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Plato''s "Timaeus" contains a powerful and influential myth, of the construction of the universe by a divine craftsman. A god imposed reason on necessity, to bring order from a primeval ''receptacle'' of disordered matter. There results the ''child'' that is the cosmos - a copy of an externally-existing perfect model. Here eight new essays, from an international cast of scholars, explore aspects of this challenging work: the principles of the mythical narrative, how the world soul and human body are formed, implications for illness - mental and physical - and the importance of music and harmonious proportion. Later developments are also treated: Aristotles'' theory of generation, the commentary of Proclus and elements of modern evolutionary theory.>
List of contents
Preface
Introduction
Outline of Topics in Plato's Timaeus xvi
1. Myth, Science and Reason in the Timaeus - M.R. Wright
2. How to Build a World Soul: A Practical Guide - Sergio Zedda
3. How to Build a Human Body: An Idealist's Guide - Scott Burgess
4. The Body's Fault? Plato's Timaeus on Psychic Illness - Christopher Gill
5. Timaeus on Music and the Liver - Andrew Barker
6. Aristotle's Understanding of Plato's Receptacle - Lesley Dean-Jones
7. Proclus on Demiurgy and Procession in the Timaeus - Jan Opsomer
8. Zoogony and Evolution in Plato's Timaeus, the Presocratics, Lucretius and Darwin - Gordon Campbell
Bibliography of Main Editions
Index Locorum
General Index
