cause-and-reason beyond all else, theTimaeusreverts to the popular notion, already
encountered in theEuthyphro(12), of the highest god as father of all. This is then
explicated in the way outlined at the beginning of this chapter. But what Plato says
about a creator god inRepublic10 and in theTimaeus, what he says in thePhaedrus,
thePoliticus, thePhilebus, and theLawsabout soul and about god, all has the
character of myth and allegory, designed to persuade. The starting point of explan-
ation, throughout Plato’s work, is the conviction that the world is, actually, good.
Any explanation of the world must therefore not only explain the physical constitu-
tion of things, it must explain the good. But at the same time, the explanation must
be such that it is acceptable to those whom Plato wants to be persuaded by his ethics
otherwise. Myths about god are tales of persuasion.
Epilogue
Plato had created a purely rational theology. He never presented it in abstract form,
and he never characterized it as a logical construct. Instead, the leading characters in
the dialogues, Socrates, Timaeus, the Athenian guest in theLaws, are at pains to stress
their own belief in the gods and the necessity of such a belief in any form of human
society. This lack of disambiguation between rational enterprise and social necessity
was a deliberate ploy on Plato’s part that allowed him to resolve the difficulty that lay
in a dual readership, an educated audience of upper-class Greeks without any special
philosophical training, and a highly skilled group of logicians, mathematicians,
astronomers, biologists, and legal experts in the Academy and related institutions.
But this lack of disambiguation proved fatal. The philosophical schools of the Acad-
emy and the Lyceum propagated a derivative henotheistic doctrine; Aristotle in
particular inMetaphysicsL7–10 presents an elaborate construct of a prime mover
in an attempt to fulfill the demands of both logic and physics, failing on both counts.
At the other end of the spectrum stood the pale reflection that was the Stoickosmos
with its divine, impersonal intelligence, a material god that had emanated out of the
Platonic myth. Only the uncaring gods of Epicurus defy all the efforts of the Athenian
guest inLaws 10. Plato’s god, however, found his most fruitful reception, via
Neoplatonism, in Christian theology: the Greek Church Fathers, Augustine (see
especiallyCity of God, Book 8), Boethius (see not least hisConsolation of Philosophy).
And, to jump from the beginning to the end of the Middle Ages, at least three of
Aquinas’ proofs of the existence of God, the cosmological, the causal, and the
teleological, can trace their origins to the conception of god in Plato’s dialogues.
GUIDE TO FURTHER READINGW.K.C. Guthrie’sHistory of Greek Philosophy(Guthrie 1962–81) has held its place as a readable,
wide-ranging, conservative introductory account of Greek philosophy. For a very short intro-
duction to ancient philosophy, one may turn to Sedley 2003; useful tables and timelines, a
glossary, and extensive bibliographies are among the many positive features of this collection of
essays; amongst these Most 2003 offers a cursory overview of the themes, problems, and
396 Fritz-Gregor Herrmann