Cosmos and Perception in Plato’s Timaeus: In the Eye of the Cognitive Storm

Description

This volume offers a wide-ranging study on perception in the Timaeus, not only discussing senses such as touch, taste, and olfaction alongside audition and vision but also engaging with Timaeus’ wider cosmological project. Most studies of perception in the Timaeus focus on a few narrow passages on vision and audition. By taking the broader approach of this volume, important lessons about the nature of perception may be gleaned from Timaeus’ cosmogony, psychogony, and anthropogony. While there is an emerging modern consensus that the Timaeus should be read literally, this study argues against a literal interpretation of the spatial and kinetic properties of the soul in favour of a metaphorical understanding. Not only does this yield a rich account of the intentionality of cognition but also sheds light onto the nature of the soul-body union. In addition, this volume argues for the largely overlooked significance of Timaean anatomy, as it contributes to our understanding of the providential scheme of Timaeus’ cosmology more generally. Cosmos and Perception in Plato’s Timaeus is of interest to students and scholars of the Timaeus and Plato’s thought more broadly, as well as those working on ancient theories of perception and the philosophy of mind. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures Acknowledgments Preface 1 Proemium 1.1 Proemium 1.2 The Invocation of the Gods 1.3 Being and Becoming 1.4 The Cause of All 1.5 Maker and Father 1.6 The Generation of the Cosmos 1.7 Model and Image 1.8 “Likely” Account 1.9 Concluding Observations 2 Cosmogony 2.1 The Cosmic Significance of Sense and Sensibilia 2.2 The Uniqueness of the Cosmos 2.3 The Elemental Composition of the Cosmos 2.4 The Comprehensiveness of the Cosmos 2.5 The Shape of the Cosmos 2.6 Concluding Observations 3 Psychogony 3.1 Psychogony and the Philosophy of Perception 3.2 Embodiment and Psychogony 3.3 The Soul–Body Union 3.4 Soul Mixture 3.5 Proportional Division 3.6 The Circles of the Same and the Different 3.7 Aporiai 3.8 Concluding Observations 4 Cognitive Revolution 4.1 Psychogony and Cognitive Power 4.2 The Objects of Cognition 4.3 Substantial Mixture, Proportional Division, and Structure 4.4 Ephaptētai 4.5 Cognitive Activity 4.6 Knowledge and Opinion 4.7 The Cognitive Significance of Circular Motion 4.8 Concluding Observations 5 Embodiment 5.1 Cosmic and Encosmic Embodiment 5.2 The Demiurge’s Address 5.3 The Immortal Part 5.4 The Laws of Destiny 5.5 The Shock of Embodiment 5.6 The Generation of the Human Body 5.7 Concluding Observations 6 The End of Vision and Audition 6.1 A Sensory Soteriology 6.2 Vision 6.3 The Eye and the Body Proper to the Day 6.4 The Compounding of the Visual Body 6.5 Extinguishing the Eye’s Fiery Emission 6.6 Sleep and Dreams 6.7 Timaean Catoptrics 6.8 Aitia and Sunaitia 6.9 The End of Vision 6.10 The End of Audition 6.11 Concluding Observations 7 Common Pathēmata 7.1 Pathēmata 7.2 Hot and Cold 7.3 Hard and Soft 7.4 Heavy and Light 7.5 Smooth and Rough 7.6 Pleasure and Pain 7.7 Concluding Observations 8 Peculiar Pathēmata 8.1 Common versus Peculiar Pathēmata 8.2 The Tongue 8.3 The Nostrils 8.4 The Ears 8.5 The Eyes 8.5.1 Color, Fire, and Flame 8.5.2 Chromatic Affections 8.5.3 Primary Colors 8.5.4 Brilliant 8.5.5 Red 8.5.6 P roportion, Divine Bonds, and the Chromatic Unknown 8.5.7 Color Mixture 8.5.8 Interpreting Timaean Color Mixture 8.5.9 The Minimalist Interpretation 8.5.10 Against Democritus 8.5.11 Theophrastus’ Objections 8.6 Concluding Observations 9 The Anatomy of Tripartition 9.1 On the Significance of Timaean Anatomy 9.2 Tripartition in the Timaeus 9.3 The Number of Demiurgic Agency 9.4 Reason 9.5 Spirit 9.6 Appetite 9.7 Music and the Liver 9.8 Concluding Observations 10 The Bonds of Life 10.1 The Soul–Body Union for Mortals 10.2 Marrow 10.3 Bone 10.4 The Location of the Mortal Soul 10.5 The Incorporeality of the Mortal Soul 10.6 The Unity of the Soul 10.7 Concluding Observations Bibliography Index