ABSTRACT
IN the ontology of the Philebus (23c–30e) νου̑ς is the αἰτία τη̑ς συμμίξεως, the cause (called also τò δημιουργου̑ν and τò ποιου̑ν) that combines πέρας with ἄπειρον into the mixture called γένεσις εἰς οοσίαν or γεγενημένη ούσία: correspondingly in the Timaeus the Demiurge, ὁ ἄριστος τω̑ν αἰτιω̑ν (29a), brings order into unordered chaos by ‘Forms and Numbers’ (διεσχηματίσατο εἴδεσι καì ἀριθμοι̑ς 53b). In the Philebus the Universe has a Soul, discriminated from the νου̑ς that causes it (30b, where it is argued that we cannot imagine that the αἰτία, while it provides our human bodies with a soul, does not ‘devise that which is fairest and most precious’ in the body of the Universe: ού γάρ που δοκου̑μέν γε … ἐν τούτοις δ' ούκ ἄρα μεμηχανη̑σθαι τη̑ν τω̑ν καλλίστων καì τιμιωτάτων φύσιν): correspondingly in the Timaeus the Demiurge devises (ἐμηχανήσατο 34c) a soul of the world, as well as its body.
