Plato’s Teleology

Abstract This chapter analyses the basic features of Plato’s teleology. His dialogue Phaedo presents certain requirements for a proper causal account which, it is claimed, only the good can satisfy. It is particularly the demand for holism that singles out the good as the only proper cause. It is then argued that the cosmology of the Timaeus is consistent with the Phaedo’s requirements. While the Timaeus introduces “Necessity” as an additional cause, this can also be understood as a cause that contributes to good ends and to that extent as part of an overall teleological account. Hereby a notion of necessity comparable to Aristotle’s hypothetical necessity emerges, which the Timaeus’s craft model of the creation helps articulate. The chapter ends with a partial comparison of Plato’s with Aristotle’s natural teleology.