Timaeus and Critias - Softcover

Plato

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140442618 ISBN 13: 9780140442618

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2006

Synopsis

Taking the form of dialogues between Socrates, Timaeus, Critias and Hermocrates, these two works are among Plato's final writings. In Timaeus, he gives a thorough account of the world in which we live, describing a cosmos composed of four elements - earth, air, fire and water - which combine to give existence to all things. An exploration of the origins of the universe, life and humanity, which outlines not just physical laws but also metaphysical and religious principles, it remained a paradigm of science for two thousand years. The mysterious preamble to Timaeus contains the first account in literature of Atlantis, while the fragmentary Critias, unfinished by its author, provides a spellbinding description of the lost continent's ideal society, which Critias asserts was created by the god-like children of Poseidon himself.

About this title

About the Author:

Plato (c. 427-347 b.c.) founded the Academy in Athens, the prototype of all Western universities, and wrote more than twenty philosophical dialogues.

Desmond Lee (1908-1993) taught for many years at Cambridge University..

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0140442618
• ISBN 13: 9780140442618
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176
• Editor: Lee Desmond