Plato and the Laws of Nature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_12_14Keywords:
Laws of Nature, Plato, Timaeus, Model, FunctionAbstract
In this article I look at the description of the model (paradeigma) in the Timaeus. I will first make a few comments about the context in which the model is introduced in the Timaeus as a component of the intelligible reality. Then, I will point out what the exact extension of the intelligible in the Timaeus is and what precisely the model is in such a con-text. Finally, I will suggest that a possible way to understand the model is as an optimal realization of a functionality. This, I shall argue, is a plausible way to understand what the Forms are in Plato’s metaphysics. Nevertheless, this conception will turn out to involve some difficulties, as Plato also seems to assume a more substantial conception of the model in the Timaeus (this latter point will not be investigated in this article). However a functionalist interpretation of the model gives a justification for the claim that the cosmos is the best possible result of the demiurge’s action.
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