Plato’s Dialectical Cosmology in the Timaeus

Abstract

In this paper, I present Plato’s cosmology in the Timaeus as the attempt to establish a dialectical account of the universe, which rests upon various forms of Platonic dialectic, especially the dialectic of Being and Becoming. First, I provide a historical contextualization of the ontological usage of this aspect of Plato’s dialectic on the cosmological level (section 2). Second, I discuss the main components of the dialectical structure of the cosmos in light of the dialectic of Mind and Matter. That is, the Demiurge and the World Soul stand for the principle of cosmic rationality, while the puzzle of the third kind refers to the material principle (section 3). This leads me to the conclusion that the resulting picture of the universe corresponds to a systemic dialectical cosmological account, which emphasizes the actuality of Plato’s natural philosophy and its potential role in developing modern philosophical cosmology (section 4).