MAS 630-11 - Revolution and Revolutioners in Science

Unit 1 Essay: Comparing Timaeus and Myths

          Although you have spent much time and effort writing your account of how the universe, light, the Earth, animals, and humans were conceived (Genesis, 2019) I have to say that all in all, this account is nothing more than a story. An interesting and insightful story, but a story nonetheless. This does not mean that your account does not matter but is instead a useful mechanism to portray “ideas powerfully in modern scientific paradigms” (Canvas, 2019a). By this, I mean that your account of how everything and everyone were imagined is merely a means of storytelling that could likely explain how our complex, changing world was constructed. As you mentioned, while I too have constructed my own story, the Timaeus, that I believe could explain how the universe was formed, I need to point out one major obstacle that you do not seem to either comprehend or even consider – the fact that we cannot truly understand how the world, humans, and/or the universe was really created; our human minds are just not capable of truly understanding concepts like these (Canvas, 2019a). In turn, this is why we (as humans) should want to buy into stories like the Timaeus and Genesis because each story offers different interpretations of how the universe was likely created. Moreover, these stories give a human rational of our world; however, they should not “be taken as [‘knowledge’] in the favored sense” (Canvas, 2019b).

          You might argue that you spent a lot of time and effort on your Genesis accounts, which is greatly admired. I do need to point out though that on this, you are not alone. I, too, spent countless hours and resources developing my own story, which is based on geometrical forms (Canvas, 2019b). Our efforts in creating these stories do not mean wasted time and resources but show how we see changes in our world and want to determine who caused this to happen and how it happens. 

          In turn, this brings me to another important point that I believe you have skipped over which is the fact that because we will never truly know what force led to the creation of the universe, our stories (e.g., the Timaeus and Genesis) are not the end all be all. I understand that my interpretation is just that, an interpretation. I do not literally believe that when I say “[t]ime, then, and the heaven came into being at the same instant in order that, having been created together, if ever there was to be a dissolution of them, they might be dissolved together”, that this is precisely what happened (Timaeus, 2019). Perhaps our accounts of the universe’s creation are correct; however, I do not claim my story to be The truth (nor should you) about how the universe was established (Canvas, 2019b). This worries me as you or followers of your story could interpret your story to be The truth. Furthermore, as a result of all of these ‘creation’ stories being developed, this demonstrates that we really do not know how the world was formed and that these stories are mere (but educated) hypotheses. 

            I am what you could call an ‘instrumentalist’ which means that I see theories as mechanisms to understanding our world. I believe that these mechanisms or instruments are “helpful, usable, maybe even charming—but no one is saying it is true” (Canvas, 2019b). In sum, while I am sure that you worked very hard to create an elaborate account of how the world, humans, animals, etc. were created, ultimately, these stories are instruments to explain this continuously changing world around us. All in all, we should buy more into a story like my Timaeus as it can be unnerving not to know precisely how or why the universe is the way that it is. Anyways, I hope that there are no hard feelings but if there are, can treat you to a venti iced caramel macchiato?

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Works Cited

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Canvas. (2019a). Topic 5: Socrates and Plato part 2: Plato and knowledge. Retrieved from

            https://learn.uncg.edu/courses/learn/mls630-revsci/unit1/topic5/part2.

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Canvas. (2019b). Topic 5: Socrates and Plato part 3: The Timaeus. Retrieved from

            https://learn.uncg.edu/courses/learn/mls630-revsci/unit1/topic5/part3.

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Genesis. (2019). Retrieved from https://learn.uncg.edu/courses/mls630/readings/genesis001.pdf.

Timaeus. (2019). Retrieved from https://learn.uncg.edu/courses/mls630/readings/timaeus001.pdf.