In Raphael's School of Athens, two men walk side by side at the center of the fresco: one points his finger to the sky, the other extends a hand with the palm turned toward the ground. What do these gestures say? The usual answer is well known, and it comes right below. There is, however, a detail that the finger and the palm tend to leave in the shade: the book each one holds. Plato's is the Timaeus. Aristotle's is the Nicomachean Ethics.
Where it is and what it shows
The School of Athens is a fresco that Raphael painted at the beginning of the sixteenth century, between 1509 and 1511, in the Stanza della Segnatura. Today it is in Rome, in the Vatican Museums. Almost everyone has seen it, in reproduction or in person, and not everyone knows its name. (For the fresco as a whole, see What is Raphael's School of Athens?; for the painter, Who was Rafael Sanzio?.)
At the center of the painting is a somewhat older man with a long beard, pointing his finger to the sky with a book in his hand. This is Plato. Beside him is a somewhat younger philosopher, with his hand outstretched and the palm turned downward. This is Aristotle.
What the gestures say
The usual reading, the same one our article on the School of Athens presents, is one of contrast: Plato points upward, and Aristotle points to the earth and to concrete experience. The finger raised and the palm lowered would be two ways of looking at the world.
A note on the detail: the class describes Aristotle's hand as extended, with the palm turned downward. Descriptions of the fresco differ a little here, and some speak of a hand stretched forward, held horizontally. What does not vary is the contrast with Plato's raised finger. To settle the exact position of the hand, it is best to look at the fresco itself.
The book in Plato's hand: the Timaeus
Plato's book has its title in plain view, and it is not the Republic or the Symposium, his best-known works. It is the Timaeus, the dialogue in which Plato reflects on why there is a cosmos, and not chaos. In it, Timaeus, an astronomer, tells the origin of the universe: he speaks of the demiurge, the craftsman who takes disordered matter and puts order into it. For the whole dialogue, see Timaeus, by Plato: summary and how to read it.
The class proposes reading the gesture together with the book. Plato walks beside Aristotle with his finger pointed to the sky and, in his hands, a book that tells the origin of the universe: the finger and the book look to the same place.
Why the Timaeus, of all books?
The class does not claim that Raphael explained the choice. It shows the weight this book carried. Until roughly the twelfth century, the Timaeus was the only book by Plato that could be read in the West, and not everyone read it in full. For a long time, to say Plato was to say Timaeus.
And there was a second reason: the way it was read. Many Christians read this dialogue with one hand on the heart and the other on the pen: to admire, and also to correct. They admired the goodness of a craftsman who does not keep the good for himself, and they corrected the craftsman, who for the Christian tradition became the Creator (the argument is laid out in Plato and Christianity: from the Timaeus to Augustine's Genesis). It was the book Christians had learned to love and to correct, and it was this one that Raphael placed in Plato's hand.
The book in Aristotle's hand: the Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle, in the same fresco, does not have his finger pointed to the sky, but his arm stretched out, with the palm of his hand turned downward, and he holds the book of the Nicomachean Ethics. He was a great student of Plato.
In the class, this gesture serves as a bridge to the next module, on Aristotle's philosophy, and it comes with an opening line: that what we seek is not outside, but within us. It is a hook for what follows, not a thesis of Aristotle demonstrated in the video. How he defends it, and with which texts, is the subject of that module, and this article does not anticipate it.
The gestures and the books, together
The gestures are what you see first, and the books are what people forget to read. Plato points to the sky while holding the book that explains the origin of the heavens and of the ordered world. Aristotle extends his palm downward, holding the Nicomachean Ethics. Whoever looks at the image knowing this sees two stances toward the world and two books that accompany them.
This article describes the fresco as the class describes it. The titles of the two books, Timaeus and Nicomachean Ethics, are visible in the painting, and anyone standing before it can check.
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See recommended readingsFrequently asked questions
Why does Plato point up and Aristotle point down?
The usual reading is that Plato points upward, to what is eternal, and Aristotle points to the concrete world down here. The class adds what each one holds: Plato, the Timaeus, the book on the origin of the universe; Aristotle, the Nicomachean Ethics. The gestures and the books are read together.
What book does Plato hold in the School of Athens?
The Timaeus. It is not the Republic or the Symposium, Plato's best-known works: it is the dialogue in which he reflects on why there is a cosmos and not chaos.
What book does Aristotle hold in the School of Athens?
The Nicomachean Ethics. He appears beside Plato, with his arm outstretched and the palm of his hand turned downward, holding this book.
Where is the School of Athens?
In Rome, in the Vatican Museums. It is a fresco by Raphael painted at the beginning of the sixteenth century, between 1509 and 1511, in the Stanza della Segnatura.
Continue: Plato's Timaeus: summary and how to read it · Plato and Christianity: from the Timaeus to Saint Augustine's Genesis · Why was the world created according to Plato? · To read is not to agree: the hardest Odyssey passage
Source class: Timeu, de Platão | Formação em Filosofia e Teologia do Nous