Sian 7th November
The Background to the Debate about God
Plato
- Born in 427BC, died 347. Pupil of Socrates. Socrates condemned to death, for corrupting the young, getting them to think for themselves, challenging views of parents/elders.
- Left Athens and travelled. Returned, established a school, ‘The Academy’, dissolved by the Roman Emperor Justinian 529AD.
- Plato’s God – Demiurge. Didn’t create matter. Raw matter has always existed. Demiurge took matter, moulded it. Potter doesn’t make the clay, shapes it. Demiurge used pre-existent matter to fashion universe. Enabled universe to share in perfection putting it into mind or soul otherwise wouldn’t be present in matter.
- Demiurge used model to work from, matter being in space/time imperfectly resembled perfectly heavenly forms, which existed outside time/space. Time was ‘moving image of eternity’ only an image of eternal forms, not identical.
- When people saw examples of truth, justice, beauty or goodness, these were pale reflections of the perfect form of ‘truth’ etc.