Plato on God as nous
By: Stephen Menn.
Series: The Journal of the history of philosophy monograph series
Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Carbondale
Language: eng
Number of pages: 86
Subjects: Plato -- Religion.; God -- History of doctrines.; Noos (The Greek word)
Description: This book is the first sustained modern investigation of Platoʹs theology. A central thesis of the book is that Plato had a theology -- not just a mythology for the ideal city, not just the theory of forms or the theory of cosmic souls, but also, irreducible to any of these, an account of God as Nous (Reason), the source of rational order both to souls and the world of bodies. The understanding of God as Reason, and of the world as governed directly or indirectly by Reason, is worked out in the dialogues of Platoʹs last period, the Statesman, Philebus, Timaeus, and Laws. These dialogues offer a strategy for explaining the physical world that goes beyond anything in the middle dialogues, and gives the best starting point for understanding the cosmologies and theologies of Aristotle, the Stoics, and later ancient thinkers. -- Back cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-81) and index.
"Published for The Journal of the History of Philosophy, Inc."