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@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ History and Theory in the Republic,” History and Theory
(The Hagues Mouton & Co., 1962), II, 1, pp. 1-16.
-3
+
volumes, 9 in which Popper wrote, somewhat angrily, that
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ Both of these authors make slight reference to the
Timaeug while discussing Plato's “Political Philosophy.”
-4
+
whether Plato has a philosophy of history, and, aithough
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ that the Timaeus recapitulates some doctrines of the
Republic, give the Timaeus a central importance in Plato®s
-11
+
reflections on society. Only much later in history do we
find divisions of thought about society into the academic
disciplines called Political Philosophy, Sociology,
@@ -569,7 +569,7 @@ his early works, Plato reasoned to the conclusion that
society is based on an eternal model, and in his later
-15
+
works he reasoned that society also shares in a temporal .
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@ reason of “operationalizing” its terms; i.e., describing
the operations through which the investigator has gone
-16
+
in the process of reaching his conciusions. 14
@@ -645,7 +645,7 @@ reas, 1 e
vol. II, no. 7 (University o cago
-17
+
into a new unity, and that this new unity of themes places
society on a basis different from the one it received in
the earlier dialogues. Then the chapters devoted to the
@@ -683,7 +683,7 @@ towards clarification. Since Plato investigates the meaning
of time, eternity, and image together in his effort to
-18
+
describe the basis of the best form of society, it is
@@ -723,7 +723,7 @@ in this field and some of their most representative
views.
-19
+
chronological order. That is, it will be demonstrated that
the Timaeus is in fact the last completed work we have
from the pen of Plato, since the Critias is unfinished and
@@ -764,7 +764,7 @@ by tracing the development of these themes through the
late dialogues. It is therefore not appropriate to call
-20
+
this chapter only an internal or interpretative argument
@@ -809,7 +809,7 @@ draw on the original Greek sources only insofar as there
are controversial points of grammar, and that English
-21
+
translations are used throughout.
The writer realizes that this study concerns only a
@@ -843,7 +843,7 @@ them throughout his later years, finally arrived at a
reformulation of the doctrines of the middle years.
-22
+
In his late reformulation, the temporality of the Forms
takes on new meaning.
@@ -873,7 +873,7 @@ special cases but as points of departure. He retains the
old in the new.
-23
+
CHAPTER IT
THE ORDER OF THE DIALOGUES
@@ -910,7 +910,7 @@ It should be stated at the outset that one cannot
simply assume that a dialogue which was composed later
-24
+
than another is therefore necessarily a more mature work.
@@ -951,7 +951,7 @@ do this without reference to non-interpretative criteria.
‘But, in this way, so many different postulates would ensue
-25
+
that it would become impossible for scholars to reach any
agreement among themselves. This in fact is what happened
when doctrinal criteria alone were used, and it resulted
@@ -988,7 +988,7 @@ order of the dialogues can be established, without
reference to an interpretation of Piato's thought. It will
-26
+
be shown that all of these sources lead to the conclusion
that there is a group of dialogues which are later than
others, and that the Timaeus is the latest of this group.
@@ -1078,7 +1078,7 @@ terse history of the Timaeus in the middle ages. Beginning
2 ¥F.M. Cornford, Plato's Cosmology, p. viii.
-28
+
with the fact that Plato's Timaeus deeply influenced
@@ -1127,7 +1127,7 @@ Culture (3vols.; New York: Oxford University Press,
> Ibid., p. 79.
-29
+
Immediately after Schleiermacher's view became
known, there followed a period during which the philological investigation of every last minute hypothesis of
@@ -1167,7 +1167,7 @@ T Jaeger, Op, cite, p. 79.
5 tpad., p. 80.
-30
+
II The Stylistic Controversy |
T. Gomperz presents an entire chapter on the question
@@ -1206,7 +1206,7 @@ it was Schleiermacher who first attempted to find his own
10 Ipad., pe 275.
-31
+
way out of this myriad of opinions. By viewing Plato's
doctrine developmentally, and, starting with Aristotle's
guarantees as to certain authentic passages and chronologies, he set about constructing an orderly arrangement of
@@ -1243,7 +1243,7 @@ But these are not final criteria. Gomperz asks "...is not
15 Ipaa., pp. 279, 283.
-32
+
an author's ‘advance,’ his progress towards perfection
the surest criterion for the chronological arrangement of
his works"? He answers his own question in the affirmative,
@@ -1288,7 +1288,7 @@ The determination of the chronologically separate
17 Ibid., p. 286.
-33
+
groups and the distribution among these groups
@@ -1332,7 +1332,7 @@ of doctrine and the actual composition of the Jimacus seem
~ Ibid., p. 287. 19 Jaeger, loce cit.
-34
+
to be very late, according to the sources available to us.
@@ -1370,7 +1370,7 @@ was composed late. These are the two sides or halves of the
ks
-35
+
argument which we are following in the attempt to verify
our hypothesis. On the one hand, if the dialogue was
written late, we have probable grounds to infer that ite
@@ -1404,7 +1404,7 @@ which caused a renaissance of Platonic scholarship. Later,
llth ed., Vol. XXI, pp. 808-824.
-36
+
C.F. Hermann's statement that the gradual development of
@@ -1438,7 +1438,7 @@ agreement of the Ancients with his own view, Campbell
21 Ipid., p. 810.
-37
+
‘concluded that the Laws is probably the last of Plato's
@@ -1488,7 +1488,7 @@ knowledge of the relation of style to the content which
23 Ip4a.
-38
+
is expressed by language. To avoid confusion, it is
necessary to define certain terms as they are employed in
this study. By stylistic criteria, I mean the use made by
@@ -1515,7 +1515,7 @@ passage reads more smoothly because of the presence of a
number of clausulae. Thus objections to the use of stylometric scholarship need not carry equal weight if referred |
-39
+
to stylistic scholarship. It would be impossible, for
example, to put words of the Laws into a computer and
@@ -1644,7 +1644,7 @@ ed.;3 Aa print.; New York: Meridian Books, Inc., 1959),
(Pe 436.
-42
+
4, periodic versus poetic style-0
He says, in addition, that the last dialogue which bears
@@ -1671,7 +1671,7 @@ centrally in that endeavor, whereas the later dialogues do
30 A.E. Taylor, Commentary, pe 4.
-31
+
Constantin Ritter, The Essence of Plato's
@@ -1687,7 +1687,7 @@ Logig (New York: Longmans, rooey.
& Co., Ltd., 1914), Part I, p. 212.
-43
+
80 with less and less emphasis on drama and on Socrates’
interlocutory role. On this basis Burnet too concludes
that the Timaeus is the work of Plato's old age, but
@@ -1731,7 +1731,7 @@ Op. cit., pe sO.
Platon (Munich: 1910), p. 181.
-44
+
But Cornford, like Burnet and unlike A.E. taylor, makes
little mention of the whole matter of stylistic dating.
He assumes the results of the stylists but prefers to place
@@ -1769,7 +1769,7 @@ works.-? It 18 interesting to observe that when Zeller
39 tpid., pp. 29, 30.
-45
+
challenged Ritter to try the stylistic methods on a 7
modern writer's works, whose chronology could be independantty verified, Ritter was able to arrive at the correct
chronology of the works of Goethe, 40
@@ -1854,7 +1854,7 @@ stylistic analyses and as parts of such analyses. They
cannot be said to be purely mechanical, nor are they wholly
-47
+
objective, but their use by what Ritter calls "trained
observers" has led to a remarkably wide and detailed
agreement on the part of scholars to the effect that the
@@ -1936,7 +1936,7 @@ a sister, Potone, whose son, Speusippus was therefore
pp. 48-64.
-49
+
Plato's nephew as well as successor as head of the
Academy. Plato was the youngest child in the family. *?
@@ -1973,7 +1973,7 @@ Gomperz it was Anniceris (Gomperz, op. cit., p. 261).
46 Gomperz, op, cit., p. 261.
-50
+
off Sicily. 47
@@ -2012,7 +2012,7 @@ sold into slavery at the island of Aegina but was soon
49 Ipta., p. 23. © Abia.
-51
+
ransomed, His benefactor refused reimbursement, so Plato
took the sum and applied it to the purchase of a plot of
ground in the gardens of Akademos, where the founding and
@@ -2045,7 +2045,7 @@ life he was mentally alert and active and enjoyed the honour
53 Ipid., pe 26.
-52
+
and respect conferred upon him by his circle of disciples."
By accepting the authenticity of the Seventh Letter,
Ritter is able to conclude that the Parmenides and the
@@ -2091,7 +2091,7 @@ uber Platon (Stutheeres 1888 » pp. 88 ff,
()
-53
+
the fact is that we can only determine the influence of |
Socrates by examining Plato's thought. It is frequently
asserted that Plato wrote in the dialogue form because he
@@ -2137,7 +2137,7 @@ The University Press, 1932).
L a
-54
+
Letters. He cites a number of ancients who regarded the i
whole collection of Plato's letters as authentic, including
Diogenes Laertius, Plutarch, Lucian, Cicero, and Aristophanes the grammarian of Alexandria.o? Although Jowett 58
@@ -2175,7 +2175,7 @@ Platonicis (Utrecht: 1864), in Harvard, Op, cit., Pp. 61.
61 Field, op, git., p. 16.
-55
+
Thus, there are few scholars today who would reject
all the letters, although some scholars reject some of then,
as we shall see. But in the main, the wave of scepticism
@@ -2216,7 +2216,7 @@ presence of these devices of style, one could, if so
63 Ibid., pp. 86-96.
-56
+
inclined, make tables and count the frequency with which
these mannerisms occurred. But the deeper point is that
the most reputable Platonic scholars were able to agree
@@ -2259,7 +2259,7 @@ From all of these probabilities, Harward concludes that the
67 Harward, op, cit., p. 192.
-57
+
letter was composed after the Sicilian journeys and before :
the Laws. This places the letters in a setting which is
either immediately before or contemporaneous with the
@@ -2301,7 +2301,7 @@ regime (325 c). Plato notes sadly that the older he gets
the more he realizes the extreme difficulty of handling
-58
+
public matters (325 a). He noticed that not only the
written but the unwritten laws were extremely inflexible
and therefore hard to mold. As a matter of fact, those in
@@ -2332,7 +2332,7 @@ prove to himself that he does no dishonor to philosophy by
inaction (329 a). However, Dionysius does not devote himself to philosophy. Moreover, Dion is perceived as a
-59
+
threat and is expelled from the court. Plato becomes a
prisoner of the court (329 ced). Dionysius flatters Plato,
but Plato is aware that it is his status and not his
@@ -2365,7 +2365,7 @@ strong, but the worst crime is comitted: Dionysius
refuses (335 e).
-60
+
- Thus the second venture ends worse than the first,
due to a "fiendish" ignorance of matters of the soul and
of philosophy on the part of Dionysius (336 bec).
@@ -2401,7 +2401,7 @@ wherein philosophy is "imparted" so that the student will
_gsee a “marvellous road" open before him (340 b,c). Here
-61
+
we have a recapitulation of some of the thoughts Plato
@@ -2440,7 +2440,7 @@ after an arduous preliminary regimen in the company of
\.
-62
+
teachers who have been so inflamed (341 d,e).
@@ -2471,7 +2471,7 @@ the acquisition of it, but the process in which, so to
speak, philosophy happens.
-63
+
‘soul, and with all that is done or suffered (342 e). :
Plato distrusts the fixity and unchangeable character
@@ -2507,7 +2507,7 @@ for the truth is such that he will not entrust it to
69 See the Cave Allegory of the Republic 507. F
-64
+
vehicles. That which is inexpressibly beautiful should not
be dragged down in homely expression. The inner harmony of
philosophy will not mix with the discordant decadence of
@@ -2542,7 +2542,7 @@ He sends for help to Archytas (350). A trireme of
_thirty oars is sent, with Lamiskos, a Pythagorean, in
-65
+
command. Plato is taken to Dion, who immediately plots
revenge against Dionysius II. This time, Plato pleads not
to be included, because of his advanced age, and because
@@ -2588,7 +2588,7 @@ us to expect that the Timaeus will reveal the influence of
_Plato's Sicilian experiences.
-66
+
Thus, there is confirmatory evidence to be derived
@@ -2632,7 +2632,7 @@ Timaeus as a late work. It now needs to be demonstrated
ithat the doctrine of the Timaeus is a late doctrine.
-67
+
Thereafter, it will be shown that in the doctrine of the
@@ -2680,7 +2680,7 @@ edition.
Ln
-68
+
the Timaeus. Cornford's hypothesis that Plato stopped in
@@ -2692,7 +2692,7 @@ the middle of the Critias in order to complete the Laws is
especially attractive.
-69
+
CHAPTER III
@@ -2740,7 +2740,7 @@ philosophy will be made by selecting three themes which
Plato discusses together in the Timaeus, and that no
-70
+
distortion will be introduced by tracing these themes as
Plato develops them in the dialogues which intervene
@@ -2784,7 +2784,7 @@ dialogues, one ought to interpose between the Republic
and the "late" dislogues, the Parmenides and the Theatetus,
-71
+
and their respective doctrines, insofar as they discuss
the themes in question.
@@ -2830,7 +2830,7 @@ found to change as the sequence of dialogues approaches the
Le
-72
+
Timaeus. For this reason, I prefer to call them themes and ;
@@ -2871,7 +2871,7 @@ height in the Timaeus. The reader is asked to judge for
himself in what follows whether this claim is credible.
-73
+
The Republic
@@ -2907,7 +2907,7 @@ Here in the opening passages of Book II, Plato tells
us that one encounters difficulty in attempting to reveal
-74
+
those truths which have been seen by one's excellent eyesight, to those with less than perfect vision. Images of
truth are, for such men, dangerous, and should be avoided.
@@ -2937,7 +2937,7 @@ deformity (401 b)." Physicians, like judges, must cure by
use of mind, and "a virtuous nature, educated by time, will
-75
+
acquire a knowledge of both virtue and vice (409 e)."
@@ -2969,7 +2969,7 @@ others not mentioned (423 e)." For that reason, there is
no need to legislate about particulars, since these will
-76
+
flow from the character of the institutions (425 c).
In order to legislate about the "greatest and noblest"
@@ -3052,7 +3052,7 @@ visions of a more perfect eye to those with less than
Toes
-78
+
perfect vision. However, the method of employing images
aoes reveal a “shadow” of Justice, and therefore, it is
useful (443 c). So, on this basis he traces out the
@@ -3079,7 +3079,7 @@ need the philosopher-king? Because it is he who sees the
Forms in their direct "Beauty" (476 b) and he knows the
-19
+
difference between knowledge of something and knowledge of :
nothing. When one knows, he knows something, and this is
true knowledge. When one knows nothing, he is in "ignore
@@ -3113,7 +3113,7 @@ Justice, these men do not know how sweet philosophy is.
LL
-80
+
Few know this (496 c). For this reason, there has never
@@ -3161,7 +3161,7 @@ not the Sophist, who dwells in the realm of opinion and
changing imagery. At present, we have no philosopher-king,
-81
+
but, since he is not impossible, he may be sought in
@@ -3211,7 +3211,7 @@ he warns his hearers to be on guard lest he render a false
account, although he has no intention of deceit (506 e).
-82
+
What follows is an extended metaphor concerring
@@ -3254,7 +3254,7 @@ the lowest to the highest of knowledge, we first have
shadows, then the objects which cast the shadows, themselves
-83
+
only images of the Forms. Then, the understanding captures .
images of the Forms and finally, reason sees the Form (515e).
@@ -3288,7 +3288,7 @@ describes the visible universe and the starry heaven as
the most beautiful and perfect of all visible things (on
-84
+
this basis the guardians are to be instructed in geometry
and astronomy) he says that these sciences are not to be
learned for their own sake, but because they contain
@@ -3321,7 +3321,7 @@ not the least of which is the new validity which images
have been given. It is also important to stress the
-85
+
relativity of images to the respective truths which they
reveal, because it is just this function of revealing the
@@ -3358,7 +3358,7 @@ definite sequence. One might extract here a whole political
_philosophy of history in the Pythagorean idiom, but it can |
-86
+
be shown by a discussion of the Timaeus, that a philosophy
of political forms and their temporal sequence along
Pythagorean lines is far from the sort of treatment Plato
@@ -3390,7 +3390,7 @@ copies, the carpenter copies, but the idea of the bed is
ie
-87
+
original and is not a copy of any thing or of any idea.
Thus, the doctrine of the Republic, insofar as it
@@ -3457,7 +3457,7 @@ for the past, and one for the future. Here is the circular
image of time again, in which the revolutions of the
-89
+
spheres of the heavens is taken to be the meaning of time: /
that is, the spinning of the spheres is the motion we call
time. Notice, however, that here in the Republic, time
@@ -3494,7 +3494,7 @@ made to forget this experience by imbibing the waters of
ES
-90
+
forgetfulness. In this way, a mythical answer is made to
the problem of the difficulty of remembering the realm of
Forms, the true home of the soul. Since the soul has been
@@ -3528,7 +3528,7 @@ have less than perfect vision. This forces him who has seen
ithe Form of Justice to resort to images and copies of the
-91
+
Form of Justice, which, unfortunately results ina .
Mutilation of the truth of the Form. We are forced to rely
@@ -3564,7 +3564,7 @@ and in what way the meaning of these themes in themselves
is changed. As we shall see, the eternal realm of the Forms
-92
+
and the relation of this realm to the realm of visible
things, as described in the Republic, is brought face to
face with some sharp criticisms, in the light of which
@@ -3604,7 +3604,7 @@ whether a given proposition is true or false and then,
ee
-93
+
first assumes the truth and then the falsity of the
proposition in question, which he follows with a demonstrae
tion of the logical consequences of these assumptions. If
@@ -3638,7 +3638,7 @@ the alleged absurdities which are said to flow from the
tes
-94
+
assertion of the existence of the One. The basis for this
assertion of absurdity is the statement that the many
would have to be both like and unlike, and that therefore
@@ -3714,7 +3714,7 @@ The first ob jection Parmenides offers to this view is
the problem of accounting for the way in which a Form could
-96
+
be said to be in the many and yet remain one Forn. For, .
if the Form were in the many, it would seem to be divided
among them, and hence, not one Form, but many. Nor is it
@@ -3749,7 +3749,7 @@ the Ideas by resemblance has to be given up, and some
other mode of participation has to be devised" (133 a).
-97
+
These are not even the gravest objections which can
be raised against the theory of the Forms. Even worse
@@ -3784,7 +3784,7 @@ more truth to be found, if, after affirming the hypothesis
,of separated realms and inapecting its logical results,
-98
+
the hypothesis is also denied, and the results of this
@@ -3823,7 +3823,7 @@ nor in motion, is neither great nor small, limited not
(unlimited, equal or unequal. The relation of the One and
-99
+
time is set forth as follows:
The One cannot be older, or younger, or the same age
@@ -3868,7 +3868,7 @@ between the unreachably eternal and the irrevocably temporal, a gap which 1s now
te
-100
+
present an obstacle to intelligent thought. The One,
therefore, cannot be in a completely separated eternal
realm. It must somehow be in some sort of relation to the
@@ -3903,7 +3903,7 @@ age as the Other and the Others (153 e). And, in the same
ls
-101
+
way, it is not older, younger, or the same age as the
Other or the Others (154 a).
@@ -3942,7 +3942,7 @@ to discuss the One intelligently.
Hypothesis IIA interposes another method by which
-102
+
the One can be intelligently discussed. The One cannot be
the bare unity of hypothesis I nor the divided unity of
hypothesis II. Hypothesis IIA tries to see whether one can
@@ -3975,7 +3975,7 @@ called not-time. Plato does not use this term. He calls it
_& "queer instant" and says that the divided One of
-103
+
hypothesis II leads to the conclusion of contradictory :
predicates, and that these cannot be simultaneously
asserted (157 a). But if they cannot be asserted at the
@@ -4009,7 +4009,7 @@ the contradictory predicate is asserted of the third
iinstant, at the point of the second instant, nothing can
-104
+
be asserted, and we are back to hypothesis I where we can
neither affirm nor deny anything of the One. However, this
philosophical gymnastic has not been unfruitful. We know
@@ -4043,7 +4043,7 @@ The fourth hypothesis considers the relation of the
(One to Others, that 1s, each part, as a One, has some of
-105
+
the properties of the Other insofar as it is a part. The
fifth hypothesis considers the need to understand how the
One, the parts, and the Others limit each other. (This
@@ -4075,7 +4075,7 @@ precision or clarity.
However, for the purposes of this study, an important,
-106
+
conclusion has been stated. We saw in hypothesis IIA,
that it is not possible to regard time as a series of
instants strung out along an imaginary line, and that the
@@ -4128,7 +4128,7 @@ separated from the realm of things, the Theatetus inquires
,into the basis of knowledge from the other direction,
-107
+
namely, it focuses on the world of things and seeks the :
basis for speaking of it intelligently and knowingly.
@@ -4164,7 +4164,7 @@ these philosophers.
Socrates then reaches the conclusion that whatever
-108
+
appears can only be while it is appearing. He remarks
@@ -4198,7 +4198,7 @@ of eternity, image, and time which we are pursuing is,
ibriefly, this; perception deals with appearance and the
-109
+
world of appearance is a fluxion in which all things are
@@ -4233,7 +4233,7 @@ _that says it is white and no white and the faculty that
J
-110
+
says it is and is not, surely these cannot be the same
faculty.
@@ -4272,7 +4272,7 @@ judgments necessarily true? We dismissed Protagoras because
tes
-111
+
he made all perceptions infallible: are we to say we have
gone beyond his position only to assert that all judgments
are infallible (187 a). |
@@ -4307,7 +4307,7 @@ past perceptions with present perceptions, past knowledge .
.with present knowledge, and each of these may be faulty
-112
+
both by reason of faulty wax, varying strengths of impres- 7
sion, or mismatching. Even Theatetus complains of the
complexity. In addition, we have again only pushed the
@@ -4339,7 +4339,7 @@ there is a temporal emphasis to be placed on the acts of
knowledge, for, in a sense, knowing is relearning what we
-113
+
‘knew before (198 e). Yet, if we ask whether some of these
recollections might not also be false, we see that the
@@ -4386,7 +4386,7 @@ elements or the whole are more or less knowable than each
Other, are playing with us. We can know the elements, as
-114
+
parts, and therefore, an opinion with an account is
knowledge.
@@ -4418,7 +4418,7 @@ The conclusion, on the surface, is that we know, but cannot
define what knowledge is. Actually, we have said several
-115
+
‘things about what it is not, and therefore Theatetus has
made progress along the “long way" which is required for
@@ -4461,7 +4461,7 @@ whose job it is to escape the transient shadows of perception in a flight to ete
1 :
-116
+
is the task of mind to discern the right temporal order of
ita ingredients, so to speak. However, even after all
these things have been done, we still do not have a
@@ -4495,7 +4495,7 @@ whole dialogue by using a method which is unavailable to
_the men of flux, namely, the method of division, which
-117
+
seemed to the men of flux to presume knowledge, not to
@@ -4534,7 +4534,7 @@ what ta found not to pertain to the subject nevertheless
reveals something about the subject (221 b). If the
-118
+
division is not well made, the remainder will contain too
much, that is, the definition will remain too vague. Only
by carefully determining what something is not can one
@@ -4567,7 +4567,7 @@ and reality cannot be the same, yet the question is, how
do they differ. This question might be called the most
-119
+
important question in all of Plato's dialogues so far. The —
definition of the Sophist, then, is a case in point: we
are to investigate this partisuien gentleman, as we
@@ -4598,7 +4598,7 @@ Plato's most crucial discussion of the meaning of the word
image is begun.
-120
+
Surely, the Stranger asserts, we cannot just say
that what ia, is not. Yet we say “notebeing" as if it were
@@ -4629,7 +4629,7 @@ meanings, because they spoke in myths, among which he
classes the One and the Many (242 e), the myths of strife
-121
+
and peace, the three principles at war in the soul, the
moist and the dry, and includes in this group the Ionian
and Sicilian explanations in mythical garb (242 da). He
@@ -4666,7 +4666,7 @@ the doctrine for which this dialogue is noted, the doctrine
of notebeing. It must be shown how justly this doctrine may
-122
+
be said to constitute an advance, by comparing and
@@ -4700,7 +4700,7 @@ include motion under being, and that which is moved" (249b).
As we shall see, this is an important anticipation
-123
+
of the Timaeus. And yet, if all things are in motion, there
can be no sameness or permanence or relation to the same.
The philosopher must be equally deaf to those who say all
@@ -4733,7 +4733,7 @@ notes go with certain others. Similarly, he who develops
the art which knows which of the forms go with which other
-124
+
forms, is truly the philosopher, and the art of division
is his art and his alone.
@@ -4778,7 +4778,7 @@ original in proportion, and the others, which are fantasies
and distortions. If the art of philosophical division will
-125
+
be applied to images, the Sophist will be deprived of his
last refuge (264 e).
@@ -4823,7 +4823,7 @@ an example of fantasies, we have shadows caused by things
interrupting firelight, as in the analogy of the cave.
-126
+
Human images can be seen in those genuine imitations which
preserve the proportions of the originals, as for example
@@ -4856,7 +4856,7 @@ Just as we have advanced from a faulty conception of being
through a notion of notebeing, so we have advanced from a
-127
+
faulty notion of the realm of the Forms through notions
of what the Forms are not. Of time, we are told little in
an explicit way. But one should notice that the Parmenidean
@@ -4890,7 +4890,7 @@ the implication that an empirical acquaintance with classes
of objects is necessary for the process of right division.
-128
+
the dialogue proceeds with the method of dividing
until it reaches the conclusion that the Statesman is he
@@ -4922,7 +4922,7 @@ It 4s the only prerogative of divine things to be
steadfast and abiding, but the universe, since it partakes
-129
+
of the bodily, cannot enjoy this rank. However, as far as
possible, it will have uniform rotation (269 e), and
rotation in reverse is at least in a uniform direction,
@@ -4955,7 +4955,7 @@ there were no political constitutions and no personal
possession of wives or children, since all men rose up
-130
+
fresh out of the earth with no memories. (This is the
analogue of the "waters of forgetfulness" in the myth of
Er). Neither did they need clothing or beds but disported
@@ -4989,7 +4989,7 @@ in the universe, all things have to change, and, in
,particular, a new law of birth and nurture is now binding
-131
+
on all creatures (274 8). Since we do not have this
guardianship of the god to follow, but, “imitating the
universe and following it through all time, we live and
@@ -5024,7 +5024,7 @@ mature character of the Statesman, since it resembles the
doctrine of bodily imperfection, an early doctrine. However,
-132
+
it 48 a children's tale, and, as we shall see, Plato will
not allow it to pass without criticism. The most important
feature, for our purposes, is the intimacy with which the
@@ -5061,7 +5061,7 @@ The Stranger admits that it is difficult to explain
anything without the use of examples, and he is now in the
-133
+
strange predicament of using examples to explain his
doctrine of examples (277 d)! The familiar pedagogical
device of the alphabet is again resuscitated, and the use
@@ -5092,7 +5092,7 @@ which the men of flux advanced. But, instead of confronting
this objection head-on, the Stranger attacks it from
-134
+
another direction; through the question of relative
measure, of excess and of defect.
@@ -5124,7 +5124,7 @@ real differences between some things which therefore have
no affinity for one another (285 a,b,c). It is necessary
-135
+
to divide according to real classes, not merely to divide
every item from every other. This is another recapitulation
of the Sophist: only some forms communicate with each
@@ -5172,7 +5172,7 @@ When he says that there are no images of being, he seems to
(Mean, that there are no sensory images for the sort of
-136
+
pure unmixed being which Parmenides described. But we have —
already seen another sort of being in the Sophist. The
lack of images, then, pertains to the classes of being,
@@ -5208,7 +5208,7 @@ the fabric of the state, some forming the warp and some
_ forming the woof. This training program "first unites that
-137
+
element in their soul which is eternal, by a divine bond,
since it is akin to the divine. After this divine bond, it
will in turn unite their animal nature by human bonds"
@@ -5244,7 +5244,7 @@ The Myth of Kronos is put between it and the next attempt,
Ls
-138
+
‘and ita results are that the Statesman must have a real
@@ -5285,7 +5285,7 @@ anachronistic, for the dialogue begins with a discussion of
the relative merits of pleasure and wisdom (11 a), subjects
-139
+
discussed in great detail in the Republic. But it soon
becomes apparent that the discussion will be anything but
a simple repetition. For example, when Socrates asks
@@ -5321,7 +5321,7 @@ everyone has agreed to dismiss this as childish (14 d).
is
-140
+
Here the initial impression of anachronism fades
@@ -5360,7 +5360,7 @@ To put the matter in our own way, we should say that
(the statement "there are many pleasures, each of which
-144
+
shares in the idea of Pleasure" involves all of the
aifficulties which Plato has been examining in the
Parmenides, the Sophist, and the Statesman. In short, we
@@ -5396,7 +5396,7 @@ method, he will perfect it further, and greater insight
reached. It is no longer possible to begin with the simple
-142
+
separation of the One and the Many, because the method
of division has gone beyond this level of simplicity.
@@ -5437,7 +5437,7 @@ to each other without regard to the kinds of relations
these elements must have to be intelligible, nor the
-143
+
simple recitation of the name we give to them to create
the appearance of their simple unity.
@@ -5480,7 +5480,7 @@ In any event, the problem now is not merely to
assert the unity and the infinity of number, or pleasure,
-144
+
or wisdom, but to ascertain the kinds of each, and, by
@@ -5510,7 +5510,7 @@ turn out to be the cause of the three, and, in that case,
will be discussed later.
-145
+
When we say something is hotter or colder, we make :
& comparison, and such comparisons are always relative,
@@ -5552,7 +5552,7 @@ saying is blasphemy; but the other assertion, that
mind orders all things, is worthy of the respect of
-146
+
the world, and of the sun, and of the moon, and
@@ -5590,7 +5590,7 @@ unlimited, limited, mixture and cause. It is not said
le
-147
+
which elements correspond to which elements, but it is
clear that mind corresponds to fire, both in us and in the
universe, It goes without too much comment that this
@@ -5622,7 +5622,7 @@ Plato himself does not even attempt an exhaustive treatment
What is significant for our purposes is the treatment of
-148
+
memory and perception. We saw in the Sophist and the
Statesman that certain images could be false while others
could be true. In the realm of feeling, the feelings
@@ -5658,7 +5658,7 @@ of the gradual growth of Plato's thought through the late
tee
-149
+
group, is striking, for it asserts unequivocally that .
neither mind and wisdom nor pleasure and pain are simply
superior to one another: there must be mixture. Formerly,
@@ -5694,7 +5694,7 @@ is abandoned as "childish" and as an "old argument," which,
it is agreed, no longer captures philosophic interest.
-150
+
‘The isolated eternality of the forms, modified by the
Sophist and the Statesman, is further modified by the
@@ -5732,7 +5732,7 @@ like copies of them in the Republic's cave, we saw the
initial doctrine of the Forms of the middle dialogues
-151
+
subjected to the criticism of the Parmenides. There we are |
told that the naive view of the Forms as separated from
what appears to us leads to logically untenable positions,
@@ -5773,7 +5773,7 @@ the realm of Forms to be eternally separated from the
world of moving images, Plato comes to assert that moving
-152
+
images have a reality which is in no way to be despised or |
neglected in favor of a naively-viewed eternity. The world
of time and the moving images in it cannot be intelligently
@@ -5847,7 +5847,7 @@ tions of the dialogue reveal. The introductory remarks
>
-154
+
“found in the Timaeus set the foundations, not only for
Plato's later philosophy of time but also for the function-~
al significance this philosophy has in relation to Plato's
@@ -5885,7 +5885,7 @@ in the Peloponnesian War; and we note that Socrates is now
2 Cornford, Plato's Cosmology, p. 2.
-155
+
described as a very old man. One might almost conclude
from this cast alone that questions about the morality of
ancient Athenian politics will be discussed.
@@ -5915,7 +5915,7 @@ occupational specialization of three classes of citizens,
Dialogen Platos, p. rey
-156
+
‘who do not mix the functions of the others into their own
allotted lives, just as the Forms on which their respective
perfections are based do not mix or combine.
@@ -5953,7 +5953,7 @@ in the Republic) but he feels now that the good imitator
(there are none such in the Republic) should be familiar
-157
+
with the surroundings which he is going to imitate (19e).
On the surface, this statement pertains to the history of
ancient Athens; allegorically, it says that Socrates'
@@ -5989,7 +5989,7 @@ than Solon's own words, since Solon himself is said to
have told the story to Critias' grandfather. The story had
-158
+
been forgotten through lapse of time and the destruction of
human lives by a catastrophe (20e).
@@ -6021,7 +6021,7 @@ for Athena (21e). Solon was of course interested to hear
about Athenian antiquity, and recounted for the Egyptians
-159
+
the venerable legends with which he was familiar.
But the Egyptian priest sighs with benigh patience,
@@ -6061,7 +6061,7 @@ is, the conditions of the best society, it delivers a
- fatal blow to the Socratic procedure of questioning
-160
+
contemporaries. There are some things about which
contemporaries have no knowledge, and it is necessary to
know these things in order to describe the best society.
@@ -6092,7 +6092,7 @@ involved.
Solon, however, does not understand the appellation
-161
+
“children, " and inquires what the priest means when he says
that he, Solon, an old man, is a "child." The priest
explains that there are periodic catastrophes due to temporary deviations of the celestial bodies from their regular
@@ -6124,7 +6124,7 @@ the era just before the last catastrophe, and that present
4 Cornford, op, cit., appendix, p. 365.
-162
+
‘Athenians are descended from their seed. (24)
The priest describes the Egyptian caste system of
@@ -6158,7 +6158,7 @@ Atlantis was the staging area for invaders who crossed the
pp. 244 ff.
-163
+
‘Atlantic, perhaps from America. ©
It 4s interesting to forecast the almost exact
@@ -6202,7 +6202,7 @@ material for the discourse of Timaeus. Critias himself says
6 Cornford, op, cit., p. 14.
-164
+
‘he has only approached the main points when he says:
@@ -6250,7 +6250,7 @@ the account forward until he reaches the birth of man.
Critias will start from the origin of man and carry the
-165
+
‘account to the birth of Athens. In this way, the actual
origins of society will be discovered. Interestingly,
no mention is made of the proposed content of the
@@ -6285,7 +6285,7 @@ University).
9 A.E. Taylor, Plato: The Man and His Work, p. 440.
-166
+
‘Statesman, etc. Such a linearization of Plato's philosophy
@@ -6342,7 +6342,7 @@ four levels of knowledge. Thus the meaning of the sentences
Le
-167
+
which open this section of discourse are illuminated by a
@@ -6391,7 +6391,7 @@ be generalized and tested on a cosmological scale. Therefore,
-Timaeus uses the phrase, “concerning the whole ‘heaven’ or
-108
+
‘world’ (not heaven and world)..." (27b), parenthetically
adding that the name can be chosen to suit heaven itself. It
@@ -6435,7 +6435,7 @@ Next comes the often quoted statement “The maker and
‘father of this universe it is a hard task to find, and
-169
+
having found him it would be impossible to declare him to
all mankind" (28c). This statement is absolutely central to
the exposition of the remainder of the dialogue. It asserts
@@ -6468,7 +6468,7 @@ which Socrates was sentenced to death. Plato has already
aid several times that these myths are for children, but,
-170
+
‘evidently, he has underestimated his own age. This relates
directly to the whole purpose of the dialogue, which is
to replace what Plato regards as dangerous fantasies about
@@ -6500,7 +6500,7 @@ maker of the universe clearly looked to the eternal for
his model, and that the contrary supposition "...cannot be
-171
+
spoken without blasphemy..." (29).
Plato is caught between two extreme difficulties: on
@@ -6536,7 +6536,7 @@ The American Catholic Sociological Review, XXII, 2
Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1961), pp. 143 ff.
-172
+
This accounts for the strangely popular grounds on
which the argument (whether the model of the universe is
@@ -6570,7 +6570,7 @@ short, there has already been a slight movement from the
etrictly univocal causality of the best cause, toward some
-173
+
kind of intermediary causation. In this way, Plato continues to pose the whole problem of some sort of mid-ground
between eternity and the realm of becoming. This is confirm~
ed in what follows next.
@@ -6621,7 +6621,7 @@ Must be abiding and unchanging and so far as it
lies in words to be incontrovertible and immovable
-174
+
they must in no wise fall short of this; but
@@ -6680,7 +6680,7 @@ indeed, as essence is to generation, so is truth
to faith (29bec, .T. Taylor).
-175
+
R.G. Bury has:
@@ -6728,7 +6728,7 @@ derivative of his view that the account of becoming is
1 Cornford, op, cit., p. 24.
-176
+
only likely because it is unstable.
Cornford comments that the opening sentence of the
@@ -6763,7 +6763,7 @@ of becoming. Thus, for example, he says that the Sophist
similarly divided the kinds of production in two (265b)
-177
+
‘whereas it is clear that there are several kinds of
production stated theres human and divine, fantasy ad
image, proportional and non-proportional. This is especially
@@ -6808,7 +6808,7 @@ being and that which is always becoming. It seems better
=
-178
+
to state that Plato is here distinguishing that which is
@@ -6849,7 +6849,7 @@ Plato's refusal to speak out what he knows perfectly well.
fhis seems to be only one interpretation of the passage
-179
+
which states clearly that the maker can be found, admittedly
with difficulty, but cannot be revealed. Cornford precludes
the interpretation that the difficulties of communication
@@ -6891,7 +6891,7 @@ interpreted as a new doctrine in which Plato points
,clearly beyond mere myth. This view is clearest in the
-180
+
ending of the passage cited, where Plato says that we must |
see, not mere myth, but a likely myth, just as in the
Theatetus we must have, not only opinion, but right opinion,
@@ -6941,7 +6941,7 @@ But what does the statement that the Timaeus is
'S tIpid., p. 30.
-181
+
poetry mean for Cornford, It means that
eeeinexactness and inconsistency are inherent in
@@ -7019,7 +7019,7 @@ themselves, in this setting, become images. Later, when
London: The Macmillan Company, 1000), p. 00, n. 14.
-185
+
the whole cosmos is termed an image, Cornford's diminution
of imagery will suffer because he has not allowed anything
less than pure being to be called being, and so, whatever
@@ -7050,7 +7050,7 @@ is in part based on his claim that there is little differeme
between the doctrine of the two dialogues. This is a
-184
+
function of two factors; first, Jowett wrote his translations before the stylometrists ushered in the new era of
@@ -7090,7 +7090,7 @@ model, but as exemplar. This translation could lead to the
game difficulty into which Cornford was led, since the
-185
+
word exemplar has inescapably transcendental connotations,
@@ -7123,7 +7123,7 @@ Plato's reference is to the four truths, not of the Republic,
but of the Philebus, where the Good is said to impart
-17
+
purity to the mixture.
@@ -7136,7 +7136,7 @@ purity to the mixture.
'7 Ip4a., p. 17.
-186
+
Bury does not relate the four truths of the Timaeus
to the four divisions of the Philebus, but, instead,
dichotomizes being and becoming, '8 Thus in the last few
@@ -7182,7 +7182,7 @@ applying to it the fundamentals of Whitehead's theory of
18 Bury, "Plato and History," p. 5.
-187
+
time, as set out in the “Concept of Nature.” There are
@@ -7216,7 +7216,7 @@ account because the senses are so dull and because they
19 A.E. Taylor, Commentary, p. 73.
-188
+
can only report what they perceive at a given time, °°
@@ -7274,7 +7274,7 @@ tale," the “best approximation" Timaeus could manage. This
22 tpid.
-189
+
interpretation makes it impossible for Taylor to accept
@@ -7328,7 +7328,7 @@ familiar at once with the sources and the conclusions of
25 Ibid., pp. 11=12,
-190
+
Platonic scholars. Yet Cornford's translation contains the
@@ -7378,7 +7378,7 @@ best. We must accept Plato's statement that the Universe
is an image, and we ought not inflict our interpretations
-191
+
of the earlier Platonic Philosophy on the philosophy Plato
@@ -7428,7 +7428,7 @@ proportional to the image it describes; as reality
is to becoming, so is truth to rational faith.
-192
+
This reading, it seems, restores the whole proportional tone of the passage, which is a carefully balanced
set of proportional propositions, culminating in the statement that reality is to becoming what truth is to a rational
@@ -7457,7 +7457,7 @@ to myth. It cannot be stressed too strongly that the
reality and hence the reliability of images and myths
-193
+
depends on the account given to images in the Sophist
@@ -7539,7 +7539,7 @@ Universe as an image explains the relation of time and
eternity to the best society.
-195
+
CHAPTER V
@@ -7576,7 +7576,7 @@ when he tells us that the father of this Universe is good,
1 Cornford, Plato's Cosmology, p. 31.
-196
+
and hence, not jealous of his perfection, so that "he
desired that all things should come as near as possible to
being like himself" (29e).° The father therefore:
@@ -7623,7 +7623,7 @@ passage would read, "he desired that all things should
come as near as possible to being, like himself."
-197
+
Plato leaves the problem unresolved at this juncture.
He says only that the Universe was framed as perfectly as
@@ -7669,7 +7669,7 @@ the set of discordant motions, the chaos, the material
which the demiurge orders, is an eternally present
-198
+
material, and so the demiurge cannot be simply equated
@@ -7706,7 +7706,7 @@ of all Forms, for this position involved the difficulties
3 A.E. Taylor, Commentary, p. 37.
-199
+
mentioned in the Parmenides. Is it The Form of The Good,
or perhaps the Demiurge Himself? None of these answers
@@ -7754,7 +7754,7 @@ But Plato does not launch immediately into a
+ tp1a., p. 78.
-200
+
description of the One. Instead, he takes the lesson of
@@ -7800,7 +7800,7 @@ Although a radical unity of realms has been introduced,
pp. 29 ff.
-201
+
the structured, leveled unity of these realms must be
spelled out, for the Universe shares in the intelligibility
of 4ts model, which comprehends all the things within it
@@ -7843,7 +7843,7 @@ and therefore it seems to be the outer boundary of the
proportion. This is the arithmetical way of allegorizing
-202
+
the doctrine that proportion is what unifies, just as the
side of the plane forms the outer boundary of its area,
There is no need to dwell on the obvious Pythagorean style
@@ -7874,7 +7874,7 @@ seems to mean that the Universe resembles the eternity of
its model in that those elements which might bring about
-203
+
age and sickness to the eternal would have to be outside ite
@@ -7913,7 +7913,7 @@ eS aS ST TS ES
Infinite Universe (New York: Harper rothers, 1 °
-204
+
contrary, tells us clearly that the perfection of the
model is the paradigm for the perfection of the Universe,
which is a becoming image, so that it is appropriate to
@@ -7944,7 +7944,7 @@ here the impossibility of describing each and every
characteristic of the Universe at the same time and by the
-205
+
same set of words. Plato, like every other writer, cannot
speak simultaneously of every aspect of his vision; it
takes time to describe every feature of what one describes.
@@ -7980,7 +7980,7 @@ Universe is proportional to its model: as the model is the
most perfect model, the sphere is the most perfect shape.
-206
+
To accomplish his stated purpose, Plato describes how the
@@ -8016,7 +8016,7 @@ the process of ordering its discorcant wanderings. It
revolves uniformly within its own limits (34a).
-207
+
In his description of the body of the Universe, it
is important to see that the divisions of the Philebus and
@@ -8091,7 +8091,7 @@ the random which shows itself in our speech...” (34c). The
priority of Soul in perfection is not absolute and total;
-209
+
there are still too many obvious wanderings and deviations
from the orderly to assert that the Soul is prior in every
way.! Plato is all too aware that the Universe cannot be
@@ -8130,7 +8130,7 @@ inconsistent with the details of the reality of the
(Boston: Beacon Press, 19 .
-210
+
Universe. Only on the supposition that Plato is following
@ linear plan of description would it follow that details
are out of place. But if one accepts Plato's approach
@@ -8195,11 +8195,11 @@ the Timaeus, Plato describes how the World-Soul comes to be
10 Inaa., p. 61.
-1
+
! A.E. Taylor, Commentary, p. 128.
-212
+
formed, and how the communication of these Forms is
accomplished in the World-Soul.
@@ -8252,7 +8252,7 @@ simple repetition but proceeds further, so here the
recapitulation of the Sophist doctrine of not-being, on
-213
+
the level of the Forms, i.e., Difference, will not end
Plato's discussion. He means to go beyond this point. Or,
to put the matter differently, Plato will now investigate
@@ -8299,7 +8299,7 @@ expression which is repeated here only to assure an
accurate representation of Cornford's view.
-214
+
name, the sort reserved for the Forms in the Republic,
where all else is mere shadows. In this connection, it
should be recalled that the Sophist distinguished sharply
@@ -8338,7 +8338,7 @@ we were formerly acquainted in the Sophist, namely, the
eternal and the becoming, Plato has now inserted a third.
-215
+
This is a further development of his doctrine of proportion,
of which we saw the first usage in this dialogue in the
composition of the body of the Universe. The sort of
@@ -8378,7 +8378,7 @@ And, in addition, the basis of the former division of the
world into the eternal and the becoming has similarly
-216
+
undergone a radical growth, wherein it will no longer be
possible for Plato to distinguish simply between the eternal and the becoming as separated realms, but the relation
of the eternal to the becoming will have to be described
@@ -8412,7 +8412,7 @@ passages on the motions of the planets will be adequate
from the point of view of contemporary astronomy, so that
-217
+
a detailed commentary on the exact motions of the planets
will be of interest only to those whose taste runs to
collecting the opinions of the ancients and constructing a
@@ -8444,7 +8444,7 @@ intermediate between the ultimate Forms and the body of
the Universe. The fundamental truth is the assertion of
-218
+
proportionality and the harmony of the elements of the
proportions. !> Plato goes on to construct an intricate
allegory of the circles of the Same and of the Different;
@@ -8479,7 +8479,7 @@ es According to T.T. Taylor, loc, cit.
also MacKinnon, "Time in Contemporary Physics," pp. 428-457.
-219
+
Plato next relates the seven motions of the Soul
to the seven dimensions of the body, which is fashioned
@@ -8526,7 +8526,7 @@ and the cycle of good life as a span of ten thousand years.
Here in the Timaeus intelligen life is "ceaseless."
-220
+
But the discourse concerning the World-Soul was not
@@ -8562,7 +8562,7 @@ which transcends a knowledge of number, by including it in
18 A.E. Taylor, Commentary, p. 113.
-221
+
Thus, the body of the Universe is visible, but the
Soul of the Universe is invisible, and is the "best of
@@ -8600,7 +8600,7 @@ passage that both the circle of the same and the circle
ke)
-222
+
of the different transport their respective judgments into
@@ -8652,7 +8652,7 @@ necessary to what Soul is, and both sorts of knowledge arise
when Soul does what Soul does; namely, generate the motions
-223
+
of the Universe. Lastly, the judgment by the Soul is
called an aesthesis, which, unlike the English word
@@ -8685,7 +8685,7 @@ Plato usually attributes the highest perfections to Soul.
In the following passage, Plato finally makes explicit the
-224
+
way in which the Universe of becoming most resembles the
eternity of its model. To all the perfection which he has
attributed to the Universe, including intelligence,
@@ -8725,7 +8725,7 @@ period, especially the Sophist, have consistently lent
49 aly, Taylor, Cornford, Archer-Hind, Bury.
-225
+
themselves to an exposition of the difference betweer a
mere statue, which may or may not be faithful to the
proportions of the original model, and a genuine image,
@@ -8756,7 +8756,7 @@ Being who is the maker of the Universe takes delight in
Himself in the image of Himself which is called the
-226
+
Universe, since Plato clearly says that the maker rejoiced
when he beheld it. But it is first necessary to state that
Plato does not offer these interpretations himself, and we
@@ -8788,7 +8788,7 @@ confronting this passage, we ought not to conclude that
Plato has “anticipated,” as the saying goes, the doctrines
-227
+
of Christianity. One could as well say that the ineffability which characterizes Plato's maker of the Universe is
due to his acquaintance with Buddhist or Mosaic doctrines
of the ineffability of the Divine.
@@ -8826,7 +8826,7 @@ The attempt on the part of some commentators to
assert or to deny these implications of Plato's words,
-228
+
then, seems to represent an attempt to fit Plato's
meaning into more contemporary doctrines. One cannot quarrel with those who find inspiration in Plato's text, but
this is not the question. The question is, what did Plato
@@ -8862,7 +8862,7 @@ confronts the reader with the need to avoid blasphemy, and
yet the equally insistent need not to demean the Universe
-229
+
or to rob it of any due measure of perfection. Thus the
Universe as a shrine becomes the locus of divine function,
and as we shall see, the Universe as temporal becomes the
@@ -8907,7 +8907,7 @@ this difference between the model and the Universe which
20 Cornford has "So."
-230
+
must be reconciled in order to describe the Universe as a
thing which is as much like its model as possible. And to
accomplish this, Plato says:
@@ -8953,7 +8953,7 @@ was confronted by a chaos of discordant motions. ©! Others
21 Cornford, op. cit.
-231
+
would like to conclude that it is merely a detail of the
allegory which does not jibe with the details of literal
experience, so that one can dismiss the chaos as only a
@@ -8987,7 +8987,7 @@ So here, the doctrine of Time, the aspect of the
Universe by which it most resembles its eternal model, has
-232
+
been introduced last in the account of the perfected
Universe, and we are told that the making of Time is
accomplished by the demiurge in the same act as the order~
@@ -9019,7 +9019,7 @@ the heart of Plato's doctrine of the Unity of the Universe.
first, this seems to mean that the demiurge fashioned the
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+
Universe out of the material of an original chaos, but
fashioned Time out of the material of eternity. This is
not only a philosophical difficulty but also a function of
@@ -9051,7 +9051,7 @@ is Plato's way of describing, "as it were," the temporal
-unity of the Universe. The phrase "made of" seems
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+
ambiguous only because in English, the preposition "of"
is sometimes used to indicate apposition, sometimes to
indicate the genitive, as in derivation. The "of" here is
@@ -9083,7 +9083,7 @@ of these circles, or whether it is all of these motions
in some sort of unity. But we have been given the material
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+
from which to reach this conclusion, for we have been told
that the making of Time is the same act as the making of
order. Thus, Time is the proportional unity of all the
@@ -9115,7 +9115,7 @@ pantheistic; it is a unity of proportional realities, a
moving image.
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+
The second aspect of the moving image is the everlasting character of its motion. Again, we have been furnished with the material to construct an understanding of
this characteristic. ‘e have already called attention to
@@ -9146,7 +9146,7 @@ being visible, must have been generated, and must therefore
-have been fashioned on a model. Secondly, throughout his
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+
philosophy, Plato repeatedly uses the phrase "as far as
possible" without giving a doctrine of possibility which
would explain the meaning of the phrase. Both the need for
@@ -9179,7 +9179,7 @@ perfection of the Universe depends on the activity of the
rational demiurge, it is perfect; but insofar as the
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+
Universe depends on the reluctance of necessity to be
persuaded by the demiurge, it lacks perfection. Thus the
everlasting image, which we call Time, is subject to the
@@ -9209,7 +9209,7 @@ Universe but ignores the proportional Unity which these
motions have in the Universe. This is not to say that
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+
Plato's Universe is non-Pythagorean. On the contrary, there
is a great deal of Pythagorean wisdom in this dialogue, and
one should not forget that Timaeus, the principle speaker
@@ -9246,7 +9246,7 @@ teacher, as it calls up for us the dialogue which bears
_his name. But one should also recall that the difficulty
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+
of finding the right name for the Universe, and for Time,
are related to Plato's concern to avoid blasphemy. For we
must remember that the majority of simple Athenians had
@@ -9279,7 +9279,7 @@ synthesis we claim it to be, we ought to have the entirety
of Plato's doctrine of Time before us.
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+
Before adding, the final details, perhaps a small
summing up is in order. Plato has said that the Universe
@@ -9323,7 +9323,7 @@ _@ simple juxtaposition, for there are clearly three of
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+
them, and their relation to each other is not a simple
opposition. We have seen that Time introduces the perfect
order which characterizes the Universe, and we have been
@@ -9371,7 +9371,7 @@ now, the greatest perfection of which the Universe is
capable is the perfection which Time brings as the
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+
principle of order. We are now informed that becoming
proceeds in Time. Thus it is inexact to say “...that what
is past is past, what happens now is happening, and again
@@ -9419,7 +9419,7 @@ transcends them, because it has been made to increase the
great intimacy which becoming has been brought to have
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+
with Being.
This could be paraphrased in several ways. One could
@@ -9453,7 +9453,7 @@ the ceaseless transcendence of becoming, for, by Time,
things which only became, now "become" being.
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+
It is important to state that Time does not so
completely accomplish its transfiguration of mere becoming
@@ -9498,7 +9498,7 @@ bodies (38c).
Cornford has "circuits."
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+
It 1s not necessary to follow Plato into the
detailed descriptions which he gives for the motions of
@@ -9540,7 +9540,7 @@ numbers of Time, just as was ard shall be are the forms
of Time. Time, the reality, is the order of the Universe in
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+
motion. Time is neither motion nor the result of motion
(indeed, quite the reverse is true; motion is the result
of the order which the demiurge elicits from chaos). Nor
@@ -9557,7 +9557,7 @@ devoid of life and mind, and to remain in awful
unmeaning and everlasting fixture (249a)?
-248
+
CHAPTER VI
@@ -9600,7 +9600,7 @@ Timaeus, Ross (W.D. Ross, Plato's Theory of Ideas
Time not at all.
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+
ancient Athens; both of these accounts are to be given so
that Socrates may fulfill his wish to hear an account of a
real city, not an imaginary one; not a tale of "some noble
@@ -9637,7 +9637,7 @@ most of those who do not agree on the order of the
Dialogen Platos, p. Le
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+
dialogues as they have been described in chapter II agree
@@ -9675,7 +9675,7 @@ the discordant motions of a primordial chaos. Plato has
3 Jowett, Ihe Dialogues of Plato, II, pp. 456~7.
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+
shifted the basis of his sociology from the eternal to the
temporal; no longer is it his view that the realms of
eternity and becoming are separated by an unbridgeable
@@ -9711,7 +9711,7 @@ view. But Bury nevertheless concludes that there has been
()
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+
no growth of Plato's doctrine, and that the conclusions of
the Timgeus are implicit in the views stated in the Republic,
This seems to stretch the meaning of the term “implicit”
@@ -9756,7 +9756,7 @@ this subject. If it 1s true that Plato's Sicilian adventures
were of such a nature as to discourage and disillusion the
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+
great man from his life-long hopes to bring about good
government, we should expect to see bitterness and pessimism in the works written after these experiences. But we
find no shallow despair in the Seventh Letter or in the
@@ -9794,7 +9794,7 @@ pantry, when, in fact, the broom is in a darker but more
‘spacious room in the attic.
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+
If it is true that the Timaeus was written after
@@ -9842,7 +9842,7 @@ anthologies which present Plato's Republic but seldom if
ever present the Timaeus.
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+
specifications are to be found in part in the Critias and in
@@ -9883,7 +9883,7 @@ the lines. A.E, Taylor adopts this view, when he says that
Plato believes the Universe is eternal, and therefore it
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+
does not actually have a temporal character (Archer-Hind also holds this view). In short, Taylor claims that
Plato described the Universe as if it were gradually
brought into being because it would be easier for Plato's
@@ -9921,7 +9921,7 @@ r tly says that A.E. Taylor errs here because of his
adoption of Aristotle's notion of Time.
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+
and to reject the assertion that Plato's Universe is
actually eternal even though he says it is temporal. But
there is a deeper point, and it is this; to continue to
@@ -9954,7 +9954,7 @@ For the Image is the whole Universe, and, furthermore, it
ia deliberately described as a moving image. As we have
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+
said repeatedly above, Plato was not unable to describe
the whole Universe at once; he did so in an image, and
while it is true that he gradually reveals the elements
@@ -9995,7 +9995,7 @@ contention here that this later view is unintelligible
oe
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+
without a sound interpretation of Plato's moving image
of eternity.
It follows that the entire basis of society and the
@@ -10041,7 +10041,7 @@ pp. 52-53.) it would necessitate more comment than
we have room to present here.
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+
conclusion that Time brings perfection. Whereas it was
once possible to say that Plato viewed the eternal as the
only source of perfection and viewed the temporal realm
@@ -10084,7 +10084,7 @@ we are now examining; it is concerned with "immense periods
of Time" and "thousands of cities" which came to be and
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+
have now disappeared from memory, and puts the question
to itself whether there may not be a discernible pattern
@@ -10115,7 +10115,7 @@ intervening years between Plato's era and our own, it is
possible to state a few opinions which have been reached
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+
on this subject, providing caution is advised about the
extent to which we may derive philosophical satisfaction
from a careful reading of Plato's works.
@@ -10158,7 +10158,7 @@ it is true to say that our modern notion of process is
‘richer by far and more concrete than ever a Greek could
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+
imagine, it 1s also true to say that there was some
degree of openness in the Greek Universe and that it
would be false to state simply that it was a closed world.
@@ -10189,7 +10189,7 @@ that its citizens must adjust themselves to its patterns;
play a part in its completion. It does not follow that
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+
the citizens of an incomplete world must live ina
totalitarian regime where all law emanates from an elite
few who claim to have discovered the basis of all law. To
@@ -10221,7 +10221,7 @@ best of both possible worlds, for he can assert that there
are eternal models for human political action and that
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+
there are necessary innovations and inventions which the
statesman must create. To the extent that the human
invention resembles the temporal order which the Universe
@@ -10250,7 +10250,7 @@ into eternity. On the contrary, those things which have
nothing of time in them but share only in the incessant
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+
flux of becoming have no measure of eternity in them
precisely because eternity can be brought to becoming only
by time.
@@ -10281,7 +10281,7 @@ world. We must clarify the statement that there is individuality in the Greek wo
read that there is a genuine basis of individuality in the
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+
philosophy which Plato reveals in the Timaeus, but this
statement must be quickly followed by the statement that
there were few Greek individuals. While it is true on the
@@ -10314,7 +10314,7 @@ were written by different men in different times with
different needs. Aristotle was not confronted with the
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+
same political realities that confronted Plato, and to
that extent, at least, we should, expect their political
philosophies to differ. However, it remains true that
@@ -10355,7 +10355,7 @@ time and eternity, I felt that his search could only
enlighten the attempts of a working sociologist to make
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+
some sense out of his own era by viewing it, in the last
analysis, as a moving image of eternity.
@@ -10395,7 +10395,7 @@ individual citizen develops in time, and in time, the |
citizen not only ages, but he matures and grows wise. It
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+
is this very maturity of insight which Plato himself
experienced with his own advancing years, and it is therefore unsurprising that we find in the later dialogues a
doctrine in to which the perfection of reason is attained
@@ -10428,7 +10428,7 @@ Plato's final formulation of a doctrine of Time was
revealed in his Timaeus. In that work, he tells us that
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+
Time is the basis of society, from which the society
derives the perfections of life and mind in motion. Thus
it is false to divide eternity and time from each other
@@ -10465,14 +10465,14 @@ In such a world, society is not a realm removed from
@ penultimate world of silent and unspeaking self posession,
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+
but becomes the way in which eternal perfection discloses
itself, which Plato calls the moving image of eternity.
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+
APPENDIX A
@@ -10512,7 +10512,7 @@ Epin.
Clarendon Press, 1951), p. 2.
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+
BIBLIOGRAPHY
@@ -10573,7 +10573,7 @@ Harward, J. The Platonic poieties. Cambridge: the
University ess, 1952.
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+
Heisenberg, Werner. Physics and Philosophy. New York:
Harper & Brothers, 1955.
@@ -10642,9 +10642,6 @@ Russell, Bertrand. Mysticism and Logic. Garden City,
New York: Doubleday & Co., 1917.
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-
-
Taylor, A.&. Commentary on Plato's Timaeus. Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 192%.