1
Demiurge
DONALD J. ZEYL
“Demiurge” (Gk. demiourgos) is the term
commonly used to refer to the personified
divine agent of PLATO’s dialogue Timaeus, who
gives mathematical form to a pre-existent
chaos to create the visible universe. The use of
this term – which means “handicraftsman” –
repeatedly in the Timaeus and once previously
in the Republic attests to Plato’s conviction that
the observable order and beauty in the universe
is not fortuitous, but the product of a craft-like
and hence purposeful, beneficent, and rational
agency. The Demiurge is represented as an artist
who copies the eternal forms (the realm of
being) by molding a spatio-temporal manifold
(the realm of becoming) into conformity with
those forms. The task of creating individual
“mortal” types of living beings is subsequently
handed over to “lesser gods.”
The figure of the Demiurge and the plan-
ning and making activities ascribed to him in
the Timaeus are certainly mythical, but it is far
from clear, and hence a matter of controversy,
just what principle that figure represents. Since
Plato elsewhere attributes the formation of
the universe to “Mind” (nous, in the Philebus)
and since in the Timaeus itself he describes the
products of the Demiurge’s activity as “crafted
(demiourgoumena) by Mind,” clearly the
Demiurge is a personification of Mind or
Reason. But if so, what is its ontological status?
The Demiurge creates a World Soul, and Rea-
son is (part of) this soul, and so some have
concluded that the Demiurge represents (that
part of) the World Soul. But this interpretation
confuses the Mind that creates with the mind
that is created. Others have suggested that for
Plato, Mind or Reason is a (Platonic) form,
and thus it is the form of Mind that creates
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 2004–2005.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah21100
the universe, including the mind of the World
Soul. However, this attributes causal efficacy to
a form – a thesis difficult to reconcile with
Plato’s general account of forms. Moreover, it
makes the form of Mind do double duty: as a
form, serving as a paradigm upon which the
mind of the World Soul is modeled, and as a
creative agent, modeling that mind upon a form,
presumably itself. In view of these difficulties, it is
perhaps best to construe the creative Mind
anthropomorphically represented by the Demi-
urge as neither a form nor a feature of the created
universe, but a sui generis self-existent substance
that transcends both the realm of the forms and
the created universe. This is in fact how the
Demiurge has historically been understood,
and how the early Judaeo-Christian tradition,
as well as Gnostic writings, have appropriated
Plato’s figure in their own creation theologies.
The comparison should be made with caution:
the Demiurge is far from omnipotent; in parti-
cular, unlike the God of Genesis, he encounters
a pre-existent chaotic material over which he
lacks total control. Although that material pos-
sesses certain ineliminable features that the
Demiurge can regularly put to good use, these
same features sometimes prevent the achieve-
ment of what is best (a case in point is described
at Ti. 74e1–75c7).
SEE ALSO: Plato, cosmology; Teleology.
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Carone, G. R. (2005) Plato’s cosmology and its
ethical dimensions: 24–52. Cambridge.
Cornford, F. M. (1935, 1997) Plato’s cosmology:
34–39. Indianapolis.
Hackforth, R. (1936, 1965) “Plato’s theism.” In
R. E. Allen, ed., Studies in Plato’s metaphysics:
439–47. New York.
Menn, S. (1995) Plato on God as Nous: 6–13.
Carbondale.