Chora And Matter

The purpose of this dissertation is to discuss the concept of"Receptacle"in Plato's Timaeus,the Receptacle was also called "The third Kind" and it make the image of "The first Kind" appearance in which it,meanwhile,it is compared to "Mother" of "the second Kind"(coming-to-be)in physical world.Therefore,the Receptacle is a virtual point in second reason---Necessity of becoming cosmos.However,Plato was not certain define it in Timaeus,because it was not caught by logos or language,but in this way that bastard reasoning.So many philosophers and scholars made some different explanations,I recognize two interpretations that the Receptacle is Matter and the Receptacle is Chora from these explanations.This paper try to analyse them and point out the Receptacle is neither Matter nor Chora is "Indeterminate Duality"This essay is divided into three chapters,which are described as follows:Chapter one examines the Plato's purpose that introduce the Receptacle in the second reason.I try to describe the relation between the Receptacle and Plato's cosmology.This chapter is divide into two sections,section one accounts for Necessity reason of creating universe,Timaeus says that universe is crafted by a union of Necessity and Intellect after intellect reason of universe.Therefore,Plato's cosmology has a new beginning——Necessity.In section two,I explain the difference between Receptacle and another two types(the first kind,the second kind).Timaeus makes a distinction between the first kind and the second kind before creating universe,the first kind is always is,never comes to be and apprehended by intelligence;the second kind is always comes to be,never is and apprehended by opinion.The Receptacle is different from the two kinds,but it is closely related to them.At the same time,I sorted out the all-important charter of Receptacle from the text:"Receive"and "That in which".Chapter two explains the relationship between the Receptacle and Matter and Chora in order to clarify the misunderstanding of the Receptacle.The second chapter is divided into two sections,section one is clarify that the Receptacle is not Aristotle's Matter,there are some explanations of scholars:Receptacle is an extended and formless matter;and it is the precursor of Aristotle's Matter.They explain this argument in terms of similarity in attributes,but the Receptacle has different attributes which distinguishes the Receptacle from the Matter.Section two is clarify that the Receptacle is not Chora.The difficult of this part is that Timaeus explicitly states that“The Receptacle is Chora”in the text,The Chora is the closest explanation to the Receptacle,they are very similar in attributes,but they are different in function which the way of "Receive",the way of being apprehended,and the relationship with movement.Therefore,Plato's Receptacle is neither Chora nor Matter,they are just a complement to the Receptacle.Chapter three is discuss the further clarification of the concept of the Receptacle.The Receptacle and Chora and Matter are different,but the Receptacle has the some character of Matter and Chora.The appearance of the Receptacle has been shown in the negative method after discussion and analysis,but 1 must be make a definite explanation.Therefore,on the basis of the previous discussion,I make a tentative explanation:the Receptacle may be Plato's "Indeterminate Duality".