TIMAEUS

by Plato




Translated by Benjamin Jowett




INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS.

Of all the writings of Plato the Timaeus is the most obscure and repulsive
to the modern reader, and has nevertheless had the greatest influence over
the ancient and mediaeval world. The obscurity arises in the infancy of
physical science, out of the confusion of theological, mathematical, and
physiological notions, out of the desire to conceive the whole of nature
without any adequate knowledge of the parts, and from a greater perception
of similarities which lie on the surface than of differences which are
hidden from view. To bring sense under the control of reason; to find some
way through the mist or labyrinth of appearances, either the highway of
mathematics, or more devious paths suggested by the analogy of man with the
world, and of the world with man; to see that all things have a cause and
are tending towards an end--this is the spirit of the ancient physical
philosopher. He has no notion of trying an experiment and is hardly
capable of observing the curiosities of nature which are 'tumbling out at
his feet,' or of interpreting even the most obvious of them. He is driven
back from the nearer to the more distant, from particulars to generalities,