Plato's Demiougos

Background on Plato

• Plato was a Greek Philosopher.
• Born est. 427 BC
• Died est. 347 BC
• Student of Socrates.
• Most commonly known for his ideas on the forms.
• His most famous book was the republic although his ideas on the Demiourge were written in Timaeus.

The Demiurge

• Humans possessed immortal souls, distinct from their bodies. (Dualism)
• For Plato there is a distinct separation between the spiritual and the physical being.
• Plato believes that pre-existing knowlege (A priori) possessed by the immortal human soul is the knowlege known to the supreme deity.
• He calls this deity the Demiurge, or the Craftsman God.
• He is a non intimate, non-imminant God.
• He is the Embodiment of Logos.
• He is why trees have a limit, and why the sea does not continue rising forever.
• It easiest to see him as an Architect. Designing a perfect arrangement for the forms.
• He gives it this name because he believes the Deity used the pre-existing knowlege of the forms to craft the world and it's beings from matter.
• …