Timaeus Vs Plato

The Creator copied this world, regardless of how its imperfections may appear to support otherwise, from an eternal, immutable, and perfect model. The Creator, or God, combined the elements of earth, air, fire, and water to create the universe and all within it. As this universe would be the only copy made, no additional material remained. With order considered perfection, the God turned a disorderly substance into an orderly sphere which would become the universe. Next, God created heaven and with it time, which had not been needed in the eternal model. Then, four species were designed yet only created one, that of the gods. It became the responsibility of the gods to create the other species, water, air, and land creatures. Among these creatures …show more content…
A main theme throughout Timaeus was the creation of the universe from an eternal and immutable model, a perfect model for an imperfect copy. “Everyone will see that he must have looked to, the eternal; for the world is the fairest of creations and he is the best of causes.” A problem arises in that, despite Plato’s insistence that “there must be one only, if the created copy is to accord with the original,” a previous sphere was in existence before the Creator’s universe was. According to Plato, this sphere was moving disorderly, a clear indication it was not the organized and rational model. Timaeus later goes on to explain the creation of the universe as a sphere, with no limbs or organs, and created from the four elements so it is unlikely that the “original” sphere became the universe. This disordered visible sphere was not mentioned except for near the beginning of the …show more content…
Plato had argued that the universe was created and worked to provide a rational explanation for the functioning and appearance of the universe. However, the inclusion of that disordered sphere before the creation of the universe disrupts his argument that there is to be only one copy. The disordered sphere could have been created by another being from the eternal model, another creator, or there could have been another explanation. Plato does not provide a clear clue as to the origins of the sphere, which itself is mentioned only once. Despite the passing attention given to the sphere, the implication is clear. Neither religion nor natural philosophy were able to provide an answer as to how the universe came into existence. The text is riddled with implications which defy answer by either religion or natural philosophy, and which can be seen in creation texts from Plato and Ptolemy, to other