lump, a mother and a father coming together to produce offspring, a plastic, and a type of ointment to explain the neutrality of various fragrances (Marsilio 33). The receptacle is said by the author to convey the solution to the problem, since at one time fire becomes air, air becomes water and so forth “transmitting their becoming to one another in a cycle, so it seems” (John 43). These uses of forms that keep altering their characteristics in the Chora show how subjects and other forms in the universe are temporary. Thus the receptacle is offered as the solution of a substrum that is enduring even though it takes on different characterisation (Sarah 80). The Chora serves to explain the role that air plays in the universe since air in its form is believed to avoid the creation of a vacuum in the normal universe. Thus Plato goes on to show his expert understanding of metaphysics in employing the receptacle as the third part of his Timaeus (Marsilio 49). How does health or morality play a role in understanding our place in the Cosmos in the Timaeus? This is where in would like to shift my attention to the latter part of this essay. The human body is believed to have been created about of the remnants of the souls of the heavenly bodies. This gives a clue as to the origin of human imperfection and the diseases that afflict man (John 45). We are of lower grade as compared to the heavenly being and our destiny is to live like that on this earth until the day we die. In today’s time people believe that death is a time for the sol and this resembles the Timaeus belief that when a good person dies they go back to their companion star. This signified leaving the impure form and entering into a pure form of life (Marsilio 57). Mankind is of immoral nature as moral nature so still abides in him. The stars above and other heavenly bodies are made of pure forms by the Craftsman. Currently ours scientists and researchers claim that the stars and the sun are composed of natural sources of energy and this can be related to Plato’s Timaeus that claims that the world is created from a pure soul. References John Sallis. Chorology: On Beginning in Platos Timaeus. Indiana University Press: United States, 1999. Print. Sarah Broadie. Nature and Divinity in Platos Timaeus. Cambridge University Press: United Kingdom, 2011. Print. Marsilio Ficino. All Things Natural: Ficino on Platos Timaeus. M-Y Books Distribution: United Kingdom, 2010. Print. Read More