Timaeus

Essay by GamblorElementary School, 2nd gradeB-, March 2004

download word file, 3 pages 3.0

Downloaded 26 times

Plato wrote Timaeus in the third century B.C. In it, Plato describes the creation of the cosmos and everything within it. This work has had a profound influence on early European thought regarding many aspects of life, from Astrology, to Theology, to even Psychology. Even though the scope of this book cover so much, Plato, perhaps realizing that there is much he does not know, covers himself at the start and periodically during the narrative by saying that it is only a "likely story".

Timaeus, who does most of the talking in Timaeus starts of early by stating that they are only human, so their account of the creation "is as likely as any" . Timaeus also states that "for being has to becoming the same relation as truth is to belief" . These phrases set the tone of the story early on in the book and are important throughout the entire book because it sets the overall mood of the narrative.

The meaning of these words however, can be difficult to understand. This paper will attempt to explain what Plato meant when he wrote them.

One of the major themes of the story is the idea of "being" and "becoming". These are the categories in which pretty much everything falls into. Being, is the original, the idea of everything. Like a blueprint, being is the way that something is supposed to be without limitations of the creator. Becoming, however is the result. It can never be exactly the same as being because that is its nature. Becoming is the manifestation of being. Since our world is not the original, thus becoming, then everything within our world, regardless of who makes it is also a becoming.

It can also be said that Being is eternal. Even that it...