Plato's Timaeus

2091 Words9 Pages
Mellie Lammon Timaeus 1. Why was the world created—what purpose does it serve? “Let us therefore state the reason why the framer of this universe of change framed it all. He was good…being therefore without envy he wished all things to be as like himself as possible.” God created the world because he had no envy and he wanted everything to be like himself. Since the world is supposed to be like God, it should be good and perfect. Consequently, God turned disorder into order and gave the world a soul with reason and put this soul into a body because he saw that this was ultimately better. 2. What existed before the universe was formed—what materials did Plato’s Demiurge have to work with? “So god, when he began to put together the body of the universe, made it of fire and earth… So god placed water and air between fire and earth… The construction of the world used up the whole of each of these four elements.” Chaos existed before the world was formed and the Demiurge imposed order on it. The four elements (Earth, Water, Air, and Fire) were a part of this chaos before the Demiurge used them to create the universe. Plato’s Demiurge used up the entirety of the amount of these four elements that is in existence to create the universe so that it could be as complete of a living being as possible. 3. Why is “necessity” something that has to be considered, when considering the world’s construction and its nature (how it works or behaves)? “For this world came into being from a mixture of necessity and intelligence.” Necessity led most of the things in the universe to the best outcome because intelligence influenced it to do so. 4. What was the model for the creation of the world—the template used? Why is the physical (sensible) world inferior to the model it was based upon? “Whenever, therefore, the maker of anything keeps his eye on
Open Document