Plato on characteristics of god: Laws X. 887c5-899d3
Plato on characteristics of god: Laws X. 887c5-899d3

Summary/Abstract: The following article reconstructs Plato’s argument for the existence of god in Laws X. The article starts with interpreting the argument for the priority of soul (887C-896C) and continues with a discussion of the argumentation for rationality (goodness) of the soul(s) in charge of heavens (896D-899D). The view defended here is that Plato first defines the essential characteristics of the divine, namely self-motion (i.e. activity) and rationality, and then shows that there are entities which possess these characteristics and therefore deserve to be called gods or divine. The article further shows that several sub-arguments mirror the structure of the overall proof.

• Details
• Contents