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La notion d'Intelligence (nous-noein) dans la Grèce antique
La notion d'Intelligence (nous-noein) dans la Grèce antique
LUC BRISSON
Traduction de Michael Chase
Résumés
Français English
La figure complexe et même contradictoire du démiurge dans le Timée de Platon a suscité
plusieurs interprétations de l’Antiquité jusqu’à nos jours, même si habituellement le
démiurge est considéré comme un intellect : intellect de l’âme du monde, activité
productrice des Formes, Premier Moteur, divinité réalisant un plan déterminée comme le
dieu de la Genèse, instrument du Bien. Le débat se poursuit, mais il est important d’insister
sur l’originalité du Timée : c’est la première cosmologie dans l’Antiquité, qui fait intervenir
un dieu qui travaille, et qui utilise les mathématiques comme instrument par excellent de la
mise en ordre du sensible.
The complex, and even contradictory character of the demiurge in Plato’s Timaeus has
given rise to multiple interpretations from Antiquity to our time, even if the demiurge is
usually considered as an intellect: intellect of the world soul, productive aspect of the
Forms, Prime Mover, divinity carrying out a plan like the God of Genesis, instrument of the
Good. The debate remains open, but it is important to note the originality of the Timaeus: it
is the only cosmogony of Antiquity that involves a divinity that works, and that imposes
mathematics as a privileged instrument of order.
Entrées d’index
Mots-clés : Platon, Timée, démiurge, travail, mathématiques
Keywords : Plato, Timaeus, demiurge, work, mathematics
Texte intégral
1 The Timaeus is a dialogue that describes the origin of the world, of mankind,
and even of the city. In this dialogue, Plato adopts a contradictory position. On the
one hand, he describes the origin of the world with the help of a story that makes
him gravitate toward Hesiod's Theogony and involves a temporal dimension,
whereas, on the other, he proposes an explanation – the first one – with the help
of mathematics, in which time plays no role. The definition and the role of the
central character in this story, the demiurge, has given rise throughout history to
multiple interpretations, which are, however, always associated with his status as
“intellect”. This text consists of two parts. In the first, I set forth my way of viewing
the demiurge, and in the second I explain my objections to the other
interpretations proposed so far.
1
1. The demiurge is an intellect (noûs)
2 At the foundation of Platonic cosmogony is this presupposition : the sensible
things that surround us are mere images of genuine realities, the intelligible
forms. Because sensible things are images of intelligible forms, they must
resemble them. But the notion of resemblance is double-sided : it implies
conformity and disparity. In the Timaeus, it is the intervention of the demiurge2
which, thanks to mathematics, ensures the conformity of sensible things to the
Forms in which particulars participate ; and it is the khóra or “spatial medium”
that accounts for their difference from the Forms : all the sensible things that are
in the khóra and made of the khóra, appear as multiple and distinct in it
(Timaeus 52c2-d1). If Timaeus can say that the khóra “participates in the
intelligible in a particularly disconcerting way”, this means not that there is an
intelligible form of the khóra, but that the khóra has several features that render it
akin to the intelligible : it is a principle, it is immutable, it is not perceptible to the
senses, etc. In the Timaeus, Plato thus distinguishes no longer two, but three
kinds, because, in addition to intelligible forms and sensible things, he evokes the
existence of the khóra, in which sensible things are present, and out of which they
are constituted (Timaeus 51e6-52c1)3. By introducing mathematics at the level of
the world soul and at the level of the world's body, the demiurge gives things
enough permanence and regularity so that virtuous behavior, associated with
adequate knowledge and language, becomes possible in this world.
3 To fashion the most beautiful world possible, the demiurge takes as his model
not the sensible, but the intelligible (Timaeus 29e-30c). Yet to perceive the
intelligible as such, the demiurge must be an intellect (noûs), the only faculty that
can grasp intelligible forms. The demiurge “reasons”, “calculates”, and “reflects”4 ;
he “takes into consideration”5 and “foresees”6. This is why he “speaks”7. The
sensible world is a living being that has as its model the complete Living Being
(Timaeus 31b1), whose unity is found in our world as well (Timaeus30c-31c).
There is, moreover, an intelligible form for each thing (Timaeus 51c3-4). This
allows Timaeus to recall this presupposition :
“Since these things are so, we must agree that that which keeps its own form
unchangingly, which has not been brought into being and is not destroyed,
which neither receives into itself anything else from anywhere else, not itself
enters into anything else anywhere, is one thing. It is invisible – it cannot be
perceived by the senses, at all – and it is the role of intellection (nóesis) to
grasp it. The second thing is that which shares the other’s name and
resembles it. This being can be perceived by the senses, and it has been
begotten. It is constantly borne along, now coming to be in a certain place
and then perishing out of it. It is apprehended by opinion which involves
sense perception.” (Timaeus 51e5-52a7, transl. D.J. Zeyl modified)
4 There can be no doubt that the demiurge is an intellect, whose object is the
intelligible8.
5 According to Plato, the intellect that constituted our world and what it contains
can only be a divinity9. As a divinity, it must be immortal, insofar as nothing
indicates that it has been engendered by another entity, whereas the demiurge
himself engenders the other gods, whose immortality he ensures (Timaeus 41a-d).
Because he is a divinity, this being is good : “He was good and one who is good can
never become jealous or envious of anything. And so being free of jealous envy, he
wanted everything to become as much like himself as was possible” (Timaeus
29e1-3, transl. D.J. Zeyl)10 .The demiurge does not behave like a god of the Greek
pantheon, Zeus, for instance, who can feel jealous envy11 with regard to another
god12, and even with regard to a mortal who is too happy, too rich, or too
beautiful, and goes so far as to take vengeance on him for that reason. Since the
demiurge is good, he is not jealous or envious, and he will make the world that is
the best and the most beautiful possible.
6 Insofar as the intelligible forms and the khóra exist prior to his intervention,
and as “necessity” resists his action, in one way or another, the demiurge is not an
omnipotent divinity. This is why he can only carry out what is best insofar as is
possible13. This relative impotence of the demiurge is in accord with the
traditional representation of the divinity in Greek mythology. Indeed, in the Greek
pantheon, Zeus, the sovereign, like any other god, is only distinguished from a
mortal by two features : he does not experience death, even though he was born,
and he is more powerful, although this power is limited.
7 Nevertheless, the demiurge exercizes “will”14, which is why his responsibility is
engaged15. He has feelings16, and tries to persuade necessity17. By all these
features, it seems the demiurge must be assimilated to an individual ; however,
the mention of his assistants, and the sudden and unexpected passage from the
plural to the singular18 lead one to suppose that for Plato, the demiurge represents
above all a function, the productive function of the universe. What is more, the
demiurge's action is a one-time affair. He limits himself to “fashioning” that
which, in the sensible world, is apt to exhibit an eternal nature ; once this is done,
he withdraws (Timaeus 42 e), transmitting his power to his assistants for a while,
then leaving genuine autonomy to the universe and to man, contrary to what
happened under the reign of Kronos, according to traditional mythology19. After
the departure of the demiurge and his assistants, it is the world soul that takes
over, guaranteeing the maintenance of an order that is primarily mathematical in
the course of incessant change.
8 Another particularity must be added to this one. When he tries to describe what
a god is in the Phaedrus, Plato shows himself to be very prudent. He begins by
situating his discourse not on the level of the lógos, based on a well-argued
knowledge that lays claim to the truth, but on the level of mûthos, a story that
remains probable ; and he concludes with an appeal to the benevolence of the
divinity which assumes the form of a prayer :
“This composite structure of soul and body is called a living being, and is
further termed “mortal”: “immortal” is a term applied on no basis of
reasoned argument at all (oud' ex henòs lelogisménou), but our fancy
pictures (pláttontes) the god whom we have never seen, nor fully conceived
(oúte idóntes oúte noésantes hikanôs), as an immortal living being,
possessed of a soul and a body united for all time. Howbeit, let these
matters, and our account thereof, be as God pleases (hó pei tôi theôi
phílon).” (Phaedrus 246c5-d3, transl. R. Hackforth).
9 This definition is cautious, but will not vary : a god is an immortal living being
(athánatón ti zôion). In the Timaeus, however, it is impossible to find any
information that the demiurge has a body, or even a soul ; he is a mere intellect,
and this is a singular feature that was to inspire the history of Platonism: as an
intellect, this god lacks any kind of body, including a body that cannot be
perceived by the senses, as is the case for all traditional gods,
10 As an intellect, he is a divinity who is good, but is not omnipotent, and to whom
it is hard to attribute a genuine identity. Yet what is the role of this divinity?
11 The first allusion to the identity of this personage who makes the world appear
is to be found in this phrase: “Now to find the maker and father of this universe is
hard enough, and even if one succeeded, to declare him to everyone is
impossible.” (Timaeus 28 c 3-4, transl. D.J. Zeyl modified). The qualifier “father”
corresponds to the context found in Hesiod's Theogony, where the gods engender
one another. It is this character who is qualified as “father of the world” a bit
farther on: “Now when the father who had begotten the universe observed it set in
motion and alive, a thing that had come to be as a shrine for the everlasting gods,
he was well pleased, and in his delight…” (Timaeus 37 c 6-7). The same holds true
for the other gods, whom he addresses in these terms: “O Gods, works divine
whose maker and father I am, whatever has come to be by my hands cannot be
undone but by my consent.” (Timaeus 41 a 6-8, transl. D.J. Zeyl). All these gods
are thus his offspring (Timaeus 42e6-7), and he has children who are his
assistants, particularly for fashioning human beings: “For those who had
fashioned us recalled their father’s instruction to make the mortal race as
excellent as possible…” (Timaeus 71d5-7, transl. D.J. Zeyl modified). Note that the
qualification “father” does not entail either an allusion to marriage or to sexual
intercourse.
“The God wanted everything to be good and nothing to be bad so far as that
was possible, and so he took over, all that was visible – not at rest but in
discordant and disorderly motion – and brought it from a state of disorder
to one of order, because he believed that order was in every way better than
disorder. Now it wasn’t permitted (nor it is now) that one who is supremely
good should do anything but what is best.” (Timaeus 30a2-7, transl. D.J.
Zeyl)
“Now in all but a brief part of the discourse I have just completed I have
presented what has been crafted by Intellect. But I need to match this
account by providing a comparable one concerning the things that have
come about by necessity. For this ordered world is of mixed birth: it is the
offspring of a union of necessity and intellect. Intellect prevailed over
necessity by persuading it to direct most of the things that come to be
towards what is best, and the result of this subjugation of necessity to wise
persuasion was the initial formation of this universe.” (Timaeus 47e3-48a5,
transl. D.J. Zeyl)
21 It should be noted that the intellect addresses necessity, which pertains not to
the intelligible, but to the sensible, by using rhetoric, the “demiurge of persuasion”
(Gorgias 453a2, 454a2).
2. The interpretations
22 As can be observed, the figure of the demiurge in the Timaeus is complex and
contradictory. He is an intellect, a good divinity who tries to fashion the best world
and the most beautiful possible by working. The difficulty attached to the
description of this figure explains the diversity of interpretations.
24 Filip Karfík30 maintains the former interpretation. For him, the demiurge
follows a plan (logismós); it is by contemplating the intelligible that he organizes
the body of the world in the khóra with the help of mathematics. For Sarah
Broadie, in contrast, the intelligible is not outside the intellect, as seems to be
indicated by the passages from the Timaeus quoted above, but is present within
him. In short, we are in the perspective of a god who takes himself as his object of
thought, and fashions the world according to a precise plan. This interpretation
“He is the Good, because he benefits all things according to their capacity,
being the cause of all good. (...) He is Father through being the cause of all
things (Timaeus 28c) and bestowing order on the heavenly Intellect and the
soul of the world in accordance with himself and his own thoughts.”
(Didaskalikos X, 164.36-42 Hermann, transl. J. Dillon, see 163.14-15)
25 One thus understands that the demiurge no longer contemplates the intelligible
in order to act, but implements a plan that organizes his thoughts in a reasonable
perspective, as is the view of M. Burnyeat31. In fact, all these interpretations seek
to render otiose any reference to intelligible forms that are located outside the
demiurgic intellect. We thus end up with an interpretation akin to that of Middle
Platonism, for which the intelligible forms become the thoughts of a god who
occupies the first rank.
26 This has the consequence of emphasizing the “mythical” aspect of the character
of the demiurge, and hence of making him akin to the God of Genesis; the
demiurge is separate from the world, which he fashions within time32. One can
therefore understand how David Sedley, whose position on the nature of the
Forms is not clear, makes Plato the ancestor of creationism and of the idea of
“intelligent design”33.
“Now all of the above are among the auxiliary causes (tôn sunaitíon)
employed in the service of the god as he does his utmost to bring to
completion the character of what is most excellent. But because they make
things cold or hot, compact or disperse them, and produce all sorts of
similar effects, most people regard them not as auxiliary causes (sunaítia),
but as the actual causes (aítia) of all things. Things like these, however, are
totally incapable of possessing any reason (lógos) or intellect (noûn) about
anything. We must pronounce the soul to be the only thing there is that
properly possesses intellect (noûn). The soul is an invisible thing, whereas
fire, water, earth and air have all come to be as visible bodies. So anyone
who is a lover of intellect and science (noû kaì epistémes) must of necessity
pursue as primary causes (aitías prótas) those which possess intellect (metà
noû) and secondary (deutéras) all those belonging to things that are moved
by others and that set still others in motion by necessity. We too, surely,
must do likewise: we must describe both types of causes distinguishing
those which possess understanding and thus fashion what is beautiful and
good, from those which, when deserted by intelligence (phronéseos),
produce only haphazard and disorderly effects every time.” (Timaeus 46c7-
e6, trans. D.J. Zeyl modified)
28 Yet this interpretation is untenable, simply because the world soul, whose
intellect is its highest activity, is fashioned by the demiurge. We would then have
to do with a case of self-fashioning, which would be strange, to say the least.
29 The only way to avoid this contradiction is to interpret the fashioning of the
world soul at Timaeus 35a-b in a non-literal way. This is why everything points
toward considering that the demiurge is an intellect separate from the world and
“For the moment, we need to keep in mind three types of things: that which
comes to be, that in which it comes to be, and that after which the thing
coming to be is modeled, and which is the source of its coming to be. It is in
fact appropriate to compare the receiving thing to a mother, the source to a
father, and the nature between them to their offspring.” (Timaeus 50 c7-d3,
transl. D.J. Zeyl)
“Rather, let us lay it down that the universe resembles more closely than
anything else that Living Being of which all other living beings are parts,
both individually and by kinds. For this Living Being comprehends within
itself all intelligible living beings, just as our world is made up of us and all
the other visible creatures. Since the god wanted nothing more than to make
the world like the best of the intelligible things, complete in every way, he
made it a single visible living being, which contains within itself all the living
things whose nature is to share its kind.” (Timaeus 30c5-31a1, transl. D.J.
Zeyl modified)
predecessors, and following their example he accepted only four elements, from
which all the other bodies were formed as a result of transformations and
combinations according to definite proportions : they are earth, water, air, and
fire, which occupy determinate positions in space, by virtue of the very
constitution of the universe. These elements came forth from a unique,
homogenous, and undifferentiated matter. This is no doubt what Plato in the
Timaeus called the third kind, the errant cause, extension, or the receptacle. This
third kind was perceived as a corporeal and sensible reality, a kind of
undifferentiated chaos, in which all the elements of the universe were confounded.
39 The interest of the Middle Platonic interpretation derives from the fact that it
makes the demiurge of the Timaeus compatible with Aristotelian physics,
particularly on the question of the Prime Mover:
“Every craft is concerned with coming to be, that is, with crafting things and
getting a theoretical grasp on how something may come to be that admits of
being and of not being and whose starting-point is in the producer and not
in the product. For things that are or come to be by necessity are not the
concern of craft, nor are things that are in accord with nature (since they
have their starting-point within themselves).” (Nicomachean Ethics VI 4,
1140a10-16, transl. C.D.C. Reeve).
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M. Sattler (eds.), Las Vegas (Nev.), Parmenides Publications, p. 79-100.
Notes
1 I have used the following system of translitteration: êta = e; oméga = o; dzèta = z; thèta =
th; xi = x; phi = ph; khi = kh; psi = ps. Iota subscript is adscribed (for instance ei); and
when in is an alpha, that alpha is long = ai). Rough breathing is noted h, while soft
breathing is not noted. All accents are noted. All translations of Plato's dialogues come from
Plato, Complete Works, edited, with introduction and notes by John M. Cooper and D.S.
Hutchinson, associate editor, Indianapolis / Cambridge, Hackett Publishing Company
1997.
2 On the demiurge in the Timaeus, see Luc Brisson (19952, 19983), Le même et l’autre dans
la structure ontologique du Timée de Platon. Un commentaire systématique du Timée de
Platon [1974], Sankt Augustin, Academia Verlag.
3 See my translation : Platon, Timée / Critias, traduction inédite, introduction et notes par
Luc Brisson [avec la collaboration de Michel Patillon pour la traduction], Collection GF
618, Paris, Flammarion, 1992.
4 Logismós, at Timaeus 30 b, 34 a, 52 d, 55 c.
5 Nomízein,at Timaeus 33 b.
6 Prónoia, at Timaeus 30 c, 73 a.
7 For instance, at Timaeus 41 a, d, e.
8 Timaeus 36d8, 39e7, 46d7-e4, 47e4, 48e1.
9 Timaeus 30a2, 30d3, 31b8, 32b4, 34c1, 38c7, 39b4, 42a1, 46c7, 46e8, 53b4, 53d6, 55c5,
68d4, 69b3, 71e3, 73b8, 74d6, 75d1, 78b2.80e1, 90a4, 92c7.
10 By giving the demiurge this attribute, Plato shows himself to be coherent with himself.
In the third book of the Republic (380 c, 387 c), Socrates maintains that the founder of a
city must impose upon poets a series of orders concerning his production, and in particular
this one : god is good (379 b), and consequently he can only be the cause of what is good.
11 On this important feeling, see Luc Brisson (1989), « La notion de phthónos chez
Platon », reprinted in Lectures de Platon, Paris, Vrin, 2000, p. 219-234.
12 The way Critias insists on recalling that the division of the world among the gods took
place without dispute (Critias 109 b) gives a good illustration of the importance Plato gave
to this idea, which opposed traditional mythology.
13 This attenuation is formulated in various forms at Timaeus 30 a, c, 32 b, 37 d, 38 c, 42 e,
53 c, 65 c, 71 d, 89 d.
14 In the Timaeus, one finds the verbs ethélein (Timaeus 41 a) and boúlesthai (Timaeus 30
a, d, 41 b) in connection with the demiurge.
15 An-aitios is attested at Timaeus 42 d.
16 Cf. Timaeus 37 c.
17 Timaeus 48a-c.
18 For instance, Timaeus 44 e, 71 b, e, 73 b, 75 b etc., where the singular is surprising.
However, one might think of a distribution of tasks.
19 Cf. the myth of the Statesman (268 d - 275 a) and Laws IV (713 a - e). See Luc Brisson
(2005), « La critique de la tradition religieuse par Platon, et son usage dans la République
et dans les Lois », in Eugénie Vegleris (éd.), Cosmos et Psychè. Mélanges offerts à Jean
Frère, Hildesheim / Zürich / New York, Georg Olms Verlag) p. 67-81.
20 Timaeus 28a6, 29a7, 31a4, 40c1, 41a7, 41e4, 42e8, 46e4, 47e4, 59a5, 68e2, 69c3.69c4,
75b8, 76d6, 80e4.
21 Luc Brisson (2002), « Le divin planteur (phutourgós) », Kairos 19, p. 31-48. For a
critique, see Francesco Fronterotta (2007, 2013), « Phutourgós, demiorugós, mimetés :
who does what in Resp. 10, 596a-597e ? », in Mario Vegetti, Franco Ferrari, and Tosca
Lynch (eds.), The painter of Constitutions, Sankt Augustin, Academia Verlag, p. 300-320.
22 Here, I refer to the fourth section of Jean-Pierre Vernant (1955, 1965, 1990), Mythe et
pensée chez les Grecs, Textes à l’appui, Paris, La Découverte, where four articles are
reprinted: « Prométhée et la fonction technique » [1952], p. 263-273 ; « Travail et nature
dans la Grèce ancienne » [1955], p. 274-294; « Aspects psychologiques du travail dans la
Grèce ancienne » [1956], p. 295-301 ; « Remarques sur les formes et les limites de la pensée
technique chez les Grecs » [1957], p. 303-322.
23 An opposition that already appears in the Charmides 163b-d, attributed to the “Sophist”
Critias, cf. « Remarques sur les formes et les limites de la pensée technique chez les Grecs »
[1957], p. 303-304.
24 On this point, Jean-Pierre Vernant invokes Euthydemus 289c ff., Republic X 601c.
25 In the Gorgias, the definition or rhetoric is: a demiurge of persuasion (πειθοῦς
δηµιουργός ἐστιν ἡ ῥητορική,) » (453a2) See also G.R. Morrow (1954), « The demiurge in
politics. The Timaeus and the Laws », Proceedings and addresses of the American
philosophical Association 27, p. 5-23.
26 “Fiction” need not be understood in a derogatory sense. The social contract which
Rousseau made the foundation of democracy is a fiction, but is at the origin of the French
Revolution, and allows the foundations of this political organization to appear clearly.
27 Luc Brisson (2011), « La “matière” chez Platon et dans la tradition platonicienne »,
Materia XIII Colloquio Internazionale [Roma, 7-8-9 gennaio 2010], Atti a cura di Delfina
Giovannozzi e Marco Veneziani, Firenze, Leo S. Olschki editore, p. 1-40. [Lessico
Intellettuale Europeo].
28 Timaeus 47e7, 48a2, 48a4, 48c7, 51e2, 51e4, 70a7, 91b5.
29 Sarah Broadie (2012), Nature and divinity in Plato’s Timaeus, Cambridge / New York,
CUP, p. 62.
30 Filip Karfík (2007), « Que fait et qui est le demiurge dans le Timée ? », Études
platoniciennes 4, p. 129-150.
31 Myles F. Burnyeat (2005), « Eikos muthos », Rhizai 2, p. 143-165. See the reply by Luc
Brisson, « Why is the Timaeus called an eikôs muthos and an eikôs logos? », in Catherine
Collobert, Pierre Destrée, Francisco J. Gonzalez (eds.), Plato and Myth. Studies in the use
and status of Platonic myths, Leiden, Boston, Brill, p. 369-391.
32 Sarah Broadie (2012), Nature and divinity in Plato’s Timaeus, p. 196.
33 David Sedley (2007), Creationism, and its critics in Antiquity, Berkeley (Calif.),
University of California Press (Sather classical lectures 66), p 105.
34 H. F. Cherniss (1944), Aristotle’s criticism of Plato and the Academy, New York, Russell
& Russell, Appendix XI, 602-610.
35 F. M. Cornford (1937), Plato’s cosmology, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, p. 187.
36 Gabriela Roxana Carone (1994-1995), « Teleology and evil in Laws 10 », Review of
Metaphysics 48, p. 275-298.
37 For an interpretation of this passage, see Francesco Fronterotta (2010), « La critica
aristotelica alla funzione causale delle idee platoniche : Metaph. A 9, 991a8-b9 », Atti del
Convegno Internazionale – Lecce 11-13 may 2006,
38 Francesco Fronterotta (2010), « Ἀρχὴ τοῦ κόσµου and ἀρχὴ τοῦ λόγου. A new
hypothesis on the beginning of the world in Plato’s Timaeus », in Antoni Bosch-Veciana
and Josep Monserrat-Molas (eds), Philosophy and dialogue. Sudies onPlato’s dialogues,
Barcelone, Barcelonesa d’Edicions, vol. II, p. 141-155.
39 Franco Ferrari (2003), « Causa paradigmatica e causa efficiente. Il ruolo delle idee nel
Timeo », in Plato Physicus. Cosmologia e antropologia nel Timeo, a cura di Carlo Natali e
Stefano Maso, Amsterdam, Hakkert, p. 83-96.
40 Matthias Baltes (1996), « Gégonen (Platon, Tim. 28b7). Ist die Welt real entstanden
oder nicht ? », in K. Algra, P.W. Van der Horst and D. Runia (eds.), Polyhistor. Studies in
the history of ancient philosophy, presented to Jaap Mansfeld, Leiden, New York, Köln,
Brill, 1996, p. 88.
41 A position that had been anticipated by Jens Halfwassen (2009), « Der Demiurg : seine
Stellung in der Philosophie Platons und seine Deutung im antiken Platonismus », in Ada
Neschke-Hentschke (ed.), Le Timée de Platon. Contribution à l’histoire de saréception,
Paris, Peeters, p. 39-62; and by John Dillon (1997), « The riddle of the Timaeus: is Plato
sowing clues ? », in Mark Joyal (ed.), Studies in Plato and the Platonic tradition, Essays
presented to John Whittaker, Aldershot-Brookfield-Singagore-Sidney, Ahsgate, p. 24-42.
42 Luc Brisson (1997, 2000), « Aristote, Physique IV 2 » [1997], reprinted in Lectures de
Platon, Paris, Vrin, 2000, p. 99-110.
43 John M. Cooper (1982), « Aristotle on natural teleology », in M. Schofield and M. C.
Nussbaum (eds.), Language and logos. Studies in Ancient Greek Philosophy presented to
G.E. L. Owen, Cambridge, p. 197-222.
44 James Lennox (1985), « Plato's unnatural teleology », Platonic investigations, ed. by
Dominic J. O’Meara, Washington, The Catholic University of America, p. 195-218.
45 Stephen Menn, first in « Aristotle and Plato on God and Nous and as the Good », The
Review of Metaphysics 45, 1991-1992, p. 543-574; then in Plato on God as Nous,
Carbondale (Il.), Southern Illinois University Press, 1995. The Journal of the History of
Philosophy Monograph Series]. See also, R. Hackforth ([1936], 1965), « Plato’s theism »,
Studies in Plato’s metaphysics, ed. by R.E. Allen, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul,
439-447; C. H. Chen (1961), « Plato's theistic teleology », Anglican Theological. Review 43,
p. 71-87.
46 This is the interpretation suggested by Thomas K. Johansen (2004), Plato's natural
philosophy. A study of theTimaeus-Critias, Cambridge, New York, CUP.
47 Anthony A. Long (2010), « Cosmic craftsmanship in Plato and Stoicism », in One book,
the whole universe: Plato's Timaeus today, Richard Daniel Mohr and Barbara M. Sattler
(eds.), Las Vegas (Nev.), Parmenides Publications, p. 37-53; Allan Silverman (2010),
Auteur
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