Ananke

Abstract

The latest interpretations of Platon's Timaeus reduce the role of necessity or ananke and make it irrelevant within the economy of the creation of the universe; against them I'll defend in this pages the decisive position of ananke in the composition of the world, its considerable autonomy regarding the intelligent principle of causality (against the interpretation of Dana Miller and Thomas Johansen), and its nature not necessarily passive (against the interpretation of Francesco Fronterotta). By means of a careful reading of Timaeus 47e 3-48a 7, and also of the various passages of the central part of the dialogue where ananke is invoked, I will try to make clear how Plato may have understood this concept; which is the singularity of the double casual scheme of Timaeus (regarding the scheme offered in the Phaedo), and the way in which the concept of ananke allows Plato to take aim at different levels of random, chance and fate.