The Timaeus as Vehicle for Platonic Doctrine

Abstract

The Timaeus, I argue, encodes in its cryptic opening lines Plato’s confirmation that the dialogue represents his own views. This corresponds to the fact that a series of metaphysical, psychological, and ethical theses defended by the main speakers of other dialogues are displayed in Timaeus’ speech as components of a global system. Which in turn provides neglected support for the too often dismissed ‘mouthpiece theory’. Although these doctrines can look a little unfamiliar when they reappear in the Timaeus, that need not represent a change of mind on Plato’s part, just the fact that they are being viewed from the point of view of physics—the physics of tripartition, the physics of Form-participation, etc. Once we see how Timaeus’ presentation draws on Platonic doctrine, I argue, we can use this lesson to see how yet another Platonic doctrine, that of Recollection, puts in a hitherto unnoticed appearance in the dialogue.