Abstract

In the Timaeus, Plato tells the story of a divine craftsman who, using the world of intelligibles as a model, produces a living and orderly universe from the pre-existing physical elements. The Demiurge in the cosmological narrative has at various times been identified by interpreters of Plato with the model, the product, or even simultaneously both. I intend to argue that there is a strong basis for Plato’s cosmology to be structurally triadic, that is, between a distinct model, cause, and product. As such, the Demiurge, identified with the cause, can be interpreted as ontologically distinct from his product, the World-soul, as well as the model, the Forms. Thus, the Demiurge must be Sui Generis, ontologically distinct from model as well as product.