Introduction to the Philosophy and Writings of Plato

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men dwelling with the gods, and truly blessed. Philolaus Philolaus of Croton was a leading Pythagorean philosopher whose work Plato studied; he was one of the first to commit the oral Pythagorean teachings to writing., therefore, the Pythagorean A follower of Pythagoras, emphasizing mathematics, harmony, and the soul’s journey., has left for us in writing admirable conceptions about these principles, celebrating their common progression into beings, and their separate fabrication. Again, in the Timaeus Plato’s seminal work on the creation of the physical world., endeavouring to teach us about the sublunary gods Gods whose domain is "below the moon," governing the changing, physical realm of Earth. and their order, Plato flies to theologists, calls them the sons of the gods, and makes them the fathers of the truth about these divinities. And lastly, he delivers the orders of the sublunary gods proceeding from wholes, according to the progression delivered by theologists of the intellectual kings. Further still, in the Cratylus A dialogue exploring the origin of language and the names of the gods. he follows the traditions of theologists respecting the order of the divine processions. But in the Gorgias A dialogue focusing on rhetoric, justice, and the fate of the soul. he adopts the Homeric dogma, respecting the triadic hypostases Literally "underlying realities"; the distinct levels of existence or essence within the divine hierarchy. of the demiurgi The plural of 'demiurge'—the divine craftsmen who fashion the world according to eternal patterns.. And, in short, he every where discourses concerning the gods agreeably to the principles of theologists Proclus uses this term for ancient poets like Orpheus, whom he believed possessed divinely inspired knowledge of the gods.; rejecting indeed the tragical part of mythological fiction, but establishing first hypotheses in common with the authors of fables.

“Perhaps, however, some one may here object to us, that we do not in a proper manner exhibit the every where dispersed theology of Plato, and that we endeavour to heap together different particulars from different dialogues, as if we were studious of collecting many things into one mixture, instead of deriving them all from one and the same fountain. For if this were our intention, we might indeed refer different dogmas to different treatises of Plato, but we shall by no means have a precedaneous A primary or foundational doctrine that precedes others. doctrine concerning the gods, nor will there be any dialogue which presents us with an all–perfect and entire procession of the divine genera The different "families" or classes of divine beings., and their coordination with each other. But we shall be similar to those who endeavor to obtain a whole from parts, through the want of a whole prior[9] to parts, and to weave together the perfect, from things imperfect, when, on the contrary, the imperfect ought to have the first cause of its generation in the perfect. For the Timaeus, for instance, will teach us the theory of the intelligible genera, and the Phaedrus appears to present us with a regular account of the first intellectual orders. But where will be the coordination of intellectuals to intelligibles? And what will be the generation of second from first natures? In short, after what manner the progression of the divine orders takes place from the one principle of all things, and how in the generations of the gods, the orders between the one, and all–perfect number, are filled up, we shall be unable to evince.

[9] A whole prior to parts is that which causally contains parts in itself. Such parts too, when they proceed from their occult Hidden or non-manifest. causal subsistence, and have a distinct being of their own, are nevertheless comprehended, though in a different manner, in their producing whole.

“Further still, it may be said, where will be the venerableness of your boasted science about divine natures? For it is absurd to call these dogmas, which are collected from many places, Platonic, and which, as you acknowledge, are reduced from foreign names to the philosophy of Plato; nor are you able to evince the whole entire truth about divine natures. Perhaps, indeed, they will say that certain persons, junior to Plato Refers to later philosophers, likely including the Neoplatonists themselves, who attempted to systematize these ideas., have delivered in their writings, and left to their disciples, one perfect form of philosophy. You, therefore, are able to produce one entire theory about nature from the Timaeus; but from the Republic, or Laws, the most beautiful dogmas about morals, and which tend to one form of philosophy. Alone, therefore, neglecting the treatise of Plato, which contains all the good of the first philosophy, and which may be called the summit of the whole theory, you will be deprived of the most perfect knowledge of beings, unless you are so much infatuated as to boast on account of fabulous fictions, though an analysis of things of this kind abounds with much of the probable, but not of the demonstrative. Besides, things of this kind are only delivered adventitiously Incidently or as a secondary addition. in the Platonic dialogues; as the fable in the Protagoras, which is inserted for the sake of the political science, and the demonstrations respecting it. In like manner the fable in the Republic is inserted for the sake of justice; and in the Gorgias for the sake of temperance. For Plato combines fabulous narrations with investigations of ethical dogmas, not for the sake of the fables, but for the sake of the leading design, that we may not only exercise the intellectual part of the soul, through contending reasons, but that the divine part of the soul may more perfectly receive the knowledge of beings, through its sympathy with more mystic concerns. For from other discourses we resemble those who are compelled to the reception of truth; but from fables we are affected in an ineffable Unspeakable or beyond words. manner, and call forth our unperverted conceptions, venerating the mystic information which they contain.