Geração como princípio do mundo no “Timeu” de Platão

At the beginning of his cosmology, Timaeus establishes two principles: what is and never ceases to be, what is generated and never is something. This conference aims to analyze the second of these principles, called generation to show how the construction of the world as something that is generated but remains something, never eliminates the process of continuous flow implied in generation. To this end, I dedicate myself to the second part of Timaeus’ argument, devoted to the issue of “anankê”, with particular attention to pre-cosmic reality. My first point is to show that the latter consists of horizontally interacting powers that are metaphysical primitives—uncaused first causes. Then, I show that they are causal agents of the law of displacement of bodies, that is, their natural tendency to move towards similar bodies. Part of this proof is to show that this tendency is not projected by the demiurge.

The lecture will be in Portuguese.

Event supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e para a Tecnologia) of the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science under the project UIDB/00183/2020 and UIDP/00183/2020.