Single Idea 309

[catalogued under 27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 1. Cosmology]

Full Idea

If the world is beautiful and its maker good, he had an eye on the eternal; if not, on that which is subject to change; clearly the world is the fairest of things, and he the best of causes, so it is eternal.

Clarification

'Beauty' is the Greek word 'kalos', which also translates as 'fine'

Gist of Idea

Clearly the world is good, so its maker must have been concerned with the eternal, not with change

Source

Plato (Timaeus [c.362 BCE], 29a)

Book Reference

Plato: 'Timaeus and Critias', ed/tr. Lee,Desmond [Penguin 1971], p.41