Plato and Hellenistic Philosophy

Oxford University Press + The New Alexandria Library of Texas , 1928

This Super Rare Commentary provides a scholarly and in-depth analysis of one of Plato's most influential and complex dialogues. As a professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the British Academy, Taylor brings to the work a combination of philosophical insight and historical rigor. The commentary begins with a thorough investigation into the authenticity of the dialogue, addressing questions of authorship and its attribution to Plato, followed by an analysis of the date of composition, situating Timaeus within the broader context of Platonic thought and its philosophical development. Taylor outlines the general plan of the dialogue, examining its structure and the themes of cosmology, metaphysics, and the nature of the universe, while drawing attention to Plato's unique approach to explaining the origins of the world and the role of divine intelligence in its creation. The commentary also explores the relations of Timaeus to other dialogues, highlighting how it fits within the overall trajectory of Plato’s philosophy, especially in relation to works like The Republic and Phaedo. In addition to the philosophical content, Taylor provides subsidia—valuable resources and references—to aid in the study of the dialogue. This includes proposed divergences from Burnet's text, where Taylor offers critical amendments and alternative readings to the established interpretation of Plato’s work, contributing to ongoing scholarly discourse. The book concludes with detailed notes and indexes of personal names and Greek words, which serve as invaluable tools for scholars and students seeking to navigate the linguistic and historical complexities of the text. Taylor’s commentary is an essential resource for those seeking a deeper understanding of Timaeus, its philosophical implications, and its place in the history of Western thought. In essence, Taylor’s Commentary on Plato's Timaeus is not only an exegesis of Plato’s cosmological vision but also an exploration of the textual and interpretive challenges that continue to shape the study of ancient philosophy. TAGS RELATED TO BOOK BELOW: Plato, Timaeus, A. E. 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Journal of Hellenic Studies 130, 2010

Phronesis-a Journal for Ancient Philosophy, 2007

Th is paper brings Calcidius' 4th. c. AD Latin commentary on Plato's Timaeus into the fold of research on the methodological assumptions and hermeneutical practices of the ancient commentary tradition. Th e first part deals with the question of how Calcidius sees his role as a commentator in relation to the original text, to his audience, and to the Platonist tradition. Th e second part examines the organizing principles and structuring devices of the commentary, and what these can tell us about connections between exegesis and worldview. As with many other commentaries, Calcidius' purpose becomes clearer if we approach him from a pedagogical angle. His practice, like most of the content of his commentary, appears to connect him to older layers of Platonism, pre-dating so-called Neoplatonism. It reveals a distinct authorial voice, of someone who is very conscious of his role as a cultural mediator and who has a philosophical line to pursue.

This is the fourth in series of brief, analytic biographies of the 'Top-Nine' thinkers, whose thoughts have powerfully influenced large numbers of people across extended time scales. They are all reviewed here in the order of their birth. Negative thinkers (e.g. Hitler, Stalin) are ignored, while 'Mythic' talkers (like Jesus) are also ignored as little direct written information is available. Plato has the enviable reputation as the first teacher of Greek Philosophy (the attempt to describe our living world in a structured set of regular words). He has dominated the European approach to the Greek View and defined too much of the Art of Philosophy. He was a hugely derivative thinker: building on Socrates and Pythagoras with a hidden agenda of enforcing the aristocratic viewpoint on every society. His attempt to impose abstraction on his thinking led him to steal Parmenides' empty theory of 'Forms', where even simple problems became twisted into no sense. His longlasting achievement was the establishment of schools ('Academies') to propagandize an unending number of mediocrities to maintain his reputation and authority. The 'Theory of Forms' underlies Plato's most original work (The Republic) where attempts to promote a timeless model of society controlled by 'his' type of intellectual. There is little thought of personal freedom or individual rights as everything is tightly defined and controlled for the State and its Directors. Like too many clever intellectuals, Plato only admired one aspect of living that he was capable of defining. He had no time for the Arts (and certainly not Entertainment) that he saw as distractive. His real success was inspiring his best pupil (Aristotle) to construct the study of thinking and research, so as to establish his own rival school (the Lyceum). Unfortunately, Plato's writing style became venerated as the model for the written word, while being first has kept his reputation as unimpeachable. This essay allowed me to investigate directly one of the most influential thinkers that have played too strong a role in western thinking, especially the rigid significance of mathematics in descriptions of frozen reality: a broad myth that is rarely challenged enough today [see my Numbers essay].

2013

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Edited by Harold Tarrant, University of Newcastle Australia, Danielle A. Layne, Gonzaga University, Dirk Baltzly, University of Tasmania and Monash University, and François Renaud, Université de Moncton Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity offers a comprehensive account of the ways in which ancient readers responded to Plato, as philosopher, as author, and more generally as a central figure in the intellectual heritage of Classical Greece, from his death in the fourth century BCE until the Platonist and Aristotelian commentators in the sixth century CE. The volume is divided into three sections: ‘Early Developments in Reception’ (four chapters); ‘Early Imperial Reception’ (nine chapters); and ‘Early Christianity and Late Antique Platonism’ (eighteen chapters). Sectional introductions cover matters of importance that could not easily be covered in dedicated chapters. The book demonstrates the great variety of approaches to and interpretations of Plato among even h...

Aestimatio : Critical Reviews in the History of Science, 2015