 Plutarch represents a synthesis also with regard to his philosophical interests. On the one hand he shares Antiochus' emphasis on ethics, yet on the other he focuses considerably on metaphysics, which was revived by Eudorus (end of 1st c. BCE) and flourished with Neo-Pythagorean Platonists such as Moderatus (1st c. CE). Like them, Plutarch (as noted above) pays special attention to the Timaeus, which from then on became the keystone of Platonism. Plutarch is particularly interested in the generation of the soul, and he devotes an entire treatise to discussing one short passage, Timaeus 35a1–36b5 (On the Generation of Soul in the Timaeus; see Cherniss, Plutarch Moralia, Loeb vol. XIII.1, 133–149, Hershbell 1987). It is not an exaggeration to say that Plutarch's interpretation of the Timaeus shapes his entire philosophy. This is because Plutarch apparently endorses the idea suggested in the Timaeus that the universe is a unified whole with humans being an integral part of this unity, which means that both the physical world and natural phenomena as well as human beings and human society should be approached from a cosmic/metaphysical point of view. In the case of natural phenomena, this means that explanations should make reference to intelligible causes (De primo frigido 948B-C) which account for the nature of things in the world, while in the case of human beings, their nature and their final end in life, that is, their happiness cannot be determined unless one understands that the human constitution is similar to that of the world, consisting of body, soul, and intellect (De facie 943A, 945A, De virtute morali 441D).  Plutarch systematically employs the analogy between worldly macrocosm and human microcosm, suggested in the Timaeus, which is important also in Stoicism (see below, sect. 5, 6).