PLATO'S TIMAEUS

In Timaeus, Plato offers a cosmological extension of the political and moral theories presented in the Republic.

Timaeus recounts a myth of creation, ending with the birth of mankind, in which he demonstrates that human morality is based on cosmic order. In this dialogue, Plato bases his conception of human life, both for the individual and for society, on the immutable foundation of the universe. His purpose is to show that true morality is not the outcome of human evolution, nor the enactment of human will, but is extrinsic, and due to an order and harmony of the soul.

The human soul has its counterpart in the soul of the world, and has an eternal order and harmony of its own which is guided by reason. (Reason is personified by the Demiurge, the benevolent and divine craftsman). The world soul is responsible for all motions in the cosmos, while the human soul is responsible for the motions of the human body.

According to the myth, this everlasting order is revealed to every soul before birth, and is shown to us, after birth, in the visible architecture of the heavens which is the product of reason and planning (Plato's Timaeus, intro,pp.xxiii-xxiv). By beholding the revolution of Reason in the heavens, man might make use of this spectacle for controlling the revolutions of the rational faculties that lie within him (Miller, 1986,p.29).

The ordered and unchanging motions of the heavens are, according to Plato, proof of the wisdom and superior intelligence of the world-soul. In his dialogue, Epinomis, Plato writes:

And as proof that the stars and the whole moving system of the heavens possess intelligence, mankind ought to consider the fact that the stars always do the same things and have done so for an amazingly long time...Most people have followed the lead of fools, imagining that whereas the human race is intelligent and living because it can move about, the divine race is unintelligent because it keeps to the same orbits...He [Man] might have concluded that that which always does the same things in the same way and for the same reason must for this very reason be considered intelligent. And thus the nature of the stars is the fairest to behold, for they dance the fairest and most magnificent procession and choral dance of all the choruses in the world and accomplish whatever is needed for all living creatures

. (Click here to return to main text, Le Balet Comique de la Reine: An Analysis, Part II)