The Timaeus

Abstract

This chapter offers some thoughts about Plato’s cosmological likely myth (eikōs muthos) in the "Timaeus". After briefly characterizing the doctrinal and narrative contexts of Timaeus’ discourse on the origin of the universe and its organization by a divine craftsman, the premises on which the entire cosmological myth is based are analyzed. Then, Timaeus’ final deduction of the universe’s properties is examined, specifically: (1) the universe is the best possible image of an intelligible model constituted by a divine craftsman (the Demiurge); (2) the Demiurge bestows order upon a pre-cosmic chaos by endowing it with the properties of a being composed of a soul and a body; (3) the model of the universe is the Form of the living being; (4) the universe is unique; (5) the body of the universe is composed of the four elements (fire, air, earth, and water); and (6) each of its elements is constituted by two basic triangles. Finally, it is argued that Timaeus’ discourse should not be understood as a pure sequence of deductions but that by allowing the reader to follow the Demiurge’s footsteps, it offers an imaginative experiment that admits alternative conclusions and different possible combinations of the premises introduced.