All things natural : Ficino on Plato's Timaeus / [translation by] Arthur Frandell ; notes and additional material by Peter Blumsom.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ficino, Marsilio, 1433-1499.

Contributor:

Farndell, Arthur.

Blumsom, Peter.

Ficino, Marsilio, 1433-1499.

Series:

Commentaries by Ficino on Plato's writing.

Commentaries by Ficino on Plato's writing

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plato. Timaeus.

Plato.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (225 p.)

Place of Publication:

London : Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd., 2010.

Summary:

Marsilio Ficino, a leading scholar of the Italian Renaissance who translated all the works of Plato into Latin, examines Plato's Timaeus, the most widely influential and hotly debated of the Platonic writings. Offering a probable account of the creation and nature of the cosmos, the discussion incorporates such questions as What is the function of arithmetic and geometry in the design of creation? What is the nature of mind, soul, matter, and time? and What is our place in the universe? To his main commentary Ficino adds an appendix, which amplifies and elucidates Plato's meanings and reveals fascinating details about Ficino himself.

Contents:

Cover

Copyright

Contents

Acknowledgements

Translator's Note on the Latin Texts

Marsilio Ficino's Compendium on the Timaeus

1 The subject matter of the book

2 The arrangement of the book and its parts

3 Introduction to the dialogue

4 An allegory of history

contents of the prologue

5 The fall of Phaethon

floods

fires

a description of Minerva

6 The finest directions concerning prayers and entreaties

7 The world has three causes higher than itself, depends on the incorporeal cause, and is ever in flux

8 The Good Itself, rather than subsequent causes, is the cause of all things, and it has no direct relationship with anything

9 The dependence of matter on the Good Itself

the action of the mind and soul upon matter

and the intelligible world

10 The Sun, light, radiance, brilliance, heat, procreation

likewise unity, goodness, intellect, soul, nature, the body of the world, the image of the higher worlds

11 Individual orders are taken back to individual heads, and the universal order is taken back to the universal head, by which all things are composed through action and power

12 Matter was not in disarray prior to the world in time, but was arranged according to some principle of order or origin

13 Two views concerning the origin of the world

14 A threefold inference drawn from Plato's view of the world, and what is undisputed about his view

15 By the grace of the Good the world has been brought into being in the likeness of the divine principle and the divine word

16 Why the world is one, why it is spherical, and why its movement is spherical

17 Why the world is divided into five or six regions

how the number seven is right for it

circular number

and how the world is arranged in the likeness of the intelligible world.

18 Why there are distinct parts within the world and why there is opposition among them

also concerning the four elements

19 Numbers linear, plane, and solid

why a single intermediary is sufficient between planes but is not sufficient between solids

how mathematical ratios are related to physical ratios

20 The first consideration: why the number four in relation to the elements befits the world

21 The second consideration: proving the same

22 The third consideration: confirming the same

23 The fourth consideration of the same

and the powers and ratios of the elements

24 The whole world is composed of four elements

how these elements are under a particular principle in the heavens and under a different principle beneath the Moon

25 Circular motion is the property of every sphere in constant movement

and light is the principal property of fire

26 A confirmation of what was said earlier

concerning fire, ether, the composition of the heavens, and the daemons in the heavens and beneath the heavens

27 On the spirit of the world, that is, on intellect, soul, intelligence, and nature

28 On the composition of the soul, and why the soul needs five elements for its constitution

29 Why the soul is compared to a compound and to musical harmony

30 The propositions and proportions related to Pythagorean and Platonic music

31 In musical harmonies one is produced from the many

how harmony is defined

32 Which harmonies arise from which proportions

33 On the harmonious composition of the soul

34 The main points about the harmonic numbers which lead to the composition of the soul

34*From the intervals of the spheres Plato seeks the intervals of the ratios between the parts of the soul

35 How the intervals of the double and triple numbers are filled

36 The division of the soul

motion.

and time

37 The arrangement of the living world through its limbs

the opposite movements of revolutions

and the intersectors of axes and orbits

38 Right and left in the cosmos

the movements of the firmament, of the planets, and of the fixed stars

the arrangement of the soul

39 The great harmony, within the cosmic being, between the soul and the heavens and between the heavens and the elements, in relation to the higher worlds and the orders of divinities

40 Those things which come into being directly from God, and those things which come into being through intermediaries

the words of God in relation to the gods

and the providence of the gods

41 Man's relationship to soul and body

42 How the world is composed of mind and necessity

43 Natural phenomena are based on the principles of mathematics

concerning the elements and compounds

44 More on man: how much regard he gives to the soul, and how much to the body

45 On the outward and inward breath, according to Plato and Galen

46 On the good health and poor health of the body and the soul

The Chapter Divisions of the Timaeus with brief commentaries as given by Marsilio Ficino

Notes to the Compendium

Soul Numbers

Glossary

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Related Work:

Ficino, Marsilio, 1433-1499. Selections. English. 2008.

ISBN:

0-85683-358-4

OCLC:

690213053