Time as e us such ness

Timaeus (/taɪˈmiːəs/; Greek: Τίμαιος, translit. Timaios, pronounced [tǐːmai̯os]) is one of Plato's dialogues, mostly in the form of long monologues given by Critias and Timaeus, written c. 360 BC. The work puts forward reasoning on the possible nature of the physical world and human beings and is followed by the dialogue Critias.

Participants in the dialogue include Socrates, Timaeus, Hermocrates, and Critias. Some scholars believe that it is not the Critias of the Thirty Tyrants who appears in this dialogue, but his grandfather, also named Critias.^[1][2][3] At the beginning of the dialogue, the absence of another, unknown dialogue participant, present on the day before, is bemoaned. It has been suggested from some traditions—Diogenes Laertius (VIII 85) from Hermippus of Smyrna (3rd century BC) and Timon of Phlius (c. 320 – c. 235 BC)—that Timaeus was influenced by a book about Pythagoras, written by Philolaus, although this assertion is generally considered false.^[4]

Introduction

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Athanasius Kircher's map of Atlantis from Mundus Subterraneus ("The Subterranean World") (1669), drawn with south at the top.

The dialogue takes place the day after Socrates described his ideal state. In Plato's works, such a discussion occurs in the Republic. Socrates feels that his description of the ideal state was not sufficient for the purposes of entertainment and that "I would be glad to hear some account of it engaging in transactions with other states" (19b).

Hermocrates wishes to oblige Socrates and mentions that Critias knows just the account (20b) to do so. Critias proceeds to tell the story of Solon's journey to Egypt where he hears the story of Atlantis, and how Athens used to be an ideal state that subsequently waged war against Atlantis (25a). Critias believes that he is getting ahead of himself, and mentions that Timaeus will tell part of the account from the origin of the universe to man.

Critias also cites the Egyptian priest in Sais about long-term factors on the fate of mankind:

There have been, and will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes. There is a story that even you [Greeks] have preserved, that once upon a time, Phaethon, the son of Helios, having yoked the steeds in his father's chariot, because he was not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt. Now this has the form of a myth, but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving in the heavens around the earth, and a great conflagration of things upon the earth, which recurs after long intervals.^[5]

The history of Atlantis is postponed to Critias. The main content of the dialogue, the exposition by Timaeus, follows.

Translated by Benjamin Jowett

Persons of the Dialogue

SOCRATES

CRITIAS

TIMAEUS

HERMOCRATES 

Socrates: One, two, three; but where, 

my dear Timaeus, is the fourth

 of

those who 

were yesterday

 my guests and are to be

 my entertainers to-

day?

Timaeus: He has been taken ill, 

Socrates; for he would not

 willingly

have been

 absent from 

this 

gathering...

The 3

natures

in the 

You in versal

Three

The process of generation

Move Other

Mother

Two

That in which the Generation 

takes place

Fat herds

Father

One

That which the Generated

resembles

ChilldDough

Child

Now we have two

kinds of B in G

One In PerPetu al 

motion 

Never Changing

One Copy of the

motion imitating

the being of One

The third

The receptable

The Nurse

of all

G ener at 

ion

Fire

Air

Water

Earth

Water by condensation

becomes

Concentrated as

Stone/Earth

Water by Evaporation

Becomes

Dissapated

aka

 Air

aka

Vapor

Air by En Flame in G

Becomes

Fire

In the first place, we see that what we just now called water, by

condensation, I suppose, becomes stone and earth; and this same

element, when melted and dispersed, passes into vapour and air. Air,

again, when inflamed, becomes fire; and again fire, when condensed

and extinguished, passes once more into the form of air; and once more,

air, when collected and condensed, produces cloud and mist; and from

these, when still more compressed, comes flowing water, and from

water comes earth and stones once more; and thus generation appears to

be transmitted from one to the other in a circle.

 Thus, then, as the

several elements never present themselves in the same form, 

how can

any one have the assurance to assert positively that any of them,

whatever it may be, is one thing rather than another?

Fire

Fire is a chemical reaction that gives off light and heat. Fire happens when a material rapidly oxidizes, or loses electrons, and releases a great amount of energy. Flames are only the portion of the fire that gives off visible light.

Air N2O2

Air is the Earth's atmosphere. Air is a mixture of many gases and tiny dust particles. It is the clear gas in which living things live and breathe. It has an indefinite shape and volume. It has mass and weight, because it is matter. The weight of air creates atmospheric pressure. There is no air in outer space.

Earth's atmosphere is composed of about 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon, and 0.1 percent other gases.

 Water

Water (H
2O) is a transparent, tasteless, odourless, and almost always colourless chemical substance and covers about 71% of Earth's surface.

No known life can live without it. Water is essential for life.^[17] This has to be qualified a bit. There are some forms of life which can survive without it, but cannot reproduce without it. Since reproduction is a central part of life, it is clear that water is essential for an organism to survive and reproduce.

Lakes, oceans, seas, and rivers are made of water. Precipitation is water that falls from clouds in the sky. It may be rain if it is liquid, or it may be snow or ice frozen if it is cold. When water gets below 0 °C (32 °F), it freezes and becomes ice, the frozen kind of water. If water gets very hot (above 100 °C (212 °F), it boils and becomes steam or water vapor.

There is a water cycle.

Metal

Some chemical elements are called metals. Most elements in the periodic table are metals. These elements usually have the following traits:

1. They can conduct electricity and heat.^[1]
2. They can be shaped easily.
3. They have a shiny appearance.
4. They have a high melting point.

Most metals are solid at room temperature, but this does not have to be the case. Mercury is liquid. Alloys are mixtures, where at least one part of the mixture is a metal. Examples of metals are aluminium, copper, iron, tin, gold, lead, silver, titanium, uranium, and zinc. Well-known alloys include bronze and steel.

The study of metals is called metallurgy.

No one can. But

much the safest plan is to speak of them as follows:-Anything which we

see 

to be continually changing, as, for example,

 fire,

 we must not call

"this" or "that," 

but rather say that it is "of such a nature"; nor let us

speak of water as "this"; but always as "such"; nor must we imply that

there is any stability in any of those things which we indicate by the use

Let us consider this question more precisely.

 

Is there any self-existent

fire ? 

and do all those things which we call self-existent exist ? 

or are

only those things which we see, or in some way perceive through the

bodily organs, truly existent, and nothing whatever besides them ? 

And

is all that which, we call an intelligible essence nothing at all, and only a

name ? 

Here is a question which we must not leave unexamined or

undetermined, nor must we affirm too confidently that there can be no

decision ; neither must we interpolate in our present long discourse a

digression equally long, but if it is possible to set forth a great principle

in a few words, that is just what we want.