Plato’s Timaeus, Part 1 (to 30(d)): Atlantis, Being, and Becoming

Season 1 of the Plato’s Pod podcast began with discussions on Plato’s Timaeus, and now beginning its 4th season the podcast will return to Plato’s dialogue on the creation of the universe.

In this meetup, which will be recorded in voice only for the podcast, we’ll re-look at the first third of the Timaeus, ending at 30(d). Newcomers to the Plato’s Pod are invited to listen to any of the previous 47 episodes, at https://rss.com/podcasts/platospod/ or on your favourite podcasting platform.

The main speaker in this section of the Timaeus is the character Critias, who relates the ancient history of Atlantis after Socrates discusses the impracticality of the city imagined the previous day – which is the subject of The Republic. Then the character Timaeus takes over, with his explanation of the basis on which the universe was created. He explains the creator’s division of the universe in two distinct components, and expands on their mathematics and geometry in the second section of the dialogue which we’ll cover in a following session. One of these two universal components is the intelligible and changeless realm of being, which has no beginning or end. The other part is the ever-changing realm of becoming, with all of its physical motion and ever-changing limits that come to be and pass away in time.

We’ll focus our discussion on the following two questions.

1. Why, in the introduction, does Socrates refer to the city defended by the Guardians, which was imagined in the previous day’s conversation and is the subject of Plato’s The Republic, as motionless? It’s a city in theory, but Socrates has difficulty imagining it in action. He declares at 19(d), “I charge myself with being quite unable to sing fitting praise to our city and its men.” Further, why does the conversation then proceed to the subject of the lost city of Atlantis, once dominant but destroyed by a natural catastrophe? How do these points relate to the purpose of the Timaeus, which is to discuss the creation of the universe?
2. Does the distinction that Timaeus makes at 28(a), between the infinite realm of being and the limited realm of becoming, bear any relationship to our modern understanding of physics, or can science refute this as a universally fundamental division?

All are welcome to participate in the discussion, although please relate your comments to Plato’s text, which will be reviewed at the outset of the meeting. To get the most from the session, participants should read in advance the dozen written pages ending at 30(d), a free version of which is available online at www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg031.perseus-eng1:17a.

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BEFORE THE MEETUP: Please visit https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqvPwkIofv4UaFldrPpbva3VSXI?e=3Y7PjP for selections from the text that will be reviewed at the outset of the discussion, as well as questions that we will aim to address in our discussion. You can also find there as questions and themes that we explored in our previous meetups on many of Plato’s other dialogues. Before each meeting we will update this link with some questions and material for discussion. Our meetings will generally be scheduled every two weeks on Sunday at 4 p.m. eastern. During our dialogue on the dialogue, participants are encouraged to relate their comments to Plato's text, making reference to the Stephanus marginal number for the passage so the rest can follow in the reading.

There are many translations of Plato’s works available, and your public library should have multiple editions in print or e-book format. Participants with a particular interest in Plato might be interested in purchasing Plato: Complete Works in e-book or print (https://www.amazon.ca/Plato-Complete-Works/dp/0872203492/), which is the source we quote in the podcast series.

Whether new to or experienced with Plato, all are welcome to the dialogue and to sharing in the discovery and learning.

This Meetup will take place on Zoom. Please RSVP to access the Zoom link at your Meetup Account.