c2pizza's review against another edition
1.0
This is everything that philosophy should aspire to not be. Presumptuous, anti-empirical, superstitious, and - I highly suspect - intended as a foundational noble lie or creation myth upon which Plato's perfect authoritarian republic could be built. If you are interested in what Deepak Chopra's nonsense would've sounded like 2,500 years ago, then this is the best book to read.
xyzhou's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting theories of soul/morality/divinity. Interesting to think about the way that the human soul is partitioned into divine/not divine. I think Plato seems very optimistic in Timaeus because he believes in this designed universe and a reasoning behind everything-- He also believes that the creator is good. Very Christian-- almost like the creator of the universe is God and all the Greek pantheon are his angels.
Also, I like that the world is alive in a sense, and that we are part of its organism. I like that the world has no feet because it doesn't need to move like that. Really makes you think.
Also, I like that the world is alive in a sense, and that we are part of its organism. I like that the world has no feet because it doesn't need to move like that. Really makes you think.
cielllo's review against another edition
4.0
One WILD cosmogenic ride through astronomy, geometry, mechanics, 4-element chemistry, psychology, physiology and what not! Genesis seems relatively tame. A noticeable shift in history of origin of world from reproduction analogies to a craftsman analogy (deliberate creation). Appears to be like baking the cosmos-dodecahedron from cubes (earth), air (octahedron), fire (pyramid), and water (icosahedron) in A Bowl.
Besides craziness and basic disappointments from modern science perspectives, many highlights.
a) Transmigration of soul (the link of soul - motion strengthens connection with 1st law of thermodynamics & reminds more of Buddhist than Western scriptures)
b) first steps toward Kantian metaphysics/ epistemology/ language by distinguishing between World of Being (Platonic forms) and World of Becoming (sensory perceived things), wherein forms exist in themselves.
c) the microcosm and macrocosm parallelism we find again in Christian medieval cosmology
d) the Demiurge as not omnipotent and not equated with the supreme God or pantheon (different from God of Genesis).
The visual perception accounts are UnHiNGeD; if modern science/ psychology were as creative I probably would enjoy my degree more ngl.
Not much cool stuff about the physiology and medicine paragraphs besides wtf okay. Thanks for diagnosing me with seed in marrow overflowing, Plato, delightful.
Besides craziness and basic disappointments from modern science perspectives, many highlights.
a) Transmigration of soul (the link of soul - motion strengthens connection with 1st law of thermodynamics & reminds more of Buddhist than Western scriptures)
b) first steps toward Kantian metaphysics/ epistemology/ language by distinguishing between World of Being (Platonic forms) and World of Becoming (sensory perceived things), wherein forms exist in themselves.
c) the microcosm and macrocosm parallelism we find again in Christian medieval cosmology
d) the Demiurge as not omnipotent and not equated with the supreme God or pantheon (different from God of Genesis).
The visual perception accounts are UnHiNGeD; if modern science/ psychology were as creative I probably would enjoy my degree more ngl.
Not much cool stuff about the physiology and medicine paragraphs besides wtf okay. Thanks for diagnosing me with seed in marrow overflowing, Plato, delightful.
kricitt's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.75
Waterfield is by far my favorite translator of Plato. Easy to read, great explanatory notes; definitely recommended.
casparb's review against another edition
4.0
Ok spicy ones! I was looking forward to Timaeus and wasn't disappointed. Critias I read on a whim, as it continues from T.
So I'm thinking mostly of Timaeus here. I think it's the text which makes Plato the most difficult to reconcile with for Christian orthodoxies a few centuries later. But there are plenty of shared ideas with contemporary Jewish metaphysics, it seems to me. Certainly the image of the Demiurge and the immortal as fiery circles brought to mind the apparition of angels in the blazing opening of Ezekiel.
Critias is mostly about Atlantis - for those that weren't aware, these dialogues are (I think?) the originary sources on the topic. This is why depictions of Atlantis in pop culture tend to have a Grecian aesthetic. I think Critias would be most fruitfully read against the Republic? It wasn't the more riveting of the two.
The metaphysics of Timaeus are an awful lot. Was impressed. There are passages here that I see in very contemporary philosophy - 'being is to becoming what truth is to belief'.
We are circles upon circles. O you who turn the wheel etc etc. The divine form. EZ again: I will overturn, overturn, overturn.
The text is rather down on women in more peculiar ways than we are accustomed to from texts of its type: 'He who lived well would return to his native star, and would there have a blessed existence; but, if he lived ill, he would pass into the nature of a woman, and if he did not then alter his evil ways, into the likeness of some animal'. Besides this being frankly bizarre, I think one could draw interesting inferences about gender from the conception of 'woman as purgatory'.
So I'm thinking mostly of Timaeus here. I think it's the text which makes Plato the most difficult to reconcile with for Christian orthodoxies a few centuries later. But there are plenty of shared ideas with contemporary Jewish metaphysics, it seems to me. Certainly the image of the Demiurge and the immortal as fiery circles brought to mind the apparition of angels in the blazing opening of Ezekiel.
Critias is mostly about Atlantis - for those that weren't aware, these dialogues are (I think?) the originary sources on the topic. This is why depictions of Atlantis in pop culture tend to have a Grecian aesthetic. I think Critias would be most fruitfully read against the Republic? It wasn't the more riveting of the two.
The metaphysics of Timaeus are an awful lot. Was impressed. There are passages here that I see in very contemporary philosophy - 'being is to becoming what truth is to belief'.
We are circles upon circles. O you who turn the wheel etc etc. The divine form. EZ again: I will overturn, overturn, overturn.
The text is rather down on women in more peculiar ways than we are accustomed to from texts of its type: 'He who lived well would return to his native star, and would there have a blessed existence; but, if he lived ill, he would pass into the nature of a woman, and if he did not then alter his evil ways, into the likeness of some animal'. Besides this being frankly bizarre, I think one could draw interesting inferences about gender from the conception of 'woman as purgatory'.
tdwightdavis's review against another edition
4.0
A little boring at times, but a good, quick read. We get a lot of Plato's philosophy of God/the gods here, which is really interesting. Also a lot of stuff about Atlantis, which is cool too. A lot to chew on here for a theologian.