I read the Timaeus for summer Basic Program discussion class in 1997. Plato presents an account of the formation of the universe in the Timaeus. He is deeply impressed with the order and beauty he observes in the universe, and his project in the dialogue is to explain that order and beauty from a teleological perspective. The universe, he proposes, is the product of rational, purposive, and beneficent agency. It is the handiwork of a divine Craftsman (“Demiurge,” dêmiourgos, 28a6), who, imitating an unchanging and eternal model, imposes mathematical order on a preexistent chaos to generate the ordered universe (kosmos). He presents the universe as a whole as well as its various parts arranged as to produce a vast array of good effects. It strikes Plato strongly that this arrangement is not fortuitous, but the outcome of the deliberate intent of Intellect (nous), anthropomorphically represented by the figure of the Craftsman who plans and constructs a world that is as excellent as its nature permits it to be. The Timaeus, begins with a summary by Socrates of what appears to be a fragment of the Republic (from Book II to the middle of Book V) and ends with a construction of a universe in which the citizen of Socrates’ best city could have his home. As Plato discusses, the beautiful orderliness of the universe is not only the manifestation of Intellect; it is also the model for rational souls to understand and to emulate. Such understanding and emulation restores those souls to their original state of excellence, a state that was lost in their embodiment. This is a difficult but, ultimately, rewarding work by this foundational philosopher. ( )