Plato's Universe
Plato’s Universe (Chapters 1 & 2)
By: Gregory Vlastos
SUMMARY
Vlastos begins by talking about the word cosmos and its origins. The Greek word kosmeo meaning to set in order became kosmos which had a moral connotation until the Presocratics such as Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes and other physiologoi gave the word a physical application that was composed of the Earth, sun, moon, stars and everything in between. Heraclitus was the first person on record to use the word cosmos with its newest meaning and gives his theory on it. He said that fire was the universal substance (much like Thales with water). To Heraclitus, water was just fire liquefied and earth was fire solidified.
Vlastos then goes on to talk about a phenomenon known as Atē in Greece. Atē was commonly believed in and is supposedly the Gods affecting ones mental processes and making him do foolish things. He brings up this concept to prove that even the physiologoi believed in an irrational universe. After discussing Atē, Vlastos brings up the Greek word physis, and emphasizes that understanding physis was the key transition from the world of myths and stories explaining the universe, to the physiologoi and their natural explanations of the cosmos. Physis of any given thing is that cluster of stable characteristics by which we can recognize that thing and basically fixes the limit of the possible for everything except the supernatural. The exception for the physiologoi is to drop the last part about the supernatural.
Chapter two starts off by discussing how Plato felt about the physiologoi. He felt that anybody who believed there are no gods (such as the physiologoi) should be punished extremely harshly. Plato thought that the physiologois belief in universal entities (such as fire) and things which exist by “chance” is wrong because, in Plato’s mind, the cosmos design is nothing less than art. He believed in a supernatural god, but one that does not interfere or violate the regularities of
By: Gregory Vlastos
SUMMARY
Vlastos begins by talking about the word cosmos and its origins. The Greek word kosmeo meaning to set in order became kosmos which had a moral connotation until the Presocratics such as Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes and other physiologoi gave the word a physical application that was composed of the Earth, sun, moon, stars and everything in between. Heraclitus was the first person on record to use the word cosmos with its newest meaning and gives his theory on it. He said that fire was the universal substance (much like Thales with water). To Heraclitus, water was just fire liquefied and earth was fire solidified.
Vlastos then goes on to talk about a phenomenon known as Atē in Greece. Atē was commonly believed in and is supposedly the Gods affecting ones mental processes and making him do foolish things. He brings up this concept to prove that even the physiologoi believed in an irrational universe. After discussing Atē, Vlastos brings up the Greek word physis, and emphasizes that understanding physis was the key transition from the world of myths and stories explaining the universe, to the physiologoi and their natural explanations of the cosmos. Physis of any given thing is that cluster of stable characteristics by which we can recognize that thing and basically fixes the limit of the possible for everything except the supernatural. The exception for the physiologoi is to drop the last part about the supernatural.
Chapter two starts off by discussing how Plato felt about the physiologoi. He felt that anybody who believed there are no gods (such as the physiologoi) should be punished extremely harshly. Plato thought that the physiologois belief in universal entities (such as fire) and things which exist by “chance” is wrong because, in Plato’s mind, the cosmos design is nothing less than art. He believed in a supernatural god, but one that does not interfere or violate the regularities of