VIC159H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: F. M. Cornford, Omnipotence, Stoicism
3 May 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Ancient greek thought was always that order came from disorder spontaneously - in the beginning was chaos. The god described by timaeus is external to the unformed world. The world must also be indestructible, as the only way to destroy the world internally is through violence or decay, violence will never destroy the cosmos because elements exist in perfect harmony. Decay will never destroy the world because the death of any part of the cosmos (animal, person, vegetation, etc. ) works to nourish the whole. Nothing external can destroy the world, according to timaeus, because the god that created it. Used up the whole of each of the four elements when creating it. Essentially, timaeus is stating there there is nothing outside the world, the only power that could undo the cosmos would be the god that created it, but he wouldn"t due to his benevolency.
