Plato’s Timaeus - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Oct 25, 2005 · In the Timaeus Plato presents an elaborately wrought account of the formation of the universe and an explanation of its impressive order and beauty. The universe, he proposes, is the product of rational, purposive, and beneficent agency.
Philosophy of Cosmology - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sep 26, 2017 · Tweaking the SM, or the standard model of particle physics, by changing the values of these constants seems to lead to a barren cosmos. Focusing on the existence of “life” runs the risk of being too provincial; we don’t have a good general account of what physical systems can support intelligent life.
Plato’s Myths - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Jul 23, 2009 · Because, Burnyeat argues, the Timaeus cosmology is also a theogony (for the created cosmos is for Plato a god), and this shows Plato’s intention to overcome the traditional opposition between muthos and logos. Timaeus speaks about the Demiurge’s practical reasoning for creating the cosmos as he did.
Anaxagoras - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Aug 22, 2007 · He propounded a physical theory of “everything-in-everything,” and claimed that nous (intellect or mind) was the motive cause of the cosmos. He was the first to give a correct explanation of eclipses, and was both famous and notorious for his scientific theories, including the claims that the sun is a mass of red-hot metal, that the moon is ...
Creation and Conservation - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Jul 12, 2007 · Though it is clear that the historical understanding of creation involved a beginning in time (or with time), the fear of conflict with scientific approaches to understanding the cosmos has downplayed this historical understanding.
Plato’s Aesthetics - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Jun 27, 2008 · It is fundamental to understanding Platonic beauty as part of Plato’s aesthetics that Plato sees no opposition between the pleasures that beauty brings and the goals of philosophy. The Timaeus suffices to make that point when it credits contemplation of the heavens with the origins of philosophy.
Empedocles - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
In a well-known passage of Plato's Meno where Socrates is supposed to be giving Empedocles' theory of perception, they come from the object of perception to the organ of perception. In this account there is also a way to distinguish the different kinds of perception.
Cosmology and Theology - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Oct 24, 2011 · The present consensus model of a geometrically flat accelerating universe is usually taken to imply an infinite cosmos. The general attitude of cosmologists is to ignore the troublesome philosophical problems and speak of the infinite universe as …
Proclus - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Mar 16, 2011 · Proclus of Athens (*412–485 C.E.) was the most authoritative philosopher of late antiquity and played a crucial role in the transmission of Platonic philosophy from antiquity to the Middle Ages. For almost fifty years, he was head or ‘successor’ (diadochos, sc. of Plato) of the Platonic ‘Academy’ in Athens. Being an exceptionally ...
Heraclitus - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Feb 8, 2007 · Ever since Plato, Heraclitus has been seen as a philosopher of flux. The challenge in interpreting the philosopher of Ephesus has always been to find a coherent theory in his paradoxical utterances. Since Hegel, he has been seen as a paradigmatic process philosopher–perhaps with some justification.