1. Scientific or Unscientific? (for class discussion)

• God (the Demiurge) and the creation of the cosmos
• Soul(s)
• The planets and the stars
• Time
• Vision (and the head, and hearing)
• The four elements (and their matter)

2. Part I of the dialogue: The contributions of Reason

Topics for discussion:

• A. Timaeus' "Likely Story" of a "Likeness"

  Epistemic and ontological correlates in Republic V-VI

  Plato's attack on poetry and images in Republic X

  Images and false statement in the Sophist
  

• B. Being and Becoming (and the Receptacle)

  Plato on Heraclitean flux (+ Protagorean skepticism) in the Theaetetus
  

• C. Same and Different

  The Five "Greatest Kinds" in the Sophist
  

• D. Soul: Immortal vs. mortal (topic is postponed until next week)

  
  

• E. Time and Eternity

  Two views on the "aeon" of the Forms (cf. Whittaker article)

  • Cherniss: The forms have a durationless eternity
  • Cornford: The forms have an eternity of enduring duration

3. Part II of the dialogue: The contributions of Necessity

Topics for discussion:

• A. What is the Receptacle, anyway?

  Anticipation of readings on gender and value in Plato (for two weeks hence)

• B. The four elements

  • What they are before they are organized by the Demiurge

  • Cf. M-L Gill, R. Mohr: issues of flux, substance, and identification

  • Details of the geometrical analysis (See illustrations provided by S. Marc Cohen, University of Washington, at his web page on the Timaeus: here.)