O'Brien, Carl (2012) The Middle Platonist Demiurge and Stoic Cosmobiology. Horizons: Seoul Journal of Humanities. pp. 19-39. ISSN 2671-7921

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Abstract

Given the variety of speculation on world-generation, this article examines the extent to which use of the Demiurge of Plato’s Timaeus by subsequent thinkers canbe regarded as part of a coherent narrative. Although not advocating the existenceo a demiurgic “system,” demiurgy is defned in contrast to Judaeo-Christian creationand its chief characteristics are enumerated. While the Demiurge is not of majorimportance within the Old Academy, he survives within Stoic conceptions of the logos , which itself combines aspects of the technological or banausic imagery o the Demiurge, alongside infuences derived from Aristotelian biological theory. This article examines the extent to which the Stoic logos can be regarded as the ancestorol the Demiurge found in Philo of Alexandria and Plutarch, suggests reasons for the ubiquitous nature of the demiurgic motif during the first to third centuries CE, and considers the main philosophical problems that infuenced its development.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Middle Platonist Demiurge; Stoic Cosmobiology;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Arts & Humanities > Ancient Classics
Item ID:	17697
Depositing User:	Carl O'Brien
Date Deposited:	16 Oct 2023 11:29
Journal or Publication Title:	Horizons: Seoul Journal of Humanities
Publisher:	College of Humanities at Seoul National University
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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