Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Timaeus: Volume 2, Book 2: Proclus on the Causes of the Cosmos and its Creation

This volume of Proclus' commentary on Plato's Timaeus records Proclus' exegesis of Timaeus 27a–31b, in which Plato first discusses preliminary matters that precede his account of the creation of the universe, and then moves to the account of the creation of the universe as a totality. For Proclus this text is a grand opportunity to reflect on the nature of causation as it relates to the physical reality of our cosmos. The commentary deals with many subjects that have been of central interest to philosophers from Plato's time onwards, such as the question whether the cosmos was created in time, and the nature of evil as it relates to physical reality and its ontological imperfection.

David T. Runia is Master of Queen's College and Professorial Fellow, School of History, Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. He has written numerous books and articles on ancient philosophy, specialising in the thought of Philo of Alexandria and the subject of ancient doxography.

Michael Share is an Honorary Associate in the School of History and Classics, University of Tasmania.