Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 518 pages
- Published by: Cornell University Press
- Edition: 1st Edition December 30, 2005
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 9058675068
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-9058675064
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Book Dimensions:
9.3 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
- Weighs: 2.2 pounds
Product Description
In Raphael’s celebrated "School of Athens", Plato takes the central position holding in his hand one book, the Timaeus. For centuries the conception of Platonic philosophy has been mainly determined by reading and interpreting this particular dialogue. In the Timaeus, Plato offers a "likely account" of the generation of the world. This world is a living organism produced by a divine Maker as an image of an eternal intelligible paradigm in a "receptacle." The world is thus the product of intelligent design for the best possible outcome.
The Demiurge composes the bodily structure of the universe and the soul governing it. But he delegates the production of the mortal human animals to the celestial or lower gods, after having made the immortal rational soul. These inferior demiurges frame the human body and locate in it the different parts of the mortal soul with their respective desires and passions. The final section of the dialogue deals with the diseases of body and soul and their therapy. Using for his exposition a mythical narrative, Plato nevertheless attempts to offer a rational explanation of the most diverse physical and biological phenomena, exploiting all scientific knowledge available to him at that time.
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