Plato’s Gods

146 Pages·2013·1.77 MB·English

by  Gerd Van Riel

Plato’s Gods
this book presents a comprehensive study into Plato’s theological doctrines,
offering an important re-valuation of the status of Plato’s gods and the relation
between metaphysics and theology according to Plato. starting from an
examination of Plato’s views of religion and the relation between religion and
morality, Gerd Van Riel investigates Plato’s innovative ways of speaking about the
gods. this theology displays a number of diverging tendencies - viewing the gods
as perfect moral actors, as cosmological principles or as celestial bodies whilst
remaining true to traditional anthropomorphic representations. Plato’s views are
shown to be unified by the emphasis on the goodness of the gods in both their
cosmological and their moral functions.
Van Riel shows that recent interpretations of Plato’s theology are thoroughly
metaphysical, starting from aristotelian patterns. a new reading of the basic texts
leads to the conclusion that in Plato the gods aren’t metaphysical principles but souls
who transmit the metaphysical order to sensible reality. the metaphysical principles
play the role of a fated order to which the gods have to comply. this book will be
invaluable to readers interested in philosophical theology and intellectual history.
ashgate studies in the History of
Philosophical theology
Series Editors
Maria Rosa antognazza, King’s College london, UK
Richard Cross, University of Notre dame, Usa
William desmond, Katholieke Universiteit leuven, Belgium
Carlos steel, Katholieke Universiteit leuven, Belgium
Ashgate Studies in the History of Philosophical Theology provides students
and researchers in the field with the means of consolidating and re-appraising
philosophy of religion’s recent appropriation of its past. this series offers a
focused cluster of titles presenting critical, authoritative surveys of key thinkers’
ideas as they bear upon topics central to the philosophy of religion. summarizing
contemporary and historical perspectives on the writings and philosophies of each
thinker, the books concentrate on moving beyond mere surveys and engage with
recent international scholarship and the author’s own critical research on their
chosen thinker. Each book provides an accessible, stimulating new contribution to
thinkers from ancient, through medieval, to modern periods.
Plato’s Gods

GERd VaN RiEl
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
First published 2013 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 2013 Gerd Van Riel.
Gerd Van Riel has asserted his right under the Copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to
be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
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including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
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Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Van Riel, Gerd
Plato’s gods. – (ashgate studies in the History of Philosophical theology)
1.Plato. 2. Gods. 3. Philosophical theology.
i. title ii. series
184–dc23
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Van Riel, Gerd
Pato’s gods / by Gerd Van Riel.
pages cm. – (ashgate studies in the History of Philosophical theology)
includes bibliographical references and index.
1.Plato – Religion. i. title.
B398.R4R54 2013
184–dc23 2012049672
isBN 978-0-754-60700-7 (hbk)
isBN 978-0-754-60701-4 (pbk)
Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
1 Plato’s Religion 5
1 Plato on the Origin of Religion 5
2 Piety and the Service of the Gods 12
3 Religion and Morality 14
4 Becoming Like God 19
2 Plato’s Theology 25
1 Introduction 25
2 Plato’s Hesitation in Speaking about the Gods 30
3 ‘Gods’ or ‘the God’? 34
4 Patterns for Speaking about the Gods 38
5 Cosmology and Morality 42
6 The Existence of the Gods as Souls 45
7 Plato’s Pantheon 53
3 Theology and Metaphysics 61
1 Introduction 61
2 ‘De-Aristotelianizing’ Plato’s Theology 64
3 Soul and Intellect (Νοῦς) 68
4 Plato’s Gods and Plato’s Metaphysics 103
Conclusion 119
Bibliography 123
General Index 129
References to Ancient Authors 133
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Preface
It is not an easy task to write about Plato’s theology. When the series editors
asked me to provide a volume on Plato’s philosophical theology, I was reckless
enough to believe that I could deliver in a few years’ time. With the years came the
awareness, however, that the subject was far more complicated than I presumed.
The project ended up taking much longer than foreseen: not only did the subject
matter ask for a much more thorough investigation than I prospected, but it was
also held back by academic duties that prevented me from writing a book-length
publication. As every downside has an upside, however, the long incubation period
allowed me to ruminate and digest the subject matter more than I could ever have
wished. I hope this is reflected in the end result.
The long act of postponing the matter must have driven the publishers to
despair, even if this was never a real issue in our contacts. I am very grateful
to Sarah Lloyd, who has always been very understanding and patient, for her
encouragements and trust. I would also like to thank the series editors and reviewers
for their valuable remarks, and David Lloyd Dusenbury for his excellent work in
revising the English text. Obviously, I assume full responsibility for any remaining
errors, be they in representing Plato’s doctrines or in developing my interpretation.
Gerd Van riel
De Wulf-Mansion Centre for Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy
Institute of Philosophy
KU Leuven (Belgium)
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Introduction
The inconsistencies of Plato are a long story. In the Timaeus he says that it is
impossible to name the father of this universe; and in the Laws he deprecates all
inquiry into the nature of the deity. Again, he holds that god is entirely incorporeal
(in Greek, ἀσώματος); but divine incorporeity is inconceivable, for an incorporeal
deity would necessarily be incapable of sensation, and also of practical wisdom,
and of pleasure, all of which are attributes essential to our conception of deity. Yet
both in the Timaeus and the Laws he says that the world, the sky, the stars, the earth
and our souls are gods, in addition to those in whom we have been taught to believe
by ancestral tradition; but it is obvious that these propositions are both inherently
false and mutually destructive.
Cicero, De natura deorum I, xii, 30 (tr. H. Rackham)
Plato’s views on god and the divine are notoriously difficult to unravel. Cicero
rightly points out that there are a lot of inconsistencies involved, and that it is hard
to find a systematic doctrine that holds the different elements together.
Since he did not belong to the Platonic school, Cicero could limit himself
to stating the problem and, with a slight flavour of Schadenfreude, leaving it
unsolved. Other interpreters have limited themselves to partial accounts, studying
only the Timaeus, for instance, and leaving open the question of how the account
in that work fits in with what one reads in other dialogues.
Yet, however difficult it may be, the question of retrieving a general and
systematized account of the gods in Plato has always been surfacing in literature
on Plato. This is not surprising, as it is an important question, which focuses
attention on the way in which the intelligible and the sensible world cohere in
Plato’s philosophy. Moreover, it involves an investigation of the way in which
political organization ought to deal with religion, and a clarification of the
foundations of morality. An inquiry into Plato’s gods is thus located at the heart
of Platonic philosophy.
And yet, important as it may be, it is a thematic that needs to be re-constructed:
Plato never gives us a clear survey of his thoughts on things divine, and he leaves
open a number of essential questions. The issue is further complicated by the fact
that Greek religion and theology in the fourth century BC presented a very complex
cluster of different – often mutually exclusive – tendencies. There was a clear
endeavour to morally purify the image of the gods, challenging anthropomorphism,
while at the same time remaining true to the traditional Homeric/Hesiodic account
of the gods. And this was crossed by a tendency to view the gods as cosmic forces,
or celestial bodies whose movement brings forth the order of the world. But then,
the celestial bodies were seen as displaying an activity of thinking, thus again