Nature and Divinity in Plato's Timaeus

by Broadie, Sarah

• ISBN13: 9781107012066
• ISBN10: 1107012066
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-12-29
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. viii
What lies ahead	p. 1
The separateness of the Demiurge	p. 7
Paradigms and epistemic possibilities	p. 27
The metaphysics of the paradigm	p. 60
Immortal intellect under mortal conditions	p. 84
The Timaeus-Critias complex	p. 115
The genesis of the four elements	p. 173
Divine and natural causation	p. 243
In conclusion	p. 278
Appendix on 'parts of the paradigm'	p. 284
References	p. 286
General index	p. 293
Index locorum	p. 296
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.