Plato's Timaeus as Cultural Icon

by Gretchen Reydams-Schils (Editor)

Overview

In recent years, Plato's Timaeus has recaptured the interest of scholars, sparking an exploration of the astonishing influence this work has had on a wide range of intellectual traditions. Plato's Timaeus as Cultural Icon brings together a group of leading experts from Canada, the United States, and Europe to examine the reception of Plato's Timaeus throughout history, as well as its impact on major intellectual and cultural traditions.

Gretchen J. Reydams-Schils's enlightening introduction tackles the issue of why the Timaeus has enjoyed such tremendous cultural status and sets the stage for the many topics covered in this volume, which include an assessment of the Timaeus's influence on Plato's successors, an examination of how it became connected to traditions of sacred texts, an analysis of the "mind-body problem," the tradition of music and its relation to philosophy, the cultural impact of Calcidius's Latin translation of the work, and the interaction between the Timaeus and Islamic philosophy. As a collaborative effort of expert philosophers, classicists, and historians, this remarkable book serves as a wonderful starting point and research tool for anyone with an interest in Plato's Timaeus.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268038717
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	01/08/2003
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gretchen Reydams-Schils is associate professor in the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Contributors: Michael J. B. Allen, Werner Beierwaltes, Luc Brisson, Cristina D’Ancona, John Dillon, Paul Edward Dutton, Stephen Gersh, Carlos Lévy, Rhonda Martens, Mitchell Miller, David T. Runia, Kenneth Sayre, and Richard Sorabji

Editorial Reviews

Considered by most scholars to be one of Plato's last works, the Timaeus is less philosophical dialog than rhetorical display. Though it begins with Socrates reviewing his previous day's discussion of the various institutions of the ideal state, the majority of the text is taken up by Timaeus' long philosophical disquisition on the creation of the world. Because the text sets out the foundations of a number of sciences (astronomy, chemistry, cosmology, and physics, to name just a few), it became a central text of Platonism in later antiquity and in the Middle Ages and is still studied as a central element in the canon of Plato's thought. Under the capable editorship of Reydams-Schils (liberal studies, Univ. of Notre Dame), the present volume brings together 13 essays by scholars from the United States, Europe, and Canada that address the influence and cultural status of the Timaeus since its appearance more than two millennia ago. Reydams-Schils's well-written and perceptive introduction deals with the reasons for the dialog's special place in Western thought and also serves to introduce the essays themselves, which deal with topics as wide-ranging as its influence on our perception of the mind-body relation (Richard Sorabji), the Timaeus and Renaissance science (M.J.B. Allen), and the relationship between the Timaeus and the Chaldaean Oracles (Luc Brisson). This collection is an excellent and reasonably priced support to studies of Plato's dialogs in general and the Timaeus in particular. Recommended for all academic libraries and larger public libraries with collections in the origins of Western thought.-Terry Skeats, Bishop's Univ. Lib., Lennoxville, Quebec

Library Journal

"This volume contains thirteen papers from a conference held at Notre Dame.... The papers discuss the interpretation and significance of Plato's Timaeus from the Old Academy to nineteenth-century German philosophy. There is an introductory overview by the editor, as well as a bibliography, index locorum, and a general index. ...of high quality." —Speculum

"...Reydams-Schils' Plato's Timaeus as Cultural Icon is a paradigm of what a book of essays on the influence of a dialogue should be. First and foremost, the articles are first-rate. Moreover, they cover an extraordinary range of topics, thinkers and time-periods. This is an excellent collection." —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

“As a collaborative effort of expert philosophers, classicists, and historians, this remarkable book serves as a wonderful starting point and research tool for anyone with an interest in Plato’s Timaeus.” —Philosophical Inquiry

“Under the capable editorship of Reydams-Schils, the present volume brings together 13 essays by scholars from the United States, Europe and Canada that address the influence and cultural status of the Timaeus since its appearance more than two millennia ago...This collection is an excellent and reasonably priced support for studies of Plato’s dialogs in general and the Timaeus in particular." —Library Journal

“Each essay is a model of careful scholarship.” —The Sixteenth Century Journal

“...an impressive testimony to the dialogue’s enduring influence.” —Mouseion: Journal of the Classical Association of Canada

"The overall quality of the papers is far better than average for a volume of this sort. They deserve to be read by all advanced students in the Platonic tradition." —Classical World

“The thirteen articles in this volume are papers originally presented in 2000 at a conference at Notre Dame. Two of them deal with some intrinsic problems of the dialogue itself, while the rest depict the various phases of its fortuna up to Schelling.” —Classical World

From the Publisher

“As a collaborative effort of expert philosophers, classicists, and historians, this remarkable book serves as a wonderful starting point and research tool for anyone with an interest in Plato’s Timaeus.

Philosophical Inquiry