From cosmology, to physics, to theology, Plato approached biological research as an opportunity to apply the full breadth of his wider scientific and philosophical principles. This step-by-step assessment of the comprehensive biological system developed in Plato's Timaeus establishes his status as a biological thinker, asserting his essential place in the history of science. In a philosophical tour of the human body, each chapter of this volume explores Plato's theories of a different system of the body, accompanied by an encyclopedic appendix of the tissues and organs of the body according to Plato. This exploration of Plato's biology enriches our understanding of his full philosophical worldview, providing answers to questions not only about the causes of diseases, but also about our relationship to nature and the divine, and about what it means to be human.
‘Campbell has shown why scholars interested in Plato's moral psychology should take the physiology of the Timaeus seriously. He illustrates that we should not dismiss this dialogue's mirrored livers and leaping hearts as flights of fancy, but that we need to understand them as part of a cohesive and novel biological framework.'
Colin Webster - Associate Professor, University of California, Davis
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