Plato ( ; grc-gre,
Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
born in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
during the
Classical period in
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
. He founded the
Platonist
Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and school of thought, philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary platonists do not necessarily accept all of the doctrines of Plato. Platonism had a profound effect on Western though ...
school of thought and the
Academy
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...
, the first institution of higher learning on the European continent.
Along with his teacher,
Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
, and his student,
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
, Plato is a central figure in the
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
of
Ancient Greek philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empire ...
and the
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
and
Middle Eastern philosophies
Middle Eastern philosophy includes the various philosophies of the Middle East regions, including the Fertile Crescent and Iran. Traditions include Ancient Egyptian philosophy, Babylonian philosophy, Jewish philosophy, Iranian/Persian philos ...
descended from it. He has also shaped
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
and
spirituality
The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...
. The so-called
neoplatonism
Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonism, Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion, religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of ...
of his interpreter
Plotinus
Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neop ...
greatly influenced both
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(through
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...
such as
Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...
) and
Islamic philosophy
Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—falsafa (literally: "philosophy"), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, ...
(through e.g.
Al-Farabi
Abu Nasr Muhammad Al-Farabi ( fa, ابونصر محمد فارابی), ( ar, أبو نصر محمد الفارابي), known in the Western world, West as Alpharabius; (c. 872 – between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951)PDF version was a reno ...
). In modern times,
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
diagnosed Western culture as growing in the shadow of Plato (famously calling Christianity "Platonism for the masses"), while
Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found applicat ...
famously said: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of
footnotes
A note is a string of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document or at the end of a chapter, volume, or the whole text. The note can provide an author's comments on the main text or citations of a reference work in support of th ...
to Plato."
Plato was an innovator of the written
dialogue
Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
and
dialectic
Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing ...
forms in philosophy. He raised problems for what later became all the major areas of both
theoretical philosophy
The modern division of philosophy into theoretical philosophy and practical philosophyImmanuel Kant, ''Lectures on Ethics'', Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 41 ("On Universal Practical Philosophy"). Original text: Immanuel Kant, ''Kant’s Ges ...
and
practical philosophy The modern division of philosophy into theoretical philosophy and practical philosophyImmanuel Kant, ''Lectures on Ethics'', Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 41 ("On Universal Practical Philosophy"). Original text: Immanuel Kant, ''Kant’s Gesa ...
. His most famous contribution is the
theory of Forms
The theory of Forms or theory of Ideas is a philosophical theory, fuzzy concept, or world-view, attributed to Plato, that the physical world is not as real or true as timeless, absolute, unchangeable ideas. According to this theory, ideas in th ...
known by
pure reason
Speculative reason, sometimes called theoretical reason or pure reason, is theoretical (or logical, deductive) thought, as opposed to practical (active, willing) thought. The distinction between the two goes at least as far back as the ancient Gr ...
, in which Plato presents a solution to the
problem of universals
The problem of universals is an ancient question from metaphysics that has inspired a range of philosophical topics and disputes: Should the properties an object has in common with other objects, such as color and shape, be considered to exist be ...
, known as
Platonism
Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary platonists do not necessarily accept all of the doctrines of Plato. Platonism had a profound effect on Western thought. Platonism at le ...
(also ambiguously called either
Platonic realism
Platonic realism is the philosophical position that universals or abstract objects exist objectively and outside of human minds. It is named after the Greek philosopher Plato who applied realism to such universals, which he considered ideal f ...
or
Platonic idealism
Platonic realism is the philosophical position that universals or abstract objects exist objectively and outside of human minds. It is named after the Greek philosopher Plato who applied realism to such universals, which he considered ideal for ...
). He is also the namesake of
Platonic love
Platonic love (often lowercased as platonic love) is a type of love in which sexual desire or romantic features are nonexistent or has been suppressed or sublimated, but it means more than simple friendship.
The term is derived from the nam ...
and the
Platonic solids
In geometry, a Platonic solid is a convex, regular polyhedron in three-dimensional Euclidean space. Being a regular polyhedron means that the faces are congruent (identical in shape and size) regular polygons (all angles congruent and all edges c ...
.
His own most decisive philosophical influences are usually thought to have been, along with Socrates, the
pre-Socratics
Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of thes ...
Pythagoras
Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samos, Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionians, Ionian Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher and the eponymou ...
,
Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire.
Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrote ...
and
Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia.
Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates a ...
, although few of his predecessors' works remain extant and much of what we know about these figures today derives from Plato himself. Unlike the work of nearly all of his contemporaries, Plato's entire body of work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. Although their popularity has fluctuated, Plato's works have consistently been read and studied.
Biography
Early life
Birth and family
![Diogenes Laertius](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Diogenes_Laertius.jpg)
Little is known about Plato's early life and education. He belonged to an
aristocratic
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At the time of the word's ...
and influential family. According to a disputed tradition, reported by
doxographer Doxography ( el, δόξα – "an opinion", "a point of view" + – "to write", "to describe") is a term used especially for the works of classical historians, describing the points of view of past philosophers and scientists. The term w ...
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...
, Plato's father
Ariston traced his descent from the
king of Athens
Before the Athenian democracy, the tyrants, and the Archons, the city-state of Athens was ruled by kings. Most of these are probably mythical or only semi-historical. The following lists contain the chronological order of the title King of Athens ...
,
Codrus
Codrus (; ; Greek: , ''Kódros'') was the last of the semi-mythical Kings of Athens (r. ca 1089– 1068 BC). He was an ancient exemplar of patriotism and self-sacrifice. He was succeeded by his son Medon, who it is claimed ruled not as king but ...
, and the king of
Messenia
Messenia or Messinia ( ; el, Μεσσηνία ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a ...
,
Melanthus In Greek mythology, Melanthus ( grc, Μέλανθος) was a king of Messenia and son of Andropompus and Henioche.
Mythology
Melanthus was among the descendants of Neleus (the Neleidae) expelled from Messenia, by the descendants of Heracles, a ...
.
[Diogenes Laërtius, ''Life of Plato'', III]
•
• According to the ancient Hellenic tradition, Codrus was said to have been descended from the mythological deity
Poseidon
Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...
.
![Solon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Solon.jpg)
Plato's mother was
Perictione Perictione ( grc-gre, Περικτιόνη ''Periktiónē''; fl. 5th century BC) was the mother of the Greek philosopher Plato.
She was a descendant of Solon, the Athenian lawgiver. Her illustrious family goes back to Dropides, archon of the yea ...
, whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian
lawmaker
A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ex ...
and
lyric poet
Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person.
It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...
Solon
Solon ( grc-gre, Σόλων; BC) was an Athenian statesman, constitutional lawmaker and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic Athens.Aristotle ''Politics'' ...
, one of the
seven sages, who repealed the laws of
Draco
Draco is the Latin word for serpent or dragon.
Draco or Drako may also refer to:
People
* Draco (lawgiver) (from Greek: Δράκων; 7th century BC), the first lawgiver of ancient Athens, Greece, from whom the term ''draconian'' is derived
* ...
(except for the death penalty for
homicide
Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...
).
[Diogenes Laërtius, ''Life of Plato'', I] Perictione was sister of
Charmides and niece of
Critias
Critias (; grc-gre, Κριτίας, ''Kritias''; c. 460 – 403 BC) was an ancient Athenian political figure and author. Born in Athens, Critias was the son of Callaeschrus and a first cousin of Plato's mother Perictione. He became a leading ...
, both prominent figures of the
Thirty Tyrants
The Thirty Tyrants ( grc, οἱ τριάκοντα τύραννοι, ''hoi triákonta týrannoi'') were a pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. Upon Lysander's request, the Thirty were elec ...
, known as the Thirty, the brief
oligarchic
Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...
regime
In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...
(404–403 BC), which followed on the collapse of Athens at the end of the
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of th ...
(431–404 BC).
•
• According to some accounts, Ariston tried to force his attentions on Perictione, but failed in his purpose; then the
god
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
appeared to him in a vision, and as a result, Ariston left Perictione unmolested.
[Apuleius, ''De Dogmate Platonis'', 1]
• Diogenes Laërtius, ''Life of Plato'', I
•
The exact time and place of Plato's birth are unknown. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars believe that he was born in Athens or
Aegina
Aegina (; el, Αίγινα, ''Aígina'' ; grc, Αἴγῑνα) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born ...
between 429 and 423 BC, not long after the start of the Peloponnesian War. The traditional date of Plato's birth during the 87th or 88th
Olympiad
An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games.
Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not until ...
, 428 or 427 BC, is based on a dubious interpretation of Diogenes Laërtius, who says, "When
ocrateswas gone,
lato
Lato ( grc, Λατώ, Latṓ) was an ancient city of Crete, the ruins of which are located approximately 3 km from the village of Kritsa.
History
The Dorian city-state was built in a defensible position overlooking Mirabello Bay betwee ...
joined
Cratylus
Cratylus ( ; grc, Κρατύλος, ''Kratylos'') was an ancient Athenian philosopher from the mid-late 5th century BCE, known mostly through his portrayal in Plato's dialogue '' Cratylus''. He was a radical proponent of Heraclitean philosophy ...
the Heracleitean and Hermogenes, who philosophized in the manner of Parmenides. Then, at twenty-eight, Hermodorus says,
lato
Lato ( grc, Λατώ, Latṓ) was an ancient city of Crete, the ruins of which are located approximately 3 km from the village of Kritsa.
History
The Dorian city-state was built in a defensible position overlooking Mirabello Bay betwee ...
went to
Euclides in Megara." However, as
Debra Nails
Debra Nails (born November 15, 1950) is an American philosophy professor who taught at Michigan State University. Nails earned her M.A. in philosophy and classical Greek from Louisiana State University before going on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy ...
argues, the text does not state that Plato left for Megara immediately after joining Cratylus and Hermogenes. In his ''
Seventh Letter
The ''Seventh Letter of Plato'' is an epistle that tradition has ascribed to Plato. It is by far the longest of the epistles of Plato and gives an autobiographical
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-writte ...
'', Plato notes that his coming of age coincided with the taking of power by the Thirty, remarking, "But a youth under the age of twenty made himself a laughingstock if he attempted to enter the political arena." Thus, Nails dates Plato's birth to 424/423.
According to
Neanthes, Plato was six years younger than
Isocrates
Isocrates (; grc, Ἰσοκράτης ; 436–338 BC) was an ancient Greek rhetorician, one of the ten Attic orators. Among the most influential Greek rhetoricians of his time, Isocrates made many contributions to rhetoric and education throu ...
, and therefore was born the same year the prominent Athenian statesman
Pericles
Pericles (; grc-gre, Περικλῆς; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Pelopo ...
died (429 BC).
Jonathan Barnes
Jonathan Barnes, British Academy, FBA (born 26 December 1942 in Wenlock, Shropshire) is an English scholar of Aristotelianism, Aristotelian and ancient philosophy.
Education and career
He was educated at the City of London School and Balliol Co ...
regards 428 BC as the year of Plato's birth.
The
grammarian Apollodorus of Athens
Apollodorus of Athens ( el, Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, ''Apollodoros ho Athenaios''; c. 180 BC – after 120 BC) son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar, historian, and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Pan ...
in his ''Chronicles'' argues that Plato was born in the 88th Olympiad.
Both the ''
Suda
The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...
'' and
Sir Thomas Browne also claimed he was born during the 88th Olympiad.
Another legend related that, when Plato was an infant, bees settled on his lips while he was sleeping: an augury of the sweetness of style in which he would discourse about philosophy.
![Speusippus in Thomas Stanley History of Philosophy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Speusippus_in_Thomas_Stanley_History_of_Philosophy.jpg)
Besides Plato himself, Ariston and Perictione had three other children; two sons,
Adeimantus and
Glaucon
Glaucon (; el, Γλαύκων; c. 445 BC – 4th century BC), son of Ariston, was an ancient Athenian and Plato's older brother. He is primarily known as a major conversant with Socrates in the ''Republic''. He is also referenced briefly in th ...
, and a daughter
Potone Potone (; grc-gre, Πωτώνη, Pōtṓnē; born before 427 BC) daughter of Ariston and Perictione, was Plato's older sister. Her mother was Perictione and she was born in Collytus, just outside Athens. She married Eurymedon of Myrrhinus, with ...
, the mother of
Speusippus
Speusippus (; grc-gre, Σπεύσιππος; c. 408 – 339/8 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. Speusippus was Plato's nephew by his sister Potone. After Plato's death, c. 348 BC, Speusippus inherited the Academy, near age 60, and remained ...
(the nephew and successor of Plato as head of the ).
The brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon are mentioned in the ''
Republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
'' as sons of Ariston,
[Plato, ''Republic']
368a
br />• and presumably brothers of Plato, though some have argued they were uncles. In a scenario in the ''
Memorabilia
A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...
'',
Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; grc, wikt:Ξενοφῶν, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Anci ...
confused the issue by presenting a Glaucon much younger than Plato.
Ariston appears to have died in Plato's childhood, although the precise dating of his death is difficult.
• Perictione then married
Pyrilampes Pyrilampes ( grc-gre, wikt:Πυριλάμπης, Πυριλάμπης) was an Ancient Athens, ancient Athenian politician and stepfather of the philosopher Plato. His dates of birth and death are unknown, but Debra Nails estimates he must have been ...
, her mother's brother,
[Plato, ''Charmides']
158a
br />• who had served many times as an ambassador to the
Persian court and was a friend of
Pericles
Pericles (; grc-gre, Περικλῆς; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Pelopo ...
, the leader of the democratic faction in Athens.
[Plato, ''Charmides']
158a
br />• Plutarch, ''Pericles'', IV Pyrilampes had a son from a previous marriage, Demus, who was famous for his beauty. Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes' second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato, who appears in ''
Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia.
Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates a ...
''.
[Plato, ''Parmenides']
126c
/ref>
In contrast to his reticence about himself, Plato often introduced his distinguished relatives into his dialogues or referred to them with some precision. In addition to Adeimantus and Glaucon in the ''Republic'', Charmides has a dialogue named after him; and Critias speaks in both '' Charmides'' and ''Protagoras
Protagoras (; el, Πρωταγόρας; )Guthrie, p. 262–263. was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and rhetorical theorist. He is numbered as one of the sophists by Plato. In his dialogue '' Protagoras'', Plato credits him with inventing the r ...
''. These and other references suggest a considerable amount of family pride and enable us to reconstruct Plato's family tree
A family tree, also called a genealogy or a pedigree chart, is a chart representing family relationships in a conventional tree structure. More detailed family trees, used in medicine and social work, are known as genograms.
Representations of ...
. According to Burnet, "the opening scene of the ''Charmides'' is a glorification of the whole amilyconnection ... Plato's dialogues are not only a memorial to Socrates but also the happier days of his own family."
Name
The fact that the philosopher in his maturity called himself ''Platon'' is indisputable, but the origin of this name remains mysterious. ''Platon'' is a nickname
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
from the adjective ''platýs'' () 'broad'. Although ''Platon'' was a fairly common name (31 instances are known from Athens alone), the name does not occur in Plato's known family line.[ Sedley, David, ''Plato's Cratylus'', Cambridge University Press 2003]
pp. 21–22
. The sources of Diogenes Laërtius account for this by claiming that his wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
coach, Ariston of Argos, dubbed him "broad" on account of his chest and shoulders, or that Plato derived his name from the breadth of his eloquence, or his wide forehead.[Diogenes Laërtius, ''Life of Plato'', IV] While recalling a moral lesson about frugal living Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
mentions the meaning of Plato's name: "His very name was given him because of his broad chest."
His true name was supposedly Aristocles (), meaning 'best reputation'. According to Diogenes Laërtius, he was named after his grandfather, as was common in Athenian society. But there is only one inscription of an Aristocles, an early archon of Athens in 605/4 BC. There is no record of a line from Aristocles to Plato's father, Ariston. Recently a scholar has argued that even the name Aristocles for Plato was a much later invention. However, another scholar claims that "there is good reason for not dismissing he idea that Aristocles was Plato's given name
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
as a mere invention of his biographers", noting how prevalent that account is in our sources.
Education
Ancient sources describe him as a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies. Apuleius
Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern-day ...
informs us that Speusippus praised Plato's quickness of mind and modesty as a boy, and the "first fruits of his youth infused with hard work and love of study".[Apuleius, ''De Dogmate Platonis'', 2] His father contributed all which was necessary to give to his son a good education, and, therefore, Plato must have been instructed in grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
, music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
, and gymnastics
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...
by the most distinguished teachers of his time.[Diogenes Laërtius, ''Life of Plato'', IV]
• Plato invokes Damon many times in the ''Republic''. Plato was a wrestler, and Dicaearchus
Dicaearchus of Messana (; grc-gre, Δικαίαρχος ''Dikaiarkhos''; ), also written Dikaiarchos (), was a Greek philosopher, geographer and author. Dicaearchus was a student of Aristotle in the Lyceum. Very little of his work remains exta ...
went so far as to say that Plato wrestled at the Isthmian games
Isthmian Games or Isthmia (Ancient Greek: Ἴσθμια) were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, and were named after the Isthmus of Corinth, where they were held. As with the Nemean Games, the Isthmian Games were held both the year ...
.[Diogenes Laërtius, ''Life of Plato'', V] Plato had also attended courses of philosophy; before meeting Socrates, he first became acquainted with Cratylus and the Heraclitean doctrines.[Aristotle, ''Metaphysics'', ]
987a
Ambrose
Ambrose of Milan ( la, Aurelius Ambrosius; ), venerated as Saint Ambrose, ; lmo, Sant Ambroeus . was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promo ...
believed that Plato met Jeremiah
Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish ...
in Egypt and was influenced by his ideas. Augustine initially accepted this claim, but later rejected it, arguing in ''The City of God
''On the City of God Against the Pagans'' ( la, De civitate Dei contra paganos), often called ''The City of God'', is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response ...
'' that "Plato was born a hundred years after Jeremiah prophesied."
Later life and death
Plato may have travelled in Italy, Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, Egypt, and Cyrene. Plato's own statement was that he visited Italy and Sicily at the age of forty and was disgusted by the sensuality of life there. Said to have returned to Athens at the age of forty, Plato founded one of the earliest known organized schools in Western Civilization on a plot of land in the Grove of Hecademus or Academus. This land was named after Academus
Academus or Akademos (; Ancient Greek: Ἀκάδημος), also Hekademos or Hecademus (Ἑκάδημος) was an Attic hero in Greek mythology. Academus, the place lies on the Cephissus, six stadia from Athens.
Place origins
Academus, the sit ...
, an Attic
An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...
hero in Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
. In historic Greek times it was adorned with oriental plane
''Platanus orientalis'', the Old World sycamore or Oriental plane, is a large, deciduous tree of the Platanaceae family, growing to or more, and known for its longevity and spreading crown. In autumn its deep green leaves may change to blood red ...
and olive plantations
The Academy
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...
was a large enclosure of ground about six stadia
Stadia may refer to:
* One of the plurals of stadium, along with "stadiums"
* The plural of stadion, an ancient Greek unit of distance, which equals to 600 Greek feet (''podes'').
* Stadia (Caria), a town of ancient Caria, now in Turkey
* Stadi ...
(a total of between a kilometer and a half mile) outside of Athens proper. One story is that the name of the comes from the ancient hero, Academus
Academus or Akademos (; Ancient Greek: Ἀκάδημος), also Hekademos or Hecademus (Ἑκάδημος) was an Attic hero in Greek mythology. Academus, the place lies on the Cephissus, six stadia from Athens.
Place origins
Academus, the sit ...
; still another story is that the name came from a supposed former owner of the plot of land, an Athenian citizen whose name was (also) Academus; while yet another account is that it was named after a member of the army of Castor and Pollux
Castor; grc, Κάστωρ, Kástōr, beaver. and Pollux. (or Polydeukes). are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri.; grc, Διόσκουροι, Dióskouroi, sons of Zeus, links=no, from ''Dîos'' ('Z ...
, an Arcadian named Echedemus. The operated until it was destroyed by Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force.
Sulla had t ...
in 84 BC. Many intellectuals were schooled in the , the most prominent one being Aristotle.
Throughout his later life, Plato became entangled with the politics of the city of Syracuse
Syracuse may refer to:
Places Italy
*Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa''
*Province of Syracuse
United States
*Syracuse, New York
**East Syracuse, New York
**North Syracuse, New York
*Syracuse, Indiana
* Syracuse, Kansas
*Syracuse, Miss ...
. According to Diogenes Laërtius, Plato initially visited Syracuse while it was under the rule of Dionysius
The name Dionysius (; el, Διονύσιος ''Dionysios'', "of Dionysus"; la, Dionysius) was common in classical and post-classical times. Etymologically it is a nominalized adjective formed with a -ios suffix from the stem Dionys- of the name ...
. During this first trip Dionysius's brother-in-law, Dion of Syracuse
Dion (; el, Δίων ὁ Συρακόσιος; 408–354 BC), tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily, was the son of Hipparinus, and brother-in-law of Dionysius I of Syracuse. A disciple of Plato, he became Dionysius I's most trusted minister and advis ...
, became one of Plato's disciples, but the tyrant himself turned against Plato. Plato almost faced death, but he was sold into slavery. Anniceris
Anniceris ( grc-gre, Ἀννίκερις; fl. 300 BC) was a Cyrenaic philosopher. He argued that pleasure is achieved through individual acts of gratification which are sought for the pleasure that they produce, but he also laid great emphasis on t ...
, a Cyrenaic
The Cyrenaics or Kyrenaics ( grc, Κυρηναϊκοί, Kyrēnaïkoí), were a sensual hedonist Greek school of philosophy founded in the 4th century BCE, supposedly by Aristippus of Cyrene, although many of the principles of the school are belie ...
philosopher, subsequently bought Plato's freedom for twenty minas
Minas or MINAS may refer to:
People with the given name Minas
* Menas of Ethiopia (died 1563)
* Saint Menas (Minas, 285–309)
* Minias of Florence (Minas, Miniato, died 250)
* Minas Alozidis (born 1984), Greek hurdler
* Minas Avetisyan (1928 ...
, and sent him home. After Dionysius's death, according to Plato's ''Seventh Letter'', Dion requested Plato return to Syracuse to tutor Dionysius II and guide him to become a philosopher king. Dionysius II seemed to accept Plato's teachings, but he became suspicious of Dion, his uncle. Dionysius expelled Dion and kept Plato against his will. Eventually Plato left Syracuse. Dion would return to overthrow Dionysius and ruled Syracuse for a short time before being usurped by Calippus, a fellow disciple of Plato.
According to Seneca, Plato died at the age of 81 on the same day he was born. The Suda indicates that he lived to 82 years, while Neanthes claims an age of 84. A variety of sources have given accounts of his death. One story, based on a mutilated manuscript, suggests Plato died in his bed, whilst a young Thracian
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...
girl played the flute to him. Another tradition suggests Plato died at a wedding feast. The account is based on Diogenes Laërtius's reference to an account by Hermippus, a third-century Alexandrian. According to Tertullian
Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...
, Plato simply died in his sleep.
Plato owned an estate at Iphistiadae, which by will he left to a certain youth named Adeimantus, presumably a younger relative, as Plato had an elder brother or uncle by this name.
Influences
Pythagoras
Although Socrates influenced Plato directly as related in the dialogues, the influence of Pythagoras
Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samos, Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionians, Ionian Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher and the eponymou ...
upon Plato, or in a broader sense, the Pythagoreans
Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the ancient Greek colony of Kroton, ...
, such as Archytas
Archytas (; el, Ἀρχύτας; 435/410–360/350 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician, music theorist, astronomer, statesman, and strategist. He was a scientist of the Pythagorean school and famous for being the reputed founder ...
also appears to have been significant. Aristotle claimed that the philosophy of Plato closely followed the teachings of the Pythagoreans, and Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
repeats this claim: "They say Plato learned all things Pythagorean." It is probable that both were influenced by Orphism, and both believed in metempsychosis
Metempsychosis ( grc-gre, μετεμψύχωσις), in philosophy, is the transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. The term is derived from ancient Greek philosophy, and has been recontextualised by modern philoso ...
, transmigration of the soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
.
Pythagoras held that all things are number, and the cosmos comes from numerical principles. He introduced the concept of form as distinct from matter, and that the physical world is an imitation of an eternal mathematical world. These ideas were very influential on Heraclitus, Parmenides and Plato.
George Karamanolis notes that Numenius accepted both Pythagoras and Plato as the two authorities one should follow in philosophy, but he regarded Plato's authority as subordinate to that of Pythagoras, whom he considered to be the source of all true philosophy—including Plato's own. For Numenius it is just that Plato wrote so many philosophical works, whereas Pythagoras' views were originally passed on only orally.
According to R. M. Hare
Richard Mervyn Hare (21 March 1919 – 29 January 2002), usually cited as R. M. Hare, was a British moral philosopher who held the post of White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford from 1966 until 1983. He subseque ...
, this influence consists of three points:
#The platonic Republic might be related to the idea of "a tightly organized community of like-minded thinkers", like the one established by Pythagoras in Croton.
#The idea that mathematics and, generally speaking, abstract thinking is a secure basis for philosophical thinking as well as "for substantial theses in science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
and morals
Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...
".
#They shared a "mystical approach to the soul and its place in the material world".
Plato and mathematics
Plato may have studied under the mathematician Theodorus of Cyrene
Theodorus of Cyrene ( el, Θεόδωρος ὁ Κυρηναῖος) was an ancient Greek mathematician who lived during the 5th century BC. The only first-hand accounts of him that survive are in three of Plato's dialogues: the ''Theaetetus'', th ...
, and has a dialogue
Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
named for and whose central character is the mathematician Theaetetus. While not a mathematician, Plato was considered an accomplished teacher of mathematics. Eudoxus of Cnidus
Eudoxus of Cnidus (; grc, Εὔδοξος ὁ Κνίδιος, ''Eúdoxos ho Knídios''; ) was an ancient Greek astronomer, mathematician, scholar, and student of Archytas and Plato. All of his original works are lost, though some fragments are ...
, the greatest mathematician in Classical Greece, who contributed much of what is found in Euclid
Euclid (; grc-gre, Wikt:Εὐκλείδης, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the ''Euclid's Elements, Elements'' trea ...
's '' Elements'', was taught by Archytas and Plato. Plato helped to distinguish between pure
Pure may refer to:
Computing
* A pure function
* A pure virtual function
* PureSystems, a family of computer systems introduced by IBM in 2012
* Pure Software, a company founded in 1991 by Reed Hastings to support the Purify tool
* Pure-FTPd, F ...
and applied mathematics
Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...
by widening the gap between "arithmetic", now called number theory
Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777 ...
and "logistic", now called arithmetic
Arithmetic () is an elementary part of mathematics that consists of the study of the properties of the traditional operations on numbers— addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, and extraction of roots. In the 19th ...
.
In the dialogue ''Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to:
* ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato
*Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue
*Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...
'' Plato associated each of the four classical element
Classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Tibet, and India had simil ...
s (earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
, air
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...
, water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
, and fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...
) with a regular solid (cube
In geometry, a cube is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. Viewed from a corner it is a hexagon and its net is usually depicted as a cross.
The cube is the only r ...
, octahedron
In geometry, an octahedron (plural: octahedra, octahedrons) is a polyhedron with eight faces. The term is most commonly used to refer to the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at ea ...
, icosahedron
In geometry, an icosahedron ( or ) is a polyhedron with 20 faces. The name comes and . The plural can be either "icosahedra" () or "icosahedrons".
There are infinitely many non- similar shapes of icosahedra, some of them being more symmetrica ...
, and tetrahedron
In geometry, a tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, six straight edges, and four vertex corners. The tetrahedron is the simplest of all the o ...
respectively) due to their shape, the so-called Platonic solids. The fifth regular solid, the dodecahedron
In geometry, a dodecahedron (Greek , from ''dōdeka'' "twelve" + ''hédra'' "base", "seat" or "face") or duodecahedron is any polyhedron with twelve flat faces. The most familiar dodecahedron is the regular dodecahedron with regular pentagon ...
, was supposed to be the element which made up the heavens.
Heraclitus and Parmenides
The two philosophers Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire.
Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrote ...
and Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia.
Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates a ...
, following the way initiated by pre-Socratic Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras, depart from mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
and begin the metaphysical
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
tradition that strongly influenced Plato and continues today.
The surviving fragments written by Heraclitus suggest the view that all things are continuously changing, or becoming. His image of the river, with ever-changing waters, is well known. According to some ancient traditions such as that of Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...
, Plato received these ideas through Heraclitus' disciple Cratylus
Cratylus ( ; grc, Κρατύλος, ''Kratylos'') was an ancient Athenian philosopher from the mid-late 5th century BCE, known mostly through his portrayal in Plato's dialogue '' Cratylus''. He was a radical proponent of Heraclitean philosophy ...
, who held the more radical view that continuous change warrants scepticism
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
because we cannot define a thing that does not have a permanent nature.
Parmenides adopted an altogether contrary vision, arguing for the idea of changeless Being
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality.
Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
and the view that change is an illusion. John Palmer notes "Parmenides' distinction among the principal modes of being and his derivation of the attributes that must belong to what must be, simply as such, qualify him to be seen as the founder of metaphysics or ontology
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality.
Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
as a domain of inquiry distinct from theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
."
These ideas about change and permanence, or becoming and Being, influenced Plato in formulating his theory of Forms.
Plato's most self-critical dialogue is the ''Parmenides'', which features Parmenides and his student Zeno
Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to:
People
* Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name
Philosophers
* Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes
* Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...
, who, following Parmenides' denial of change, argued forcefully through his paradoxes
A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...
to deny the existence of motion
In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and mea ...
.
Plato's ''Sophist
A sophist ( el, σοφιστής, sophistes) was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics, and mathematics. They taught ' ...
'' dialogue includes an Eleatic
The Eleatics were a group of pre-Socratic philosophers in the 5th century BC centered around the ancient Italian Greek colony of Elea ( grc, Ἐλέα), located in present-day Campania in southern Italy.
The primary philosophers who are associat ...
stranger, a follower of Parmenides, as a foil for his arguments against Parmenides. In the dialogue, Plato distinguishes noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
s and verb
A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...
s, providing some of the earliest treatment of subject and predicate
Predicate or predication may refer to:
* Predicate (grammar), in linguistics
* Predication (philosophy)
* several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic:
**Predicate (mathematical logic)
**Propositional function
**Finitary relation, o ...
. He also argues that motion and rest
Rest or REST may refer to:
Relief from activity
* Sleep
** Bed rest
* Kneeling
* Lying (position)
* Sitting
* Squatting position
Structural support
* Structural support
** Rest (cue sports)
** Armrest
** Headrest
** Footrest
Arts and entert ...
both "are", against followers of Parmenides who say rest is but motion is not.
Socrates
Plato was one of the devoted young followers of Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
. The precise relationship between Plato and Socrates remains an area of contention among scholars.
Plato never speaks in his own voice in his dialogues; every dialogue except the ''Laws
Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...
'' features Socrates, although many dialogues, including the ''Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to:
* ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato
*Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue
*Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...
'' and ''Statesman
A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level.
Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to:
Newspapers United States
* ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...
'', feature him speaking only rarely. In the ''Second Letter'', it says, "no writing of Plato exists or ever will exist, but those now said to be his are those of a Socrates become beautiful and new"; if the letter is Plato's, the final qualification seems to call into question the dialogues' historical fidelity. In any case, Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; grc, wikt:Ξενοφῶν, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Anci ...
's ''Memorabilia
A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...
'' and Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...
's ''The Clouds
''The Clouds'' ( grc, Νεφέλαι ''Nephelai'') is a Greek comedy play written by the playwright Aristophanes. A lampooning of intellectual fashions in classical Athens, it was originally produced at the City Dionysia in 423BC and was not as ...
'' seem to present a somewhat different portrait of Socrates from the one Plato paints. The Socratic problem
In historical scholarship, the Socratic problem (or Socratic question) concerns attempts at reconstructing a historical and philosophical image of Socrates based on the variable, and sometimes contradictory, nature of the existing sources on his l ...
concerns how to reconcile these various accounts. Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss (, ; September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was a German-American political philosopher who specialized in classical political philosophy. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Strauss later emigrated from Germany to the United States. ...
notes that Socrates' reputation for irony
Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique.
Irony can be categorized into ...
casts doubt on whether Plato's Socrates is expressing sincere beliefs.
Aristotle attributes a different doctrine with respect to Forms to Plato and Socrates. Aristotle suggests that Socrates' idea of forms can be discovered through investigation of the natural world, unlike Plato's Forms that exist beyond and outside the ordinary range of human understanding. In the dialogues of Plato though, Socrates sometimes seems to support a mystical
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
side, discussing reincarnation
Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...
and the mystery religions
Mystery religions, mystery cults, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates ''(mystai)''. The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy ass ...
, this is generally attributed to Plato. Regardless, this view of Socrates cannot be dismissed out of hand, as we cannot be sure of the differences between the views of Plato and Socrates. In the ''Meno
''Meno'' (; grc-gre, Μένων, ''Ménōn'') is a Socratic dialogue by Plato. Meno begins the dialogue by asking Socrates whether virtue is taught, acquired by practice, or comes by nature. In order to determine whether virtue is teachable ...
,'' Plato refers to the Eleusinian Mysteries
The Eleusinian Mysteries ( el, Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια, Eleusínia Mystḗria) were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Elefsina in ancient Greece. They are the " ...
, telling Meno he would understand Socrates's answers better if he could stay for the initiations next week. It is possible that Plato and Socrates took part in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Philosophy
Metaphysics
In Plato's dialogues, Socrates and his company of disputants had something to say on many subjects, including several aspects of metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
. These include religion and science, human nature, love, and sexuality. More than one dialogue contrasts perception and reality
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...
, nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
and custom, and body and soul. Francis Cornford
Francis Macdonald Cornford (27 February 1874 – 3 January 1943) was an English classical scholar and translator known for work on ancient philosophy, notably Plato, Parmenides, Thucydides, and ancient Greek religion. Frances Cornford, his w ...
identified the "twin pillars of Platonism" as the theory of Forms, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the doctrine of immortality of the soul.
The Forms
"Platonism" and its theory of Forms (also known as 'theory of Ideas;) denies the reality of the material world, considering it only an image or copy of the real world. The theory of Forms is first introduced in the ''Phaedo
''Phædo'' or ''Phaedo'' (; el, Φαίδων, ''Phaidōn'' ), also known to ancient readers as ''On The Soul'', is one of the best-known dialogues of Plato's middle period, along with the ''Republic'' and the ''Symposium.'' The philosophical ...
'' dialogue (also known as ''On the Soul''), wherein Socrates refutes the pluralism of the likes of Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras (; grc-gre, Ἀναξαγόρας, ''Anaxagóras'', "lord of the assembly"; 500 – 428 BC) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae at a time when Asia Minor was under the control of the Persian Empire, ...
, then the most popular response to Heraclitus and Parmenides, while giving the "Opposites Argument" in support of the Forms.
According to this theory of Forms, there are these two kinds of things: the apparent world of concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
objects, grasped by the sense
A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the cen ...
s, which constantly changes, and an unchanging and unseen world of Forms or abstract objects
In metaphysics, the distinction between abstract and concrete refers to a divide between two types of entities. Many philosophers hold that this difference has fundamental metaphysical significance. Examples of concrete objects include plants, hum ...
, grasped by pure reason
Speculative reason, sometimes called theoretical reason or pure reason, is theoretical (or logical, deductive) thought, as opposed to practical (active, willing) thought. The distinction between the two goes at least as far back as the ancient Gr ...
(), which ground what is apparent.
It can also be said there are three worlds, with the apparent world consisting of both the world of material objects and of mental images, with the "third realm" consisting of the Forms. Thus, though there is the term "Platonic idealism", this refers to Platonic Ideas or the Forms, and not to some platonic kind of idealism
In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...
, an 18th-century view which sees matter
In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic partic ...
as unreal in favour of mind
The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...
. For Plato, though grasped by the mind, only the Forms are truly real.
Plato's Forms thus represent types
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type, collection of values used for computations.
* File type
* TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file.
* Typ ...
of things, as well as properties
Property is the ownership of land, resources, improvements or other tangible objects, or intellectual property.
Property may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Property (mathematics)
Philosophy and science
* Property (philosophy), in philosophy and ...
, patterns, and relations, to which we refer as objects. Just as individual tables, chairs, and cars refer to objects in this world, 'tableness', 'chairness', and 'carness', as well as e. g. justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
, truth
Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs ...
, and beauty
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
refer to objects in another world. One of Plato's most cited examples for the Forms were the truths of geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
, such as the Pythagorean theorem
In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem or Pythagoras' theorem is a fundamental relation in Euclidean geometry between the three sides of a right triangle. It states that the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse (the side opposite t ...
.
In other words, the Forms are universals
In metaphysics, a universal is what particular things have in common, namely characteristics or qualities. In other words, universals are repeatable or recurrent entities that can be instantiated or exemplified by many particular things. For exa ...
given as a solution to the problem of universals, or the problem of "the One and the Many", e. g. how one predicate "red" can apply to many red objects. For Plato, this is because there is one abstract object or Form of red, redness itself, in which the several red things "participate". As Plato's solution is that universals are Forms and that Forms are real if anything is, Plato's philosophy is unambiguously called Platonic realism. According to Aristotle, Plato's best-known argument in support of the Forms was the "one over many" argument.
Aside from being immutable, timeless, changeless, and one over many, the Forms also provide definitions and the standard against which all instances are measured. In the dialogues Socrates regularly asks for the meaning – in the sense of intension
In any of several fields of study that treat the use of signs — for example, in linguistics, logic, mathematics, semantics, semiotics, and philosophy of language — an intension is any property or quality connoted by a word, phrase, or anoth ...
al definition
A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definitio ...
s – of a general term (e. g. justice, truth, beauty), and criticizes those who instead give him particular, extensional In any of several fields of study that treat the use of signs — for example, in linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, obj ...
examples, rather than the quality shared by all examples.
There is thus a world of perfect, eternal, and changeless meanings of predicates, the Forms, existing in the realm
A realm is a community or territory over which a sovereign rules. The term is commonly used to describe a monarchical or dynastic state. A realm may also be a subdivision within an empire, if it has its own monarch, e.g. the German Empire.
Etym ...
of Being outside of space and time Space and Time or Time and Space, or ''variation'', may refer to:
* ''Space and time'' or ''time and space'' or ''spacetime'', any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single interwoven continuum
* Philosophy of space and time
Sp ...
; and the imperfect sensible world of becoming, subjects somehow in a state between being and nothing, that partakes of the qualities of the Forms, and is its instantiation.
The soul
For Plato, as was characteristic of ancient Greek philosophy, the soul was that which gave life. See this brief exchange from the ''Phaedo'': "What is it that, when present in a body, makes it living? — A soul."
Another hallmark of Plato's view of the soul is that it is what rules and controls a person's body. Plato uses this observation in the ''Alcibiades'' as evidence that people are their souls.
Plato advocates a belief in the immortality of the soul, and several dialogues end with long speeches imagining the afterlife
The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...
. In the ''Timaeus'', Socrates locates the parts of the soul within the human body: Reason is located in the head, spirit in the top third of the torso
The torso or trunk is an anatomical term for the central part, or the core, of the body of many animals (including humans), from which the head, neck, limbs, tail and other appendages extend. The tetrapod torso — including that of a human ...
, and the appetite in the middle third of the torso, down to the navel
The navel (clinically known as the umbilicus, commonly known as the belly button or tummy button) is a protruding, flat, or hollowed area on the abdomen at the attachment site of the umbilical cord. All placental mammals have a navel, although ...
.
Furthermore, Plato evinces in multiple dialogues (such as the ''Phaedo'' and ''Timaeus'') a belief in the theory of reincarnation. Scholars debate whether he intends the theory to be literally true, however.
Epistemology
Plato also discusses several aspects of epistemology
Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
Episte ...
. More than one dialogue contrasts knowledge (''episteme
In philosophy, episteme (; french: épistémè) is a term that refers to a principle system of understanding (i.e., knowledge), such as scientific knowledge or practical knowledge. The term comes from the Ancient Greek verb grc, ἐπῐ́ ...
'') and opinion (''doxa
Doxa (; from verb )Henry Liddell, Liddell, Henry George, and Robert Scott (philologist), Robert Scott. 1940.δοκέω" In ''A Greek–English Lexicon, A Greek-English Lexicon'', edited by Henry Stuart Jones, H. S. Jones and R. McKenzie. Oxford. ...
''). Plato's epistemology involves Socrates (and other characters, such as Timaeus) arguing that knowledge is not empirical
Empirical evidence for a proposition is evidence, i.e. what supports or counters this proposition, that is constituted by or accessible to sense experience or experimental procedure. Empirical evidence is of central importance to the sciences and ...
, and that it comes from divine insight. The Forms are also responsible for both knowledge or certainty, and are grasped by pure reason.
In several dialogues, Socrates inverts the common man's intuition about what is knowable and what is real. Reality is unavailable to those who use their senses. Socrates says that he who sees with his eyes is blind. While most people take the objects of their senses to be real if anything is, Socrates is contemptuous of people who think that something has to be graspable in the hands to be real. In the ''Theaetetus'', he says such people are ''eu amousoi'' (εὖ ἄμουσοι), an expression that means literally, "happily without the muses". In other words, such people are willingly ignorant, living without divine inspiration and access to higher insights about reality.
In Plato's dialogues, Socrates always insists on his ignorance and humility, that he knows nothing, so-called "Socratic irony
Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique.
Irony can be categorized into d ...
." Several dialogues refute a series of viewpoints, but offer no positive position, thus ending in ''aporia
In philosophy, an aporia ( grc, ᾰ̓πορῐ́ᾱ, aporíā, literally: "lacking passage", also: "impasse", "difficulty in passage", "puzzlement") is a conundrum or state of puzzlement. In rhetoric, it is a declaration of doubt, made for rh ...
''.
Recollection
In several of Plato's dialogues, Socrates promulgates the idea that knowledge is a matter of recollection
Recall in memory refers to the mental process of retrieval of information from the past. Along with encoding and storage, it is one of the three core processes of memory. There are three main types of recall: free recall, cued recall and serial ...
of things acquainted with before one is born, and not of observation or study. Keeping with the theme of admitting his own ignorance, Socrates regularly complains of his forgetfulness. In the ''Meno'', Socrates uses a geometrical example to expound Plato's view that knowledge in this latter sense is acquired by recollection. Socrates elicits a fact concerning a geometrical construction from a slave boy, who could not have otherwise known the fact (due to the slave boy's lack of education). The knowledge must be of, Socrates concludes, an eternal, non-perceptible Form.
In other dialogues, the ''Sophist'', ''Statesman
A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level.
Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to:
Newspapers United States
* ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...
'', ''Republic'', ''Timaeus'', and the ''Parmenides'', Plato associates knowledge with the apprehension of unchanging Forms and their relationships to one another (which he calls "expertise" in dialectic), including through the processes of ''collection'' and ''division''. More explicitly, Plato himself argues in the ''Timaeus'' that knowledge is always proportionate to the realm from which it is gained. In other words, if one derives one's account of something experientially, because the world of sense is in flux, the views therein attained will be mere opinions. Meanwhile, opinions are characterized by a lack of necessity and stability. On the other hand, if one derives one's account of something by way of the non-sensible Forms, because these Forms are unchanging, so too is the account derived from them. That apprehension of Forms is required for knowledge may be taken to cohere with Plato's theory in the ''Theaetetus'' and ''Meno''. Indeed, the apprehension of Forms may be at the base of the account required for justification, in that it offers foundational knowledge which itself needs no account, thereby avoiding an infinite regression
An infinite regress is an infinite series of entities governed by a recursive principle that determines how each entity in the series depends on or is produced by its predecessor. In the epistemic regress, for example, a belief is justified beca ...
.
Justified true belief
Many have interpreted Plato as stating — even having been the first to write — that knowledge
Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...
is justified true belief
Definitions of knowledge try to determine the essential features of knowledge. Closely related terms are conception of knowledge, theory of knowledge, and analysis of knowledge. Some general features of knowledge are widely accepted among philoso ...
, an influential view that informed future developments in epistemology. This interpretation is partly based on a reading of the ''Theaetetus'' wherein Plato argues that knowledge is distinguished from mere true belief by the knower having an "account" of the object of their true belief. And this theory may again be seen in the ''Meno'', where it is suggested that true belief can be raised to the level of knowledge if it is bound with an account as to the question of "why" the object of the true belief is so.
Many years later, Edmund Gettier
Edmund Lee Gettier III (; October 31, 1927 – March 23, 2021) was an American philosopher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is best known for his short 1963 article "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?", which has generated an exten ...
famously demonstrated the problems
A problem is a difficulty which may be resolved by problem solving.
Problem(s) or The Problem may also refer to:
People
* Problem (rapper), (born 1985) American rapper Books
* Problems (Aristotle), ''Problems'' (Aristotle), an Aristotelian (or ps ...
of the justified true belief account of knowledge. That the modern theory of justified true belief as knowledge, which Gettier addresses, is equivalent to Plato's is accepted by some scholars but rejected by others. Plato himself also identified problems with the ''justified true belief'' definition in the ''Theaetetus'', concluding that justification (or an "account") would require knowledge of ''difference'', meaning that the definition of knowledge
Definitions of knowledge try to determine the essential features of knowledge. Closely related terms are conception of knowledge, theory of knowledge, and analysis of knowledge. Some general features of knowledge are widely accepted among philoso ...
is circular
Circular may refer to:
* The shape of a circle
* ''Circular'' (album), a 2006 album by Spanish singer Vega
* Circular letter (disambiguation)
** Flyer (pamphlet), a form of advertisement
* Circular reasoning, a type of logical fallacy
* Circula ...
.
Ethics
Several dialogues discuss ethics
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...
including virtue and vice, pleasure and pain, crime and punishment, and justice and medicine. Plato views "The Good" as the supreme Form, somehow existing even "beyond being".
Socrates propounded a moral intellectualism
Moral intellectualism or ethical intellectualism is a view in meta-ethics according to which genuine moral knowledge must take the form of arriving at discursive moral judgements about what one should do.
One way of understanding this is that doi ...
which claimed nobody does bad on purpose, and to know what is good results in doing what is good; that knowledge is virtue. In the ''Protagoras'' dialogue it is argued that virtue is innate and cannot be learned.
Socrates presents the famous Euthyphro dilemma
The Euthyphro dilemma is found in Plato's dialogue ''Euthyphro'', in which Socrates asks Euthyphro, "Is the pious ( τὸ ὅσιον) loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" ( 10a)
Although it ...
in the dialogue
Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
of the same name: "Is the pious ( τὸ ὅσιον) loved by the gods
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...
because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" ( 10a)
Justice
As above, in the ''Republic'', Plato asks the question, “What is justice?” By means of the Greek term ''dikaiosune'' – a term for “justice” that captures both individual justice and the justice that informs societies, Plato is able not only to inform metaphysics, but also ethics and politics with the question: “What is the basis of moral and social obligation?” Plato's well-known answer rests upon the fundamental responsibility to seek wisdom, wisdom which leads to an understanding of the Form of the Good. Plato further argues that such understanding of Forms produces and ensures the good communal life when ideally structured under a philosopher king in a society with three classes (philosopher kings, guardians, and workers) that neatly mirror his triadic view of the individual soul (reason, spirit, and appetite). In this manner, justice is obtained when knowledge of how to fulfill one's moral and political function in society is put into practice.
Politics
The dialogues also discuss politics. Some of Plato's most famous doctrines are contained in the ''Republic'' as well as in the ''Laws
Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...
'' and the ''Statesman''. Because these opinions are not spoken directly by Plato and vary between dialogues, they cannot be straightforwardly assumed as representing Plato's own views.
Socrates asserts that societies have a tripartite class structure corresponding to the appetite/spirit/reason structure of the individual soul. The appetite/spirit/reason are analogous to the castes of society.
* ''Productive'' (Workers) – the labourers, carpenters, plumbers, masons, merchants, farmers, ranchers, etc. These correspond to the "appetite" part of the soul.
* ''Protective'' (Warriors or Guardians) – those who are adventurous, strong and brave; in the armed forces. These correspond to the "spirit" part of the soul.
* ''Governing'' (Rulers or Philosopher Kings) – those who are intelligent, rational, self-controlled, in love with wisdom, well suited to make decisions for the community. These correspond to the "reason" part of the soul and are very few.
According to this model, the principles of Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy developed around the 6th century BC in the Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica. Although Athens is the most famous ancient Greek democratic city- ...
(as it existed in his day) are rejected as only a few are fit to rule. Instead of rhetoric and persuasion, Socrates says reason and wisdom should govern. As Socrates puts it:
: "Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophize, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils,... nor, I think, will the human race."
Socrates describes these "philosopher kings" as "those who love the sight of truth" and supports the idea with the analogy of a captain and his ship or a doctor and his medicine. According to him, sailing and health are not things that everyone is qualified to practice by nature. A large part of the ''Republic'' then addresses how the educational system should be set up to produce these philosopher kings.
In addition, the ideal city is used as an image to illuminate the state of one's soul, or the will
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will
...
, reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
, and desires
Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", " wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of aff ...
combined in the human body. Socrates is attempting to make an image of a rightly ordered human, and then later goes on to describe the different kinds of humans that can be observed, from tyrants to lovers of money in various kinds of cities. The ideal city is not promoted, but only used to magnify the different kinds of individual humans and the state of their soul. However, the philosopher king image was used by many after Plato to justify their personal political beliefs. The philosophic soul according to Socrates has reason, will, and desires united in virtuous harmony. A philosopher has the moderate
Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...
love for wisdom
Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, ...
and the courage
Courage (also called bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle.
Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, h ...
to act according to wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge
Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...
about the Good
In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...
or the right relations between all that exists.
Wherein it concerns states and rulers, Socrates asks which is better—a bad democracy or a country reigned by a tyrant. He argues that it is better to be ruled by a bad tyrant, than by a bad democracy (since here all the people are now responsible for such actions, rather than one individual committing many bad deeds.) This is emphasised within the ''Republic'' as Socrates describes the event of mutiny on board a ship. Socrates suggests the ship's crew to be in line with the democratic rule of many and the captain, although inhibited through ailments, the tyrant. Socrates' description of this event is parallel to that of democracy within the state and the inherent problems that arise.
According to Socrates, a state made up of different kinds of souls will, overall, decline from an aristocracy (rule by the best) to a timocracy
A timocracy (from Ancient Greek, Greek τιμή ''timē'', "honor, worth" and -κρατία ''-kratia'', "rule") in Aristotle's ''Politics (Aristotle), Politics'' is a State (polity), state where only property owners may participate in government ...
(rule by the honourable), then to an oligarchy (rule by the few), then to a democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
(rule by the people), and finally to tyranny
A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to rep ...
(rule by one person, rule by a tyrant). Aristocracy in the sense of government (politeia) is advocated in Plato's Republic. This regime is ruled by a philosopher king
The philosopher king is a hypothetical ruler in whom political skill is combined with philosophical knowledge. The concept of a city-state ruled by philosophers is first explored in Plato's ''Republic'', written around 375 BC. Plato argued that ...
, and thus is grounded on wisdom and reason.
The aristocratic state, and the man whose nature corresponds to it, are the objects of Plato's analyses throughout much of the ''Republic'', as opposed to the other four types of states/men, who are discussed later in his work. In Book VIII, Socrates states in order the other four imperfect societies with a description of the state's structure and individual character. In timocracy, the ruling class is made up primarily of those with a warrior-like character. Oligarchy is made up of a society in which wealth is the criterion of merit and the wealthy are in control. In democracy, the state bears resemblance to ancient Athens
Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for perhaps 5,000 years. Situated in southern Europe, Athens became the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC, and its cultural achieve ...
with traits such as equality of political opportunity and freedom for the individual to do as he likes. Democracy then degenerates into tyranny from the conflict of rich and poor
There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality
The distribution of wealth is a comparison of the weal ...
. It is characterized by an undisciplined society existing in chaos, where the tyrant rises as a popular champion leading to the formation of his private army and the growth of oppression.
Art and poetry
Several dialogues tackle questions about art, including rhetoric and rhapsody. Socrates says that poetry is inspired by the muses
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...
, and is not rational. He speaks approvingly of this, and other forms of divine madness (drunkenness, eroticism, and dreaming) in the ''Phaedrus'', and yet in the ''Republic'' wants to outlaw Homer's great poetry, and laughter as well. In ''Ion
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...
'', Socrates gives no hint of the disapproval of Homer that he expresses in the ''Republic''. The dialogue ''Ion'' suggests that Homer's ''Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...
'' functioned in the ancient Greek world as the Bible does today in the modern Christian world: as divinely inspired literature that can provide moral guidance, if only it can be properly interpreted.
Rhetoric
Scholars often view Plato's philosophy as at odds with rhetoric due to his criticisms of rhetoric in the ''Gorgias
Gorgias (; grc-gre, Γοργίας; 483–375 BC) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxogr ...
'' and his ambivalence toward rhetoric expressed in the '' Phaedrus''. But other contemporary researchers contest the idea that Plato despised rhetoric and instead view his dialogues as a dramatization of complex rhetorical principles.
Unwritten doctrines
For a long time, Plato's unwritten doctrines
Plato's so-called unwritten doctrines are metaphysical theories ascribed to him by his students and other ancient philosophers but not clearly formulated in his writings. In recent research, they are sometimes known as Plato's 'principle theory' ( ...
had been controversial. Many modern books on Plato seem to diminish its importance; nevertheless, the first important witness who mentions its existence is Aristotle, who in his ''Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
'' writes: "It is true, indeed, that the account he gives there .e. in ''Timaeus''of the participant is different from what he says in his so-called ''unwritten teachings'' ()." The term "" literally means ''unwritten doctrines'' or ''unwritten dogma
Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...
s'' and it stands for the most fundamental metaphysical teaching of Plato, which he disclosed only orally, and some say only to his most trusted fellows, and which he may have kept secret from the public. The importance of the unwritten doctrines does not seem to have been seriously questioned before the 19th century.
A reason for not revealing it to everyone is partially discussed in ''Phaedrus'' where Plato criticizes the written transmission of knowledge as faulty, favouring instead the spoken ''logos
''Logos'' (, ; grc, wikt:λόγος, λόγος, lógos, lit=word, discourse, or reason) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric and refers to the appeal to reason that relies on logic or reason, inductive and deductive ...
'': "he who has knowledge of the just and the good and beautiful ... will not, when in earnest, write them in ink, sowing them through a pen with words, which cannot defend themselves by argument and cannot teach the truth effectually." The same argument is repeated in Plato's ''Seventh Letter'': "every serious man in dealing with really serious subjects carefully avoids writing." In the same letter he writes: "I can certainly declare concerning all these writers who claim to know the subjects that I seriously study ... there does not exist, nor will there ever exist, any treatise of mine dealing therewith." Such secrecy is necessary in order not "to expose them to unseemly and degrading treatment".
It is, however, said that Plato once disclosed this knowledge to the public in his lecture ''On the Good'' (), in which the Good () is identified with the One (the Unity, ), the fundamental ontological principle. The content of this lecture has been transmitted by several witnesses. Aristoxenus
Aristoxenus of Tarentum ( el, Ἀριστόξενος ὁ Ταραντῖνος; born 375, fl. 335 BC) was a Greek Peripatetic philosopher, and a pupil of Aristotle. Most of his writings, which dealt with philosophy, ethics and music, have been ...
describes the event in the following words: "Each came expecting to learn something about the things that are generally considered good for men, such as wealth, good health, physical strength, and altogether a kind of wonderful happiness. But when the mathematical demonstrations came, including numbers, geometrical figures and astronomy, and finally the statement Good is One seemed to them, I imagine, utterly unexpected and strange; hence some belittled the matter, while others rejected it." Simplicius quotes Alexander of Aphrodisias
Alexander of Aphrodisias ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Ἀφροδισιεύς, translit=Alexandros ho Aphrodisieus; AD) was a Peripatetic school, Peripatetic philosopher and the most celebrated of the Ancient Greek Commentaries on Aristo ...
, who states that "according to Plato, the first principles of everything, including the Forms themselves are One and Indefinite Duality (), which he called Large and Small ()", and Simplicius reports as well that "one might also learn this from Speusippus and Xenocrates and the others who were present at Plato's lecture on the Good".[see .]
Their account is in full agreement with Aristotle's description of Plato's metaphysical doctrine. In ''Metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
'' he writes: "Now since the Forms are the causes of everything else, he .e. Platosupposed that their elements are the elements of all things. Accordingly, the material principle is the Great and Small .e. the Dyad and the essence is the One (), since the numbers are derived from the Great and Small by participation in the One".[''Metaphysics'' 987b] "From this account it is clear that he only employed two causes: that of the essence, and the material cause; for the Forms are the cause of the essence in everything else, and the One is the cause of it in the Forms. He also tells us what the material substrate is of which the Forms are predicated in the case of sensible things, and the One in that of the Forms—that it is this the duality (the Dyad, ), the Great and Small (). Further, he assigned to these two elements respectively the causation of good and of evil".
The most important aspect of this interpretation of Plato's metaphysics is the continuity between his teaching and the Neoplatonic interpretation of Plotinus
Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neop ...
or Ficino
Marsilio Ficino (; Latin name: ; 19 October 1433 – 1 October 1499) was an Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance. He was an astrologer, a reviver o ...
which has been considered erroneous by many but may in fact have been directly influenced by oral transmission of Plato's doctrine. A modern scholar who recognized the importance of the unwritten doctrine of Plato was Heinrich Gomperz Heinrich Gomperz (January 18, 1873 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary – December 27, 1942 in Los Angeles, California) was an Austrian philosopher.
He was a son of Theodor Gomperz. He was a patient of Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund ...
who described it in his speech during the 7th International Congress of Philosophy
The World Congress of Philosophy (originally known as the International Congress of Philosophy) is a global meeting of philosophers held every five years under the auspices of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP). First or ...
in 1930. All the sources related to the have been collected by Konrad Gaiser and published as ''Testimonia Platonica''. These sources have subsequently been interpreted by scholars from the German ''Tübingen School of interpretation'' such as Hans Joachim Krämer or Thomas A. Szlezák.
Themes of Plato's dialogues
Trial of Socrates
The trial of Socrates
The trial of Socrates (399 BC) was held to determine the philosopher's guilt of two charges: ''asebeia'' (impiety) against the pantheon of Athens, and corruption of the youth of the city-state; the accusers cited two impious acts by Socrates: ...
and his death sentence is the central, unifying event of Plato's dialogues. It is relayed in the dialogues ''Apology'', ''Crito
''Crito'' ( or ; grc, Κρίτων ) is a dialogue that was written by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It depicts a conversation between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito of Alopece regarding justice (''δικαιοσύνη''), inj ...
'', and ''Phaedo
''Phædo'' or ''Phaedo'' (; el, Φαίδων, ''Phaidōn'' ), also known to ancient readers as ''On The Soul'', is one of the best-known dialogues of Plato's middle period, along with the ''Republic'' and the ''Symposium.'' The philosophical ...
''. ''Apology'' is Socrates' defence speech, and ''Crito'' and ''Phaedo'' take place in prison after the conviction.
''Apology'' is among the most frequently read of Plato's works. In the ''Apology'', Socrates tries to dismiss rumours that he is a sophist
A sophist ( el, σοφιστής, sophistes) was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics, and mathematics. They taught ' ...
and defends himself against charges of disbelief in the gods and corruption of the young. Socrates insists that long-standing slander will be the real cause of his demise, and says the legal charges are essentially false. Socrates famously denies being wise, and explains how his life as a philosopher was launched by the Oracle at Delphi
Pythia (; grc, Πυθία ) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness ...
. He says that his quest to resolve the riddle of the oracle put him at odds with his fellow man, and that this is the reason he has been mistaken for a menace to the city-state of Athens.
In ''Apology'', Socrates is presented as mentioning Plato by name as one of those youths close enough to him to have been corrupted, if he were in fact guilty of corrupting the youth, and questioning why their fathers and brothers did not step forward to testify against him if he was indeed guilty of such a crime. Later, Plato is mentioned along with Crito, Critobolus, and Apollodorus as offering to pay a fine of 30 minas
Minas or MINAS may refer to:
People with the given name Minas
* Menas of Ethiopia (died 1563)
* Saint Menas (Minas, 285–309)
* Minias of Florence (Minas, Miniato, died 250)
* Minas Alozidis (born 1984), Greek hurdler
* Minas Avetisyan (1928 ...
on Socrates' behalf, in lieu of the death penalty proposed by Meletus Meletus ( el, Μέλητος; fl. 5th–4th century BCE) was an ancient Athenian Greek from the Pithus deme known for his prosecuting role in the trial and eventual execution of the philosopher Socrates.
Life
Little is known of Meletus' life beyon ...
. In the ''Phaedo'', the title character lists those who were in attendance at the prison on Socrates' last day, explaining Plato's absence by saying, "Plato was ill".
The trial in other dialogues
If Plato's important dialogues do not refer to Socrates' execution explicitly, they allude to it, or use characters or themes that play a part in it. Five dialogues foreshadow the trial: In the ''Theaetetus'' and the ''Euthyphro'' Socrates tells people that he is about to face corruption charges. In the ''Meno
''Meno'' (; grc-gre, Μένων, ''Ménōn'') is a Socratic dialogue by Plato. Meno begins the dialogue by asking Socrates whether virtue is taught, acquired by practice, or comes by nature. In order to determine whether virtue is teachable ...
'', one of the men who brings legal charges against Socrates, Anytus
Anytus (; grc-gre, Ἄνυτος, Ánytos; c. 5th–4th century BC), son of Anthemion, was an ancient Athenian politician. He served as a general in the Peloponnesian War, and was later a leading supporter of the democratic movements in Athens op ...
, warns him about the trouble he may get into if he does not stop criticizing important people. In the ''Gorgias
Gorgias (; grc-gre, Γοργίας; 483–375 BC) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxogr ...
'', Socrates says that his trial will be like a doctor prosecuted by a cook who asks a jury of children to choose between the doctor's bitter medicine and the cook's tasty treats. In the ''Republic'', Socrates explains why an enlightened man (presumably himself) will stumble in a courtroom situation. Plato's support of aristocracy and distrust of democracy is also taken to be partly rooted in a democracy having killed Socrates. In the ''Protagoras'', Socrates is a guest at the home of Callias
Callias ( gr, Καλλίας, Kallias) was an Ancient Greek statesman, soldier and diplomat, active in 5th century BC. He is commonly known as Callias II to distinguish him from his grandfather, Callias I, and from his grandson, Callias III, who a ...
, son of Hipponicus
Hipponicus (; el, Ἱππόνικος; ±485 – 422/1 BCE) was an Athenian military commander. He was the son of Callias II of the deme Alopece and Elpinice of Laciadae (sister of Cimon). He was known as the "richest man in Greece".
Shortly af ...
, a man whom Socrates disparages in the ''Apology'' as having wasted a great amount of money on sophists' fees.
Two other important dialogues, the ''Symposium
In ancient Greece, the symposium ( grc-gre, συμπόσιον ''symposion'' or ''symposio'', from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together") was a part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was acc ...
'' and the '' Phaedrus'', are linked to the main storyline by characters. In the ''Apology'', Socrates says Aristophanes slandered him in a comic play, and blames him for causing his bad reputation, and ultimately, his death. In the ''Symposium'', the two of them are drinking together with other friends. The character Phaedrus is linked to the main story line by character (Phaedrus is also a participant in the ''Symposium'' and the ''Protagoras'') and by theme (the philosopher as divine emissary, etc.) The ''Protagoras'' is also strongly linked to the ''Symposium'' by characters: all of the formal speakers at the ''Symposium'' (with the exception of Aristophanes) are present at the home of Callias in that dialogue. Charmides and his guardian Critias are present for the discussion in the ''Protagoras''. Examples of characters crossing between dialogues can be further multiplied. The ''Protagoras'' contains the largest gathering of Socratic associates.
In the dialogues Plato is most celebrated and admired for, Socrates is concerned with human and political virtue, has a distinctive personality, and friends and enemies who "travel" with him from dialogue to dialogue. This is not to say that Socrates is consistent: a man who is his friend in one dialogue may be an adversary or subject of his mockery in another. For example, Socrates praises the wisdom of Euthyphro
''Euthyphro'' (; grc, Εὐθύφρων, translit=Euthyphrōn; c. 399–395 BC), by Plato, is a Socratic dialogue whose events occur in the weeks before the trial of Socrates (399 BC), between Socrates and Euthyphro. The dialogue covers subje ...
many times in the ''Cratylus
Cratylus ( ; grc, Κρατύλος, ''Kratylos'') was an ancient Athenian philosopher from the mid-late 5th century BCE, known mostly through his portrayal in Plato's dialogue '' Cratylus''. He was a radical proponent of Heraclitean philosophy ...
'', but makes him look like a fool in the ''Euthyphro''. He disparages sophists generally, and Prodicus
Prodicus of Ceos (; grc-gre, Πρόδικος ὁ Κεῖος, ''Pródikos ho Keios''; c. 465 BC – c. 395 BC) was a Greek philosopher, and part of the first generation of Sophists. He came to Athens as ambassador from Ceos, and became known as ...
specifically in the ''Apology'', whom he also slyly jabs in the ''Cratylus'' for charging the hefty fee of fifty drachma
The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history:
# An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fro ...
s for a course on language and grammar. However, Socrates tells Theaetetus in his namesake dialogue that he admires Prodicus and has directed many pupils to him. Socrates' ideas are also not consistent within or between or among dialogues.
Allegories
''Mythos'' and ''logos'' are terms that evolved throughout classical Greek history. In the times of Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
and Hesiod
Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
(i.e., the 8th century BC) they were essentially synonyms, and contained the meaning of 'tale' or 'history'. Later came historians like Herodotus and Thucydides, as well as philosophers like Heraclitus and Parmenides and other Presocratics who introduced a distinction between both terms; mythos became more a ''nonverifiable account'', and logos a ''rational account''. It may seem that Plato, being a disciple of Socrates and a strong partisan of philosophy based on ''logos'', should have avoided the use of myth-telling. Instead, he made abundant use of it. This fact has produced analytical and interpretative work, in order to clarify the reasons and purposes for that use. Furthermore, Plato himself often oscillates between calling one and the same thing a ''muthos'' and a ''logos'', revealing a preference for the earlier view that the two terms are synonyms.
Plato, in general, distinguished between three types of myth. First, there were the false myths, like those based on stories of gods subject to passions and sufferings, because reason teaches that God is perfect. Then came the myths based on true reasoning, and therefore also true. Finally, there were those non-verifiable because beyond of human reason, but containing some truth in them. Regarding the subjects of Plato's myths, they are of two types, those dealing with the origin of the universe, and those about morals and the origin and fate of the soul.
It is generally agreed that the main purpose for Plato in using myths was didactic. He considered that only a few people were capable or interested in following a reasoned philosophical discourse, but men in general are attracted by stories and tales. Consequently, then, he used the myth to convey the conclusions of the philosophical reasoning. Some of Plato's myths were based in traditional ones, others were modifications of them, and finally, he also invented altogether new myths. Notable examples include the story of Atlantis
Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...
, the Myth of Er
The Myth of Er is a legend that concludes Plato's ''Republic'' (10.614–10.621). The story includes an account of the cosmos and the afterlife that greatly influenced religious, philosophical, and scientific thought for many centuries.
The story ...
, and the Allegory of the Cave.
The Cave
The theory of Forms is most famously captured in his Allegory of the Cave
The Allegory of the Cave, or Plato's Cave, is an allegory presented by the Ancient Greece, Greek philosopher Plato in his work ''Republic (Plato), Republic'' (514a–520a) to compare "the effect of education (Wiktionary:παιδεία, παιδ ...
, and more explicitly in his analogy of the sun
The analogy of the sun (or simile of the sun or metaphor of the sun) is found in the sixth book of '' The Republic'' (507b–509c), written by the Greek philosopher Plato as a dialogue between his brother Glaucon and Socrates, and narrated by the ...
and the divided line
The analogy of the divided line ( grc-gre, γραμμὴ δίχα τετμημένη, grammē dicha tetmēmenē) is presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in the '' Republic'' (509d–511e). It is written as a dialogue between Glaucon and Socr ...
. The Allegory of the Cave is a paradoxical analogy wherein Socrates argues that the invisible world is the most intelligible (''noeton'') and that the visible world (''(h)oraton'') is the least knowable, and the most obscure.
Socrates says in the ''Republic'' that people who take the sun-lit world of the senses to be good and real are living pitifully in a den of evil and ignorance. Socrates admits that few climb out of the den, or cave of ignorance, and those who do, not only have a terrible struggle to attain the heights, but when they go back down for a visit or to help other people up, they find themselves objects of scorn and ridicule.
According to Socrates, physical objects and physical events are "shadows" of their ideal or perfect forms, and exist only to the extent that they instantiate the perfect versions of themselves. Just as shadows are temporary, inconsequential epiphenomena produced by physical objects, physical objects are themselves fleeting phenomena caused by more substantial causes, the ideals of which they are mere instances. For example, Socrates thinks that perfect justice exists (although it is not clear where) and his own trial would be a cheap copy of it.
The Allegory of the Cave is intimately connected to his political ideology, that only people who have climbed out of the cave and cast their eyes on a vision of goodness are fit to rule. Socrates claims that the enlightened men of society must be forced from their divine contemplation and be compelled to run the city according to their lofty insights. Thus is born the idea of the " philosopher-king", the wise person who accepts the power thrust upon him by the people who are wise enough to choose a good master. This is the main thesis of Socrates in the ''Republic'', that the most wisdom the masses can muster is the wise choice of a ruler.
Ring of Gyges
A ring that could make one invisible, the Ring of Gyges
The Ring of Gyges ( grc, Γύγου Δακτύλιος, ''Gúgou Daktúlios'', ) is a hypothetical magic ring mentioned by the philosopher Plato in Book 2 of his ''Republic'' (2:359a–2:360d). It grants its owner the power to become invisible at ...
, is proposed in the ''Republic'' by the character of Glaucon, and considered by the rest of the characters for its ethical consequences, whether an individual possessing it would be most happy abstaining or doing injustice.
Chariot
He also compares the soul ( ''psyche'') to a chariot
A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...
. In this allegory he introduces a triple soul composed of a charioteer and two horses. The charioteer is a symbol of the intellectual and logical part of the soul ( ''logistikon''), and the two horses represent the moral virtues ( ''thymoeides'') and passionate instincts ('' epithymetikon''), respectively, to illustrate the conflict between them.
Dialectic
Socrates employs a dialectic method which proceeds by questioning. The role of dialectic in Plato's thought is contested but there are two main interpretations: a type of reasoning and a method of intuition. Simon Blackburn
Simon Blackburn (born 12 July 1944) is an English academic philosopher known for his work in metaethics, where he defends quasi-realism, and in the philosophy of language; more recently, he has gained a large general audience from his effort ...
adopts the first, saying that Plato's dialectic is "the process of eliciting the truth by means of questions aimed at opening out what is already implicitly known, or at exposing the contradictions and muddles of an opponent's position." A similar interpretation has been put forth by Louis Hartz, who compares Plato's dialectic to that of Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
. According to this view, opposing arguments improve upon each other, and prevailing opinion is shaped by the synthesis of many conflicting ideas over time. Each new idea exposes a flaw in the accepted model, and the epistemological substance of the debate continually approaches the truth. Hartz's is a teleological interpretation at the core, in which philosophers will ultimately exhaust the available body of knowledge and thus reach "the end of history." Karl Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the cl ...
, on the other hand, claims that dialectic is the art of intuition for "visualising the divine originals, the Forms or Ideas, of unveiling the Great Mystery behind the common man's everyday world of appearances."
Family
Plato often discusses the father-son relationship and the question of whether a father's interest in his sons has much to do with how well his sons turn out. In ancient Athens, a boy was socially located by his family identity, and Plato often refers to his characters in terms of their paternal and fraternal relationships. Socrates was not a family man, and saw himself as the son of his mother, who was apparently a midwife
A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery.
The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...
. A divine fatalist
Fatalism is a family of related philosophical doctrines that stress the subjugation of all events or actions to fate or destiny, and is commonly associated with the consequent attitude of resignation in the face of future events which are thou ...
, Socrates mocks men who spent exorbitant fees on tutors and trainers for their sons, and repeatedly ventures the idea that good character is a gift from the gods. Plato's dialogue ''Crito'' reminds Socrates that orphan
An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died.
In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...
s are at the mercy of chance, but Socrates is unconcerned. In the ''Theaetetus'', he is found recruiting as a disciple a young man whose inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, Title (property), titles, debts, entitlements, Privilege (law), privileges, rights, and Law of obligations, obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ ...
has been squandered. Socrates twice compares the relationship of the older man and his boy lover to the father-son relationship, and in the ''Phaedo'', Socrates' disciples, towards whom he displays more concern than his biological sons, say they will feel "fatherless" when he is gone.
Though Plato agreed with Aristotle that women were inferior to men, in the fourth book of the ''Republic'' the character of Socrates says this was only because of ''nomos'' or custom and not because of nature, and thus women needed ''paidia'', rearing or education to be equal to men. In the "merely probable tale" of the eponymous character in the ''Timaeus'', unjust men who live corrupted lives would be reincarnated as women or various animal kinds.
Narration
Plato never presents himself as a participant in any of the dialogues, and with the exception of the ''Apology'', there is no suggestion that he heard any of the dialogues firsthand. Some dialogues have no narrator but have a pure "dramatic" form (examples: ''Meno'', ''Gorgias'', ''Phaedrus'', ''Crito'', ''Euthyphro''), some dialogues are narrated by Socrates, wherein he speaks in first person (examples: ''Lysis
Lysis ( ) is the breaking down of the membrane of a cell, often by viral, enzymic, or osmotic (that is, "lytic" ) mechanisms that compromise its integrity. A fluid containing the contents of lysed cells is called a ''lysate''. In molecular bio ...
'', ''Charmides'', ''Republic''). One dialogue, ''Protagoras'', begins in dramatic form but quickly proceeds to Socrates' narration of a conversation he had previously with the sophist for whom the dialogue is named; this narration continues uninterrupted till the dialogue's end.
Two dialogues ''Phaedo'' and ''Symposium'' also begin in dramatic form but then proceed to virtually uninterrupted narration by followers of Socrates. ''Phaedo'', an account of Socrates' final conversation and hemlock drinking, is narrated by Phaedo to Echecrates in a foreign city not long after the execution took place. The ''Symposium'' is narrated by Apollodorus, a Socratic disciple, apparently to Glaucon. Apollodorus assures his listener that he is recounting the story, which took place when he himself was an infant, not from his own memory, but as remembered by Aristodemus, who told him the story years ago.
The ''Theaetetus'' is a peculiar case: a dialogue in dramatic form embedded within another dialogue in dramatic form. In the beginning of the ''Theaetetus'', Euclides says that he compiled the conversation from notes he took based on what Socrates told him of his conversation with the title character. The rest of the ''Theaetetus'' is presented as a "book" written in dramatic form and read by one of Euclides' slaves. Some scholars take this as an indication that Plato had by this date wearied of the narrated form. With the exception of the ''Theaetetus'', Plato gives no explicit indication as to how these orally transmitted conversations came to be written down.
History of Plato's dialogues
Thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters (the ''Epistles'') have traditionally been ascribed to Plato, though modern scholarship doubts the authenticity of at least some of these. Plato's writings have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts.
The usual system for making unique references to sections of the text by Plato derives from a 16th-century edition of Plato's works by Henricus Stephanus
Henri Estienne (; ; 1528 or 15311598), also known as Henricus Stephanus (), was a French printer and classical scholar. He was the eldest son of Robert Estienne. He was instructed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew by his father and would eventually tak ...
known as Stephanus pagination
Stephanus pagination is a system of reference and organization used in modern editions and translations of Plato (and less famously, Plutarch) based on the three-volume 1578 edition''Platonis opera quae extant omnia'' edidit Henricus Stephanus, Ge ...
.
One tradition regarding the arrangement of Plato's texts is according to tetralogies. This scheme is ascribed by Diogenes Laërtius to an ancient scholar and court astrologer to Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
named Thrasyllus
Thrasyllus (; grc-gre, Θράσυλλος; died 406 BC) was an Athenian strategos (general) and statesman who rose to prominence in the later years of the Peloponnesian War. First appearing in Athenian politics in 410 BC, in the wake of the Ath ...
. The list includes works of doubtful authenticity (written in italic), and includes the Letters.
*1st tetralogy
**Euthyphro
''Euthyphro'' (; grc, Εὐθύφρων, translit=Euthyphrōn; c. 399–395 BC), by Plato, is a Socratic dialogue whose events occur in the weeks before the trial of Socrates (399 BC), between Socrates and Euthyphro. The dialogue covers subje ...
, Apology, Crito
''Crito'' ( or ; grc, Κρίτων ) is a dialogue that was written by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It depicts a conversation between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito of Alopece regarding justice (''δικαιοσύνη''), inj ...
, Phaedo
''Phædo'' or ''Phaedo'' (; el, Φαίδων, ''Phaidōn'' ), also known to ancient readers as ''On The Soul'', is one of the best-known dialogues of Plato's middle period, along with the ''Republic'' and the ''Symposium.'' The philosophical ...
*2nd tetralogy
**Cratylus
Cratylus ( ; grc, Κρατύλος, ''Kratylos'') was an ancient Athenian philosopher from the mid-late 5th century BCE, known mostly through his portrayal in Plato's dialogue '' Cratylus''. He was a radical proponent of Heraclitean philosophy ...
, Theatetus, Sophist
A sophist ( el, σοφιστής, sophistes) was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics, and mathematics. They taught ' ...
, Statesman
A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level.
Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to:
Newspapers United States
* ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...
*3nd tetralogy
**Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia.
Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates a ...
, Philebus, Symposium
In ancient Greece, the symposium ( grc-gre, συμπόσιον ''symposion'' or ''symposio'', from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together") was a part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was acc ...
, Phaedrus
*4th tetralogy
**Alcibiades I
The ''First Alcibiades'', also referred to as ''Alcibiades Major'' and abbreviated as ''Alcibiades I'' ( el, Ἀλκιβιάδης αʹ), is a dialogue depicting Socrates in conversation with Alcibiades. It is ascribed to Plato, although scholar ...
, '' Alcibiades II'', ''Hipparchus
Hipparchus (; el, Ἵππαρχος, ''Hipparkhos''; BC) was a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry, but is most famous for his incidental discovery of the precession of the equi ...
'', '' Lovers''
*5th tetralogy
**''Theages
''Theages'' ( el, Θεάγης) is a dialogue attributed to Plato, featuring Demodocus, Socrates and Theages. There is debate over its authenticity; W. R. M. Lamb draws this conclusion from his opinion that the work is inferior and un-Socratic, ...
'', Charmides, Laches, Lysis
Lysis ( ) is the breaking down of the membrane of a cell, often by viral, enzymic, or osmotic (that is, "lytic" ) mechanisms that compromise its integrity. A fluid containing the contents of lysed cells is called a ''lysate''. In molecular bio ...
*6th tetralogy
** Euthydemus, Protagoras
Protagoras (; el, Πρωταγόρας; )Guthrie, p. 262–263. was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and rhetorical theorist. He is numbered as one of the sophists by Plato. In his dialogue '' Protagoras'', Plato credits him with inventing the r ...
, Gorgias
Gorgias (; grc-gre, Γοργίας; 483–375 BC) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxogr ...
, Meno
''Meno'' (; grc-gre, Μένων, ''Ménōn'') is a Socratic dialogue by Plato. Meno begins the dialogue by asking Socrates whether virtue is taught, acquired by practice, or comes by nature. In order to determine whether virtue is teachable ...
*7th tetralogy
**Hippias Major
''Hippias Major'' (or ''What is Beauty?'' or ''Greater Hippias'' ( el, Ἱππίας μείζων, ''Hippías meízōn''), to distinguish it from the '' Hippias Minor'', which has the same chief character), is one of the dialogues of Plato, altho ...
, Hippias Minor, Ion
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...
, Menexenus
Menexenus (; el, Μενέξενоς) was one of the three sons of Socrates and Xanthippe. His two brothers were Lamprocles and Sophroniscus. Menexenus is not to be confused with the character of the same name who appears in Plato's dialogues ''M ...
*8th tetralogy
** Clitophon, Republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
, Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to:
* ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato
*Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue
*Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...
, Critias
Critias (; grc-gre, Κριτίας, ''Kritias''; c. 460 – 403 BC) was an ancient Athenian political figure and author. Born in Athens, Critias was the son of Callaeschrus and a first cousin of Plato's mother Perictione. He became a leading ...
*9th tetralogy
**''Minos
In Greek mythology, Minos (; grc-gre, Μίνως, ) was a King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten ...
'', Laws
Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...
, ''Epinomis
The ''Epinomis'' ( Greek: ) is a dialogue attributed to Plato. Some sources in antiquity began attributing its authorship to Philip of Opus, and many modern scholars consider it spurious. The dialogue continues the discussion undertaken in Pl ...
'', ''Letters
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
''
Chronology
No one knows the exact order Plato's dialogues were written in, nor the extent to which some might have been later revised and rewritten. The works are usually grouped into ''Early'' (sometimes by some into ''Transitional''), ''Middle'', and ''Late'' period. This choice to group chronologically is thought worthy of criticism by some (Cooper ''et al''), given that it is recognized that there is no absolute agreement as to the true chronology, since the facts of the temporal order of writing are not confidently ascertained. Chronology was not a consideration in ancient times, in that groupings of this nature are ''virtually absent'' (Tarrant) in the extant writings of ancient Platonists.
Whereas those classified as "early dialogues" often conclude in aporia, the so-called "middle dialogues" provide more clearly stated positive teachings that are often ascribed to Plato such as the theory of Forms. The remaining dialogues are classified as "late" and are generally agreed to be difficult and challenging pieces of philosophy. This grouping is the only one proven by stylometric analysis. Among those who classify the dialogues into periods of composition, Socrates figures in all of the "early dialogues" and they are considered the most faithful representations of the historical Socrates.
The following represents one relatively common division. It should, however, be kept in mind that many of the positions in the ordering are still highly disputed, and also that the very notion that Plato's dialogues can or should be "ordered" is by no means universally accepted. Increasingly in the most recent Plato scholarship, writers are sceptical of the notion that the order of Plato's writings can be established with any precision, though Plato's works are still often characterized as falling at least roughly into three groups.
Early: '' Apology'', '' Charmides'', ''Crito
''Crito'' ( or ; grc, Κρίτων ) is a dialogue that was written by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It depicts a conversation between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito of Alopece regarding justice (''δικαιοσύνη''), inj ...
'', ''Euthyphro
''Euthyphro'' (; grc, Εὐθύφρων, translit=Euthyphrōn; c. 399–395 BC), by Plato, is a Socratic dialogue whose events occur in the weeks before the trial of Socrates (399 BC), between Socrates and Euthyphro. The dialogue covers subje ...
'', ''Gorgias
Gorgias (; grc-gre, Γοργίας; 483–375 BC) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxogr ...
'', '' Hippias Minor'', ''Hippias Major
''Hippias Major'' (or ''What is Beauty?'' or ''Greater Hippias'' ( el, Ἱππίας μείζων, ''Hippías meízōn''), to distinguish it from the '' Hippias Minor'', which has the same chief character), is one of the dialogues of Plato, altho ...
'', ''Ion
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...
'', '' Laches'', ''Lysis
Lysis ( ) is the breaking down of the membrane of a cell, often by viral, enzymic, or osmotic (that is, "lytic" ) mechanisms that compromise its integrity. A fluid containing the contents of lysed cells is called a ''lysate''. In molecular bio ...
'', ''Protagoras
Protagoras (; el, Πρωταγόρας; )Guthrie, p. 262–263. was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and rhetorical theorist. He is numbered as one of the sophists by Plato. In his dialogue '' Protagoras'', Plato credits him with inventing the r ...
''
Middle: ''Cratylus
Cratylus ( ; grc, Κρατύλος, ''Kratylos'') was an ancient Athenian philosopher from the mid-late 5th century BCE, known mostly through his portrayal in Plato's dialogue '' Cratylus''. He was a radical proponent of Heraclitean philosophy ...
'', '' Euthydemus'', ''Meno
''Meno'' (; grc-gre, Μένων, ''Ménōn'') is a Socratic dialogue by Plato. Meno begins the dialogue by asking Socrates whether virtue is taught, acquired by practice, or comes by nature. In order to determine whether virtue is teachable ...
'', ''Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia.
Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates a ...
'', ''Phaedo
''Phædo'' or ''Phaedo'' (; el, Φαίδων, ''Phaidōn'' ), also known to ancient readers as ''On The Soul'', is one of the best-known dialogues of Plato's middle period, along with the ''Republic'' and the ''Symposium.'' The philosophical ...
'', '' Phaedrus'', ''Republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
'', ''Symposium
In ancient Greece, the symposium ( grc-gre, συμπόσιον ''symposion'' or ''symposio'', from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together") was a part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was acc ...
'', '' Theatetus''
Late: ''Critias
Critias (; grc-gre, Κριτίας, ''Kritias''; c. 460 – 403 BC) was an ancient Athenian political figure and author. Born in Athens, Critias was the son of Callaeschrus and a first cousin of Plato's mother Perictione. He became a leading ...
'', ''Sophist
A sophist ( el, σοφιστής, sophistes) was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics, and mathematics. They taught ' ...
'', ''Statesman
A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level.
Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to:
Newspapers United States
* ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...
'', ''Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to:
* ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato
*Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue
*Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...
'', '' Philebus'', ''Laws
Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...
.''
A significant distinction of the early Plato and the later Plato has been offered by scholars such as E.R. Dodds and has been summarized by Harold Bloom in his book titled ''Agon'': "E.R. Dodds is the classical scholar whose writings most illuminated the Hellenic descent (in) ''The Greeks and the Irrational'' ... In his chapter on Plato and the Irrational Soul ... Dodds traces Plato's spiritual evolution from the pure rationalist of the ''Protagoras'' to the transcendental psychologist, influenced by the Pythagoreans and Orphics, of the later works culminating in the ''Laws''."
Lewis Campbell was the first to make exhaustive use of stylometry
Stylometry is the application of Stylistics (linguistics), the study of linguistic style, usually to written language. It has also been applied successfully to music and to fine-art paintings as well.Shlomo Argamon, Argamon, Shlomo, Kevin Burns, ...
to prove the great probability that the ''Critias'', ''Timaeus'', ''Laws'', ''Philebus'', ''Sophist'', and ''Statesman'' were all clustered together as a group, while the ''Parmenides'', ''Phaedrus'', ''Republic'', and ''Theaetetus'' belong to a separate group, which must be earlier (given Aristotle's statement in his ''Politics'' that the ''Laws'' was written after the ''Republic''; cf. Diogenes Laërtius ''Lives'' 3.37). What is remarkable about Campbell's conclusions is that, in spite of all the stylometric studies that have been conducted since his time, perhaps the only chronological fact about Plato's works that can now be said to be ''proven'' by stylometry is the fact that ''Critias'', ''Timaeus'', ''Laws'', ''Philebus'', ''Sophist'', and ''Statesman'' are the latest of Plato's dialogues, the others earlier.
''Protagoras'' is often considered one of the last of the "early dialogues". Three dialogues are often considered "transitional" or "pre-middle": ''Euthydemus'', ''Gorgias'', and ''Meno''. Proponents of dividing the dialogues into periods often consider the ''Parmenides'' and ''Theaetetus'' to come late in the middle period and be transitional to the next, as they seem to treat the theory of Forms critically (''Parmenides'') or only indirectly (''Theaetetus''). Ritter's stylometric analysis places ''Phaedrus'' as probably after ''Theaetetus'' and ''Parmenides'', although it does not relate to the theory of Forms in the same way. The first book of the ''Republic'' is often thought to have been written significantly earlier than the rest of the work, although possibly having undergone revisions when the later books were attached to it.
While looked to for Plato's "mature" answers to the questions posed by his earlier works, those answers are difficult to discern. Some scholars indicate that the theory of Forms is absent from the late dialogues, its having been refuted in the ''Parmenides'', but there is not total consensus that the ''Parmenides'' actually refutes the theory of Forms.
Writings of doubted authenticity
Jowett mentions in his Appendix to Menexenus, that works which bore the character of a writer were attributed to that writer even when the actual author was unknown.
For below:
(*) if there is no consensus among scholars as to whether Plato is the author, and (‡) if most scholars agree that Plato is ''not'' the author of the work.
''Alcibiades I
The ''First Alcibiades'', also referred to as ''Alcibiades Major'' and abbreviated as ''Alcibiades I'' ( el, Ἀλκιβιάδης αʹ), is a dialogue depicting Socrates in conversation with Alcibiades. It is ascribed to Plato, although scholar ...
'' (*), '' Alcibiades II'' (‡), '' Clitophon'' (*), ''Epinomis
The ''Epinomis'' ( Greek: ) is a dialogue attributed to Plato. Some sources in antiquity began attributing its authorship to Philip of Opus, and many modern scholars consider it spurious. The dialogue continues the discussion undertaken in Pl ...
'' (‡), ''Letters
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
'' (*), ''Hipparchus
Hipparchus (; el, Ἵππαρχος, ''Hipparkhos''; BC) was a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry, but is most famous for his incidental discovery of the precession of the equi ...
'' (‡), ''Menexenus
Menexenus (; el, Μενέξενоς) was one of the three sons of Socrates and Xanthippe. His two brothers were Lamprocles and Sophroniscus. Menexenus is not to be confused with the character of the same name who appears in Plato's dialogues ''M ...
'' (*), ''Minos
In Greek mythology, Minos (; grc-gre, Μίνως, ) was a King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten ...
'' (‡), '' Lovers'' (‡), ''Theages
''Theages'' ( el, Θεάγης) is a dialogue attributed to Plato, featuring Demodocus, Socrates and Theages. There is debate over its authenticity; W. R. M. Lamb draws this conclusion from his opinion that the work is inferior and un-Socratic, ...
'' (‡)
Spurious writings
The following works were transmitted under Plato's name, most of them already considered spurious in antiquity, and so were not included by Thrasyllus in his tetralogical arrangement. These works are labelled as ''Notheuomenoi'' ("spurious") or ''Apocrypha''.
'' Axiochus'', ''Definitions
A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definiti ...
'', '' Demodocus'', ''Epigrams
An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two millen ...
'', '' Eryxias'', ''Halcyon
Halcyon is a name originally derived from Alcyone of Greek mythology.
Halcyon or Halcyone may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Television
* ''Halcyon'' (TV series), a Virtual Reality murder mystery on SyFy
* '' The Halcyon'', British period ...
'', ''On Justice
''On Justice'' ( grc-gre, Περὶ Δικαίου; la, De Justo) is a Socratic dialogue that was once thought to be the work of Plato. The attribution to Plato is now considered spurious In the short dialogue, Socrates discusses with a friend ...
'', '' On Virtue'', ''Sisyphus
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos (; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος ''Sísyphos'') was the founder and king of Ancient Corinth, Ephyra (now known as Corinth). Hades punished him for cheating death twice by forcing him to roll an immense bo ...
''.
Textual sources and history
Some 250 known manuscripts of Plato survive. The texts of Plato as received today apparently represent the complete written philosophical work of Plato and are generally good by the standards of textual criticism
Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in ...
. No modern edition of Plato in the original Greek represents a single source, but rather it is reconstructed from multiple sources which are compared with each other. These sources are medieval manuscripts written on vellum (mainly from 9th to 13th century AD Byzantium), papyri (mainly from late antiquity in Egypt), and from the independent ''testimonia'' of other authors who quote various segments of the works (which come from a variety of sources). The text as presented is usually not much different from what appears in the Byzantine manuscripts, and papyri and testimonia just confirm the manuscript tradition. In some editions, however, the readings in the papyri or testimonia are favoured in some places by the editing critic of the text. Reviewing editions of papyri for the ''Republic'' in 1987, Slings suggests that the use of papyri is hampered due to some poor editing practices.
In the first century AD, Thrasyllus of Mendes
Thrasyllus of Mendes (; grc-gre, Θράσυλλος ), also known as Thrasyllus of AlexandriaLevick, ''Tiberius: The Politician'', p. 7 and by his Roman name Tiberius Claudius ThrasyllusLevick, ''Tiberius: The Goat
'', p. 137 (fl. second ha ...
had compiled and published the works of Plato in the original Greek, both genuine and spurious. While it has not survived to the present day, all the extant medieval Greek manuscripts are based on his edition.
The oldest surviving complete manuscript for many of the dialogues is the Clarke Plato (Codex Oxoniensis Clarkianus 39, or Codex Boleianus MS E.D. Clarke 39), which was written in Constantinople in 895 and acquired by Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
in 1809. The Clarke is given the siglum
Scribal abbreviations or sigla (singular: siglum) are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mechanica ...
''B'' in modern editions. ''B'' contains the first six tetralogies and is described internally as being written by "John the Calligrapher" on behalf of Arethas of Caesarea
Arethas of Caesarea ( el, Ἀρέθας; born c. 860 AD) was Archbishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia (modern Kayseri, Turkey) early in the 10th century, and is considered one of the most scholarly theologians of the Greek Orthodox Church. ...
. It appears to have undergone corrections by Arethas himself. For the last two tetralogies and the apocrypha, the oldest surviving complete manuscript is Codex Parisinus graecus 1807, designated ''A'', which was written nearly contemporaneously to ''B'', circa 900 AD. ''A'' must be a copy of the edition edited by the patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
, Photios
Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...
, teacher of Arethas.''A'' probably had an initial volume containing the first 7 tetralogies which is now lost, but of which a copy was made, Codex Venetus append. class. 4, 1, which has the siglum ''T''. The oldest manuscript for the seventh tetralogy is Codex Vindobonensis 54. suppl. phil. Gr. 7, with siglum ''W'', with a supposed date in the twelfth century. In total there are fifty-one such Byzantine manuscripts known, while others may yet be found.
To help establish the text, the older evidence of papyri and the independent evidence of the testimony of commentators and other authors (i.e., those who quote and refer to an old text of Plato which is no longer extant) are also used. Many papyri which contain fragments of Plato's texts are among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt (, mo ...
. The 2003 Oxford Classical Texts
Oxford Classical Texts (OCT), or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. It contains texts of ancient Greek and Latin literature, such as Homer's ''Odyssey'' and Virgil's ''Aeneid'', ...
edition by Slings even cites the Coptic translation of a fragment of the ''Republic'' in the Nag Hammadi library
The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the " Chenoboskion Manuscripts" and the "Gnostic Gospels") is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945.
Thirteen leather-bound papyr ...
as evidence. Important authors for testimony include Olympiodorus the Younger
Olympiodorus the Younger ( el, Ὀλυμπιόδωρος ὁ Νεώτερος; c. 495 – 570) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astrologer and teacher who lived in the early years of the Byzantine Empire, after Justinian's Decree of 529 AD which c ...
, Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
, Proclus
Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor ( grc-gre, Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers ...
, Iamblichus
Iamblichus (; grc-gre, Ἰάμβλιχος ; Aramaic: 𐡉𐡌𐡋𐡊𐡅 ''Yamlīḵū''; ) was a Syrian neoplatonic philosopher of Arabic origin. He determined a direction later taken by neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer of ...
, Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
, and Stobaeus
Joannes Stobaeus (; grc-gre, Ἰωάννης ὁ Στοβαῖος; fl. 5th-century AD), from Stobi in Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containin ...
.
During the early Renaissance, the Greek language and, along with it, Plato's texts were reintroduced to Western Europe by Byzantine scholars. In September or October 1484 Filippo Valori and Francesco Berlinghieri
Francesco Berlinghieri (1440–1501) was an Italian scholar and humanist who lived during the fifteenth century. He promoted the value of classical Greek learning and was one of the first to print a text based on Ptolemy's '' Geographica''. Ber ...
printed 1025 copies of Ficino's translation, using the printing press at the Dominican convent S.Jacopo di Ripoli. Cosimo had been influenced toward studying Plato by the many Byzantine Platonists in Florence during his day, including George Gemistus Plethon.
The 1578 edition of Plato's complete works published by Henricus Stephanus (Henri Estienne
Henri Estienne (; ; 1528 or 15311598), also known as Henricus Stephanus (), was a French printer and classical scholar. He was the eldest son of Robert Estienne. He was instructed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew by his father and would eventually tak ...
) in Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
also included parallel Latin translation and running commentary by Joannes Serranus (Jean de Serres
}
Jean de Serres (; la, Joannes Serranus; 1540–1598) was a major French historian and an advisor to King Henry IV during the Wars of Religion that marred the French Reformation in the second half of the Sixteenth Century. As a refugee from reli ...
). It was this edition which established standard Stephanus pagination
Stephanus pagination is a system of reference and organization used in modern editions and translations of Plato (and less famously, Plutarch) based on the three-volume 1578 edition''Platonis opera quae extant omnia'' edidit Henricus Stephanus, Ge ...
, still in use today.
Modern editions
The Oxford Classical Texts
Oxford Classical Texts (OCT), or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. It contains texts of ancient Greek and Latin literature, such as Homer's ''Odyssey'' and Virgil's ''Aeneid'', ...
offers the current standard complete Greek text of Plato's complete works. In five volumes edited by John Burnet, its first edition was published 1900–1907, and it is still available from the publisher, having last been printed in 1993. The second edition is still in progress with only the first volume, printed in 1995, and the ''Republic'', printed in 2003, available. The ''Cambridge Greek and Latin Texts'' and ''Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries'' series includes Greek editions of the ''Protagoras'', ''Symposium'', ''Phaedrus'', ''Alcibiades'', and ''Clitophon'', with English philological, literary, and, to an extent, philosophical commentary. One distinguished edition of the Greek text is E. R. Dodds
Eric Robertson Dodds (26 July 1893 – 8 April 1979) was an Irish classics, classical scholar. He was Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford), Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford from 1936 to 1960.
Early life and education
Dodds wa ...
' of the ''Gorgias'', which includes extensive English commentary.
The modern standard complete English edition is the 1997 Hackett ''Plato, Complete Works'', edited by John M. Cooper. For many of these translations Hackett offers separate volumes which include more by way of commentary, notes, and introductory material. There is also the ''Clarendon Plato Series'' by Oxford University Press which offers English translations and thorough philosophical commentary by leading scholars on a few of Plato's works, including John McDowell
John Henry McDowell, FBA (born 7 March 1942) is a South African philosopher, formerly a fellow of University College, Oxford, and now university professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Although he has written on metaphysics, epistemology, ...
's version of the ''Theaetetus''. Cornell University Press has also begun the ''Agora'' series of English translations of classical and medieval philosophical texts, including a few of Plato's.
Criticism
The most famous criticism of the Theory of Forms is the Third Man Argument by Aristotle in the ''Metaphysics''. Plato had actually already considered this objection with the idea of "large" rather than "man," in the dialogue ''Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia.
Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates a ...
'', using the elderly Elean philosophers Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia.
Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates a ...
and Zeno
Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to:
People
* Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name
Philosophers
* Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes
* Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...
characters anachronistically to criticize the character of the younger Socrates who proposed it. The dialogue ends in ''aporia''.
Many recent philosophers have diverged from what some would describe as the ontological
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality.
Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
models and moral
A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...
ideals characteristic of traditional Platonism. A number of these postmodern philosophers have thus appeared to disparage Platonism from more or less informed perspectives. Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
notoriously attacked Plato's "idea of the good itself" along with many fundamentals of Christian morality, which he interpreted as "Platonism for the masses" in one of his most important works, ''Beyond Good and Evil
''Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future'' (german: Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft) is a book by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche that covers ideas in his previous work ''Thus Spoke Zarath ...
'' (1886). Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
argued against Plato's alleged obfuscation of ''Being
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality.
Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
'' in his incomplete tome, ''Being and Time
''Being and Time'' (german: Sein und Zeit) is the 1927 ''magnum opus'' of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and a key document of existentialism. ''Being and Time'' had a notable impact on subsequent philosophy, literary theory and many other ...
'' (1927), and the philosopher of science Karl Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the cl ...
argued in the first volume of ''The Open Society and Its Enemies
''The Open Society and Its Enemies'' is a work on political philosophy by the philosopher Karl Popper, in which the author presents a "defence of the open society against its enemies", and offers a critique of theories of teleological historicism ...
'' (1945) that Plato's alleged proposal for a utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
n political regime in the ''Republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
'' was prototypically totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
.
Legacy
In the arts
Plato's Academy mosaic
Plato's Academy mosaic is a work of visual art created in the villa of T. Siminius Stephanus in Pompeii, around 100 BC to 79 AD. Of mosaic construction, it has roughly square dimensions, and is about the size of a large dinner plate.
It depic ...
was created in the villa of T. Siminius Stephanus in Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
, around 100 BC to 100 CE. ''The School of Athens
''The School of Athens'' ( it, Scuola di Atene) is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. The fresco was painted between 1509 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate the rooms now known as the , in the Apostolic Pala ...
'' fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
by Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...
features Plato also as a central figure. The Nuremberg Chronicle
The ''Nuremberg Chronicle'' is an illustrated encyclopedia consisting of world historical accounts, as well as accounts told through biblical paraphrase. Subjects include human history in relation to the Bible, illustrated mythological creatures, ...
depicts Plato and others as anachronistic schoolmen.
In philosophy
Plato's thought is often compared with that of his most famous student, Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
, whose reputation during the Western Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
so completely eclipsed that of Plato that the Scholastic philosophers referred to Aristotle as "the Philosopher". However, the study of Plato continued in the Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, the Caliphates during the Islamic Golden Age, and Spain during Golden age of Jewish culture.
The only Platonic work known to western scholarship was ''Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to:
* ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato
*Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue
*Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...
'', until translations were made after the fall of Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
, which occurred during 1453. George Gemistos Plethon
Georgios Gemistos Plethon ( el, Γεώργιος Γεμιστός Πλήθων; la, Georgius Gemistus Pletho /1360 – 1452/1454), commonly known as Gemistos Plethon, was a Greek scholar and one of the most renowned philosophers of the late Byza ...
brought Plato's original writings from Constantinople in the century of its fall. It is believed that Plethon passed a copy of the ''Dialogues'' to Cosimo de' Medici
Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was an Italian banker and politician who established the Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his wealth ...
when in 1438 the Council of Ferrara
The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1449. It was convoked as the Council of Basel by Pope Martin V shortly before his death in February 1431 and took place ...
, called to unify the Greek and Latin Churches, was adjourned to Florence, where Plethon then lectured on the relation and differences of Plato and Aristotle, and fired Cosimo with his enthusiasm; Cosimo would supply Marsilio Ficino
Marsilio Ficino (; Latin name: ; 19 October 1433 – 1 October 1499) was an Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance. He was an astrologer, a reviver of ...
with Plato's text for translation to Latin. During the early Islamic era, Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, Arab, and Jewish scholars translated much of Plato into Arabic and wrote commentaries and interpretations on Plato's, Aristotle's and other Platonist philosophers' works (see Al-Kindi
Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (; ar, أبو يوسف يعقوب بن إسحاق الصبّاح الكندي; la, Alkindus; c. 801–873 AD) was an Arab Muslim philosopher, polymath, mathematician, physician ...
, Al-Farabi
Abu Nasr Muhammad Al-Farabi ( fa, ابونصر محمد فارابی), ( ar, أبو نصر محمد الفارابي), known in the Western world, West as Alpharabius; (c. 872 – between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951)PDF version was a reno ...
, Avicenna
Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic G ...
, Averroes
Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an
Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psycholog ...
, Hunayn ibn Ishaq
Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi (also Hunain or Hunein) ( ar, أبو زيد حنين بن إسحاق العبادي; (809–873) was an influential Nestorian Christian translator, scholar, physician, and scientist. During the apex of the Islamic ...
). Plato is also referenced by Jewish philosopher and Talmudic scholar Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
in his ''The Guide for the Perplexed
''The Guide for the Perplexed'' ( ar, دلالة الحائرين, Dalālat al-ḥā'irīn, ; he, מורה נבוכים, Moreh Nevukhim) is a work of Jewish theology by Maimonides. It seeks to reconcile Aristotelianism with Rabbinical Jewish the ...
''. Many of these commentaries on Plato were translated from Arabic into Latin and as such influenced Medieval scholastic philosophers.
During the Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, with the general resurgence of interest in classical civilization, knowledge of Plato's philosophy would become widespread again in the West. Many of the greatest early modern scientists and artists who broke with Scholasticism
Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translate ...
and fostered the flowering of the Renaissance, with the support of the Plato-inspired Lorenzo (grandson of Cosimo), saw Plato's philosophy as the basis for progress in the arts and sciences. More problematic was Plato's belief in metempsychosis as well as his ethical views (on polyamory
Polyamory () is the practice of, or desire for, romantic relationships with more than one partner at the same time, with the informed consent of all partners involved. People who identify as polyamorous may believe in open relationships wit ...
and euthanasia
Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering.
Different countries have different eut ...
in particular), which did not match those of Christianity. It was Plethon's student Bessarion
Bessarion ( el, Βησσαρίων; 2 January 1403 – 18 November 1472) was a Byzantine Greek Renaissance humanist, theologian, Catholic cardinal and one of the famed Greek scholars who contributed to the so-called great revival of letters ...
who reconciled Plato with Christian theology, arguing that Plato's views were only ideals, unattainable due to the fall of man
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God in Christianity, God to a state of guilty disobedience.
*
*
*
* ...
. The Cambridge Platonists
The Cambridge Platonists were an influential group of Platonist philosophers and Christian theologians at the University of Cambridge that existed during the 17th century. The leading figures were Ralph Cudworth and Henry More.
Group and its na ...
were an influential group active in the 17th century.
By the 19th century, Plato's reputation was restored, and at least on par with Aristotle's. Notable Western philosophers have continued to draw upon Plato's work since that time. Plato's influence has been especially strong in mathematics and the sciences. Plato's resurgence further inspired some of the greatest advances in logic since Aristotle, primarily through Gottlob Frege
Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (; ; 8 November 1848 – 26 July 1925) was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He was a mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic phil ...
and his followers Kurt Gödel
Kurt Friedrich Gödel ( , ; April 28, 1906 – January 14, 1978) was a logician, mathematician, and philosopher. Considered along with Aristotle and Gottlob Frege to be one of the most significant logicians in history, Gödel had an imme ...
, Alonzo Church
Alonzo Church (June 14, 1903 – August 11, 1995) was an American mathematician, computer scientist, logician, philosopher, professor and editor who made major contributions to mathematical logic and the foundations of theoretical computer scienc ...
, and Alfred Tarski
Alfred Tarski (, born Alfred Teitelbaum;School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews ''School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews''. January 14, 1901 – October 26, 1983) was a Polish-American logician a ...
. Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
suggested that the scientist who takes philosophy seriously would have to avoid systematization and take on many different roles, and possibly appear as a Platonist or Pythagorean, in that such a one would have "the viewpoint of logical simplicity as an indispensable and effective tool of his research." Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent series ...
stated that “My mind was formed by studying philosophy, Plato and that sort of thing". and that "Modern physics has definitely decided in favor of Plato. In fact the smallest units of matter are not physical objects in the ordinary sense; they are forms, ideas which can be expressed unambiguously only in mathematical language" Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...
said: Everybody is born either a Platonist or an Aristotelian.
The political philosopher and professor Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss (, ; September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was a German-American political philosopher who specialized in classical political philosophy. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Strauss later emigrated from Germany to the United States. ...
is considered by some as the prime thinker involved in the recovery of Platonic thought in its more political, and less metaphysical, form. Strauss' political approach was in part inspired by the appropriation of Plato and Aristotle by medieval Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and Islamic
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...
political philosophers
This is a list of notable political philosophers, including some who may be better known for their work in other areas of philosophy. The entries are in order by year of birth to show rough direction of influences and of development of political ...
, especially Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
and Al-Farabi
Abu Nasr Muhammad Al-Farabi ( fa, ابونصر محمد فارابی), ( ar, أبو نصر محمد الفارابي), known in the Western world, West as Alpharabius; (c. 872 – between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951)PDF version was a reno ...
, as opposed to the Christian metaphysical tradition that developed from Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonism, Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion, religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of ...
. Deeply influenced by Nietzsche and Heidegger, Strauss nonetheless rejects their condemnation of Plato and looks to the dialogues for a solution to what all three latter-day thinkers acknowledge as 'the crisis of the West.
W. V. O. Quine W. may refer to:
* SoHo (Australian TV channel) (previously W.), an Australian pay television channel
* ''W.'' (film), a 2008 American biographical drama film based on the life of George W. Bush
* "W.", the fifth track from Codeine's 1992 EP ''Bar ...
dubbed the problem of negative existentials "Plato's beard
In metaphysics, Plato's beard is a paradoxical argument dubbed by Willard Van Orman Quine in his 1948 paper "On What There Is". The phrase came to be identified as the philosophy of understanding something based on what does not exist.
Doctrine ...
". Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...
dubbed the problem of knowledge Plato's problem. One author calls the definist fallacy
The definist fallacy (sometimes called the Socratic fallacy, after Socrates)William J. Prior, "Plato and the 'Socratic Fallacy'", ''Phronesis'' 43(2) (1998), pp. 97–113. is a logical fallacy, identified by William Frankena in 1939, that involves ...
the Socratic fallacy.
More broadly, platonism (sometimes distinguished from Plato's particular view by the lowercase) refers to the view that there are many abstract objects. Still to this day, platonists take number and the truths of mathematics as the best support in favour of this view. Most mathematicians think, like platonists, that numbers and the truths of mathematics are perceived by reason rather than the senses yet exist independently of minds and people, that is to say, they are discovered rather than invented.
Contemporary platonism is also more open to the idea of there being infinitely many abstract objects, as numbers or propositions might qualify as abstract objects, while ancient Platonism seemed to resist this view, possibly because of the need to overcome the problem of "the One and the Many". Thus e. g. in the Parmenides dialogue, Plato denies there are Forms for more mundane things like hair and mud. However, he repeatedly does support the idea that there are Forms of artifacts, e. g. the Form of Bed. Contemporary platonism also tends to view abstract objects as unable to cause anything, but it is unclear whether the ancient Platonists felt this way.
See also
Philosophy
* Socratic Problem
In historical scholarship, the Socratic problem (or Socratic question) concerns attempts at reconstructing a historical and philosophical image of Socrates based on the variable, and sometimes contradictory, nature of the existing sources on his l ...
* Platonic Academy
The Academy (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC in Classical Athens, Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum. The Academy ...
* Plato's unwritten doctrines
Plato's so-called unwritten doctrines are metaphysical theories ascribed to him by his students and other ancient philosophers but not clearly formulated in his writings. In recent research, they are sometimes known as Plato's 'principle theory' ( ...
* List of speakers in Plato's dialogues
following is a list of the speakers found in the dialogues traditionally ascribed to Plato, including extensively quoted, indirect and conjured speakers. Dialogues, as well as Platonic '' Epistles'' and ''Epigrams'', in which these individuals ap ...
* Commentaries on Plato
Commentaries on Plato refers to the great mass of literature produced, especially in the ancient and medieval world, to explain and clarify the works of Plato. Many Platonist philosophers in the centuries following Plato sought to clarify and summa ...
* Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonism, Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion, religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of ...
* Academic Skepticism
Academic skepticism refers to the skeptical period of ancient Platonism dating from around 266 BCE, when Arcesilaus became scholarch of the Platonic Academy, until around 90 BCE, when Antiochus of Ascalon rejected skepticism, although individua ...
Ancient scholarship
* Philip of Opus Philip (or Philippus) of Opus ( el, Φίλιππος Ὀπούντιος), was a philosopher and a member of the Academy during Plato's lifetime. Philip was the editor of Plato's ''Laws''. Philip of Opus is probably identical with the Philip of Medm ...
, Plato's amanuensis
An amanuensis () is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another, and also refers to a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In one example Eric Fenby ...
* Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
* Aristonymus Aristonymus of Athens ( el, Ἀριστώνυμος) was sent by Plato to reform the constitution of the Arcadians. Aristonymus was the father of Clitophon.
Sources
*Plato, '' Republic,'' 328b
*Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρ ...
, Plato's friend and student whom he sent in his stead as lawgiver of Megalopolis
A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enoug ...
in Arcadia
* Python
Python may refer to:
Snakes
* Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia
** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia
* Python (mythology), a mythical serpent
Computing
* Python (pro ...
and Heraclides of Aenus Heraclides of Aenus ( el, Ἡρακλείδης Αἴνιος) was one of Plato's students. Around 360 BC, he and his brother Python assassinated Cotys I, the ruler of Thrace.Aristotle, ''Politics'', v. 10, 1311b20-2; Plutarch
Plutarch (; g ...
, students of Plato who assassinated the tyrannical ruler of Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...
, Cotys I
* Speusippus
Speusippus (; grc-gre, Σπεύσιππος; c. 408 – 339/8 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. Speusippus was Plato's nephew by his sister Potone. After Plato's death, c. 348 BC, Speusippus inherited the Academy, near age 60, and remained ...
, Plato's nephew and the second scholarch of the
* Menedemus of Pyrrha
Menedemus of Pyrrha (Lesbos) ( grc-gre, Μενέδημος; fl. c. 350 BC, was a member of Plato's Academy, during the time of Speusippus. Upon the death of Speusippus in 339 BC, an election was held for the next scholarch of the Academy. Menedem ...
* Xenocrates
Xenocrates (; el, Ξενοκράτης; c. 396/5314/3 BC) of Chalcedon was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and leader (scholarch) of the Platonic Academy from 339/8 to 314/3 BC. His teachings followed those of Plato, which he attempted to d ...
* Crantor
Crantor ( el, Κράντωρ, ''gen''.: Κράντορος; died 276/5 BC) was a Greek philosopher and scholarch (leader) of the Old Academy, probably born around the middle of the 4th century BC, at Soli in Cilicia (modern-day Turkey).
Life
Cra ...
* Polemon
* Crates of Athens
Crates of Athens (Greek: Κράτης ὁ Ἀθηναῖος; died 268–264 BC) was a Platonist philosopher and the last scholarch of the Old Academy.
Biography
Crates was the son of Antigenes of the Thriasian deme, the pupil and eromenos of P ...
* Arcesilaus
Arcesilaus (; grc-gre, Ἀρκεσίλαος; 316/5–241/0 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic philosopher. He was the founder of Academic Skepticism and what is variously called the Second or Middle or New Academy – the phase of the Platonic Acade ...
* Carneades
Carneades (; el, Καρνεάδης, ''Karneadēs'', "of Carnea"; 214/3–129/8 BC) was a Greek philosopher and perhaps the most prominent head of the Skeptical Academy in ancient Greece. He was born in Cyrene. By the year 159 BC, he had begu ...
* Plotinus
Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neop ...
, founder of Neoplatonism, although he had no connection to the previous Academy of Plato
* Proclus
Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor ( grc-gre, Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers ...
* Ammonius Saccas
Ammonius Saccas (; grc-gre, Ἀμμώνιος Σακκᾶς; 175 AD242 AD) was a Hellenistic Platonist self-taught philosopher from Alexandria, generally regarded as the precursor of Neoplatonism and/or one of its founders. He is mainly known as ...
* Thrasyllus of Mendes
Thrasyllus of Mendes (; grc-gre, Θράσυλλος ), also known as Thrasyllus of AlexandriaLevick, ''Tiberius: The Politician'', p. 7 and by his Roman name Tiberius Claudius ThrasyllusLevick, ''Tiberius: The Goat
'', p. 137 (fl. second ha ...
, editor of Plato's works
Medieval scholarship
* Yahya Ibn al-Batriq, Syrian scholar and associate of Al-Kindi
Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (; ar, أبو يوسف يعقوب بن إسحاق الصبّاح الكندي; la, Alkindus; c. 801–873 AD) was an Arab Muslim philosopher, polymath, mathematician, physician ...
who translated ''Timaeus'' into Arabic
* Hunayn ibn Ishaq
Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi (also Hunain or Hunein) ( ar, أبو زيد حنين بن إسحاق العبادي; (809–873) was an influential Nestorian Christian translator, scholar, physician, and scientist. During the apex of the Islamic ...
, Arab scholar who either amended or surpassed the ''Timaeus'' of al-Batriq and translated Plato's ''Republic'' and ''Laws'' into Arabic
* Ishaq ibn Hunayn
Abū Yaʿqūb Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn ( ar, إسحاق بن حنين) (c. 830 Baghdad, – c. 910-1) was an influential Arab physician and translator, known for writing the first biography of physicians in the Arabic language. He is also known for ...
, translated Plato's ''Sophist'' with the commentary of Olympiodorus the Younger
Olympiodorus the Younger ( el, Ὀλυμπιόδωρος ὁ Νεώτερος; c. 495 – 570) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astrologer and teacher who lived in the early years of the Byzantine Empire, after Justinian's Decree of 529 AD which c ...
* Yahya ibn Adi Abū Zakarīyā’ Yaḥyá ibn ʿAdī (''John, father of Zachary, son of Adi'') known as Yahya ibn Adi (893–974) was a Syriac Jacobite Christian philosopher, theologian and translator working in Arabic.
Biography
Yahya ibn Adi was born in Tikrit ...
, translated ''Laws'' into Arabic
* Al-Farabi
Abu Nasr Muhammad Al-Farabi ( fa, ابونصر محمد فارابی), ( ar, أبو نصر محمد الفارابي), known in the Western world, West as Alpharabius; (c. 872 – between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951)PDF version was a reno ...
, author of a commentary on Plato's political philosophy
* Averroes
Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an
Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psycholog ...
, author of a commentary on the ''Republic''
Modern scholarship
* Marsilio Ficino
Marsilio Ficino (; Latin name: ; 19 October 1433 – 1 October 1499) was an Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance. He was an astrologer, a reviver of ...
, Italian scholar and first translator of Plato's complete works into Latin
* Stephanus pagination
Stephanus pagination is a system of reference and organization used in modern editions and translations of Plato (and less famously, Plutarch) based on the three-volume 1578 edition''Platonis opera quae extant omnia'' edidit Henricus Stephanus, Ge ...
, the standard reference numbering in Platonic scholarship, based on the 1578 complete Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
translation by Jean de Serres
}
Jean de Serres (; la, Joannes Serranus; 1540–1598) was a major French historian and an advisor to King Henry IV during the Wars of Religion that marred the French Reformation in the second half of the Sixteenth Century. As a refugee from reli ...
, and published by Henri Estienne
Henri Estienne (; ; 1528 or 15311598), also known as Henricus Stephanus (), was a French printer and classical scholar. He was the eldest son of Robert Estienne. He was instructed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew by his father and would eventually tak ...
* Johann Gottfried Stallbaum
Johann Gottfried Stallbaum (September 25, 1793 - January 24, 1861), German classical scholar, was born at Zaasch, near Delitzsch in Saxony.
From 1820 until his death Stallbaum was connected with Thomasschule zu Leipzig, from 1835 as rector. In 1 ...
, major Plato scholar and commentator in Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
* Eduard Zeller
Eduard Gottlob Zeller (; 22 January 1814, Kleinbottwar19 March 1908, Stuttgart) was a German philosopher and Protestant theologian of the Tübingen School of theology. He was well known for his writings on Ancient Greek philosophy, especially Pr ...
, scholar and classicist
* Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a German classical philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literature ...
, Plato scholar and classicist
* John Alexander Stewart, major Plato scholar and classicist
* Victor Cousin
Victor Cousin (; 28 November 179214 January 1867) was a French philosopher. He was the founder of "eclecticism", a briefly influential school of French philosophy that combined elements of German idealism and Scottish Common Sense Realism. As ...
, scholar and the first translator Plato's complete works into French
* Émile Saisset
Émile Edmond Saisset (16 September 181427 December 1863) was a French philosopher.
Life
Émile Edmond Saisset was born at Montpellier. He studied philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure, and carried on the eclectic tradition of his master ...
, scholar and a translator Plato's complete works into French
* Émile Chambry, scholar and a translator Plato's complete works into French
* Pentti Saarikoski
Pentti Saarikoski (Impilahti, now in the Republic of Karelia September 2, 1937 – Joensuu August 24, 1983) was one of the most important poets in the literary scene of Finland during the 1960s and 1970s. His body of work comprises poetry and ...
, translator into Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
* Friedrich Schleiermacher
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (; 21 November 1768 – 12 February 1834) was a German Reformed theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional P ...
, philologist and the first to translate Plato's complete works into German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
* Otto Apelt, scholar and translator Plato's complete works into German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
* Benjamin Jowett
Benjamin Jowett (, modern variant ; 15 April 1817 – 1 October 1893) was an English tutor and administrative reformer in the University of Oxford, a theologian, an Anglican cleric, and a translator of Plato and Thucydides. He was Master of Bal ...
, scholar and the first translated Plato's complete works into English
* Lewis Campbell, scholar and author of commentaries
* Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
, philosopher and author of a commentary on Plato's ''Sophist''
* James Adam, major Plato scholar and author of the authoritative critical edition of the ''Republic''
* John Burnet, major Plato scholar and translator
* Francis Macdonald Cornford
Francis Macdonald Cornford (27 February 1874 – 3 January 1943) was an English classical scholar and translator known for work on ancient philosophy, notably Plato, Parmenides, Thucydides, and ancient Greek religion. Frances Cornford, his wif ...
, translator of ''Republic'' and author of commentaries
* Reginald Hackforth, classical scholar and translator of ''Phaedrus''
* William Keith Chambers Guthrie
William Keith Chambers Guthrie (1 August 1906 – 17 May 1981), usually cited as W. K. C. Guthrie, was a Scottish classical scholar, best known for his ''History of Greek Philosophy'', published in six volumes between 1962 and his dea ...
, classical scholar and historian
* E. R. Dodds
Eric Robertson Dodds (26 July 1893 – 8 April 1979) was an Irish classics, classical scholar. He was Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford), Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford from 1936 to 1960.
Early life and education
Dodds wa ...
, classical scholar and author of commentaries on Plato
* Thomas Taylor, classical scholar and translator
* Édouard des Places, classical philologist, and translator of Plato's ''Laws'' in French
* Allan Bloom
Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell Universi ...
, major Plato scholar and translator of ''Republic'' in English
* Myles Burnyeat
Myles Fredric Burnyeat (1 January 1939 – 20 September 2019) was an English scholar of ancient philosophy.
Early life and education
Myles Burnyeat was born on 1 January 1939 to Peter James Anthony Burnyeat and Cynthia Cherry Warburg. He rece ...
, major Plato scholar
* Harold F. Cherniss
Harold Fredrik Cherniss (11 March 1904 – 18 June 1987) was an American classicist and historian of ancient philosophy. While at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, he was said to be "the country's foremost expert on Plato and Aristot ...
, major Plato scholar
* Guy Cromwell Field, Plato scholar
* Paul Friedländer, Plato scholar
* Terence Irwin
Terence Henry Irwin FBA (; born 21 April 1947), usually cited as T. H. Irwin, is a scholar and philosopher specializing in ancient Greek philosophy and the history of ethics (i.e., the history of Western moral philosophy in ancient, medieval, and ...
, major Plato scholar
* Richard Kraut
Richard Kraut is the Charles and Emma Morrison Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University. , major Plato scholar
* Ellen Francis Mason
Ellen Francis Mason (June 24, 1846 – 1930) was a New England author, civic leader, trustee, and philanthropist. She is known today for her translations of Plato.
Translations of Plato
Mason's annotated translations of Plato's dialogues in ev ...
, translator of Plato
* Eric Havelock
Eric Alfred Havelock (; 3 June 1903 – 4 April 1988) was a British classicist who spent most of his life in Canada and the United States. He was a professor at the University of Toronto and was active in the Canadian socialist movement du ...
, Plato scholar
* Debra Nails
Debra Nails (born November 15, 1950) is an American philosophy professor who taught at Michigan State University. Nails earned her M.A. in philosophy and classical Greek from Louisiana State University before going on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy ...
, Plato scholar
* Alexander Nehamas
Alexander Nehamas ( el, Αλέξανδρος Νεχαμάς; born 22 March 1946) is a Greek-born American philosopher. He is a professor of philosophy and comparative literature and the Edmund N. Carpenter II Class of 1943 Professor in the Huma ...
, major Plato scholar
* Thomas Pangle
Thomas Lee Pangle, (born 1944) is an American political scientist. He holds the Joe R. Long Chair in Democratic Studies in the Department of Government and is Co-Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Core Texts and Ideas at the University ...
, major Plato scholar and translator of ''Laws'' in English
* Eugène Napoleon Tigerstedt, major Plato scholar
* Paul Shorey
Paul Shorey Ph.D., LL.D., Litt.D. (August 3, 1857 – April 24, 1934) was an American classical scholar.
Biography
Shorey was born at Davenport, Iowa. After graduating from Harvard in 1878, he studied in Europe at Leipzig, Bonn, Athens, ...
, major Plato scholar and translator of ''Republic''
* John Madison Cooper
John Madison Cooper (November 29, 1939 – August 8, 2022) was an American philosopher who was the Emeritus Henry Putnam University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University and an expert on ancient philosophy.
Education and career
Coop ...
, major Plato scholar and translator of several works of Plato, and editor of the Hackett edition of the complete works of Plato in English
* Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss (, ; September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was a German-American political philosopher who specialized in classical political philosophy. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Strauss later emigrated from Germany to the United States. ...
, major Plato scholar and author of commentaries of Platonic political philosophy
* Jacob Klein, Plato scholar and author of commentaries on ''Meno''
* Seth Benardete, major Plato scholar
* Gregory Vlastos
Gregory Vlastos (; el, Γρηγόριος Βλαστός; July 27, 1907 – October 12, 1991) was a preeminent scholar of ancient philosophy, and author of many works on Plato and Socrates. He transformed the analysis of classical philosophy ...
, major Plato scholar
* Hans-Georg Gadamer
Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 ''magnum opus'', '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''), on hermeneutics.
Life
Family an ...
, major Plato scholar
* Paul Woodruff
Paul Woodruff (born 1943) is a classicist, professor of philosophy, and dean at The University of Texas at Austin, where he once chaired the department of philosophy and has more recently held the Hayden Head Regents Chair as director of Plan II H ...
, major Plato scholar
* Gisela Striker
Gisela Striker (born 1943) is a German classical scholar. She is Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Classics at Harvard University and a specialist in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy.
Education and career
Striker was born and educated in Ger ...
, Plato scholar
* Heinrich Gomperz Heinrich Gomperz (January 18, 1873 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary – December 27, 1942 in Los Angeles, California) was an Austrian philosopher.
He was a son of Theodor Gomperz. He was a patient of Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund ...
, Plato scholar
* David Sedley
David Neil Sedley FBA (born 30 May 1947) is a British philosopher and historian of philosophy. He was the seventh Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at Cambridge University.
Early life
Sedley was educated at Trinity College, Oxford where ...
, Plato scholar
* Gábor Betegh, Plato scholar
* Karl Albert
Karl Albert (2 October 1921 – 9 October 2008) was a German philosopher and professor emeritus at ''Bergische Universität'' Wuppertal.
Born in Neheim, a borough of the Westphalia town of Arnsberg, Albert studied at University of Cologne and U ...
, Plato scholar
* Herwig Görgemanns
Herwig Görgemanns (born 1931) is a German classicist, former professor and emeritus of classical philology at Heidelberg University.
In Würzburg he presented his dissertation in classical philology: contributions to the interpretation of Plato' ...
, Plato scholar
* John M. Dillon, Plato scholar
* Catherine Zuckert
Catherine H. Zuckert (born 1942) is an American political philosopher and Reeves Dreux Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame.
Books
*''Natural Right and the American Imagination: Political Philosophy in Novel Form''
*'' ...
, Plato scholar and political philosopher
* Julia Annas
Julia Elizabeth Annas (born 1946) is a British philosopher who has taught in the United States for the last quarter-century. She is Regents Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of Arizona.
Education and career
Annas graduated from ...
, Plato scholar and moral philosopher
* John McDowell
John Henry McDowell, FBA (born 7 March 1942) is a South African philosopher, formerly a fellow of University College, Oxford, and now university professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Although he has written on metaphysics, epistemology, ...
, translated ''Theaetetus'' in English
* Robin Waterfield
Robin Anthony Herschel Waterfield (born 1952) is a British classical scholar, translator, editor, and writer of children's fiction.
Career
Waterfield was born in 1952, and studied Classics at Manchester University, where he achieved a first clas ...
, Plato scholar and translator in English
* Léon Robin, scholar of Ancient Greek philosophy, translator of the complete works of Plato in French
* Alain Badiou
Alain Badiou (; ; born 17 January 1937) is a French philosopher, formerly chair of Philosophy at the École normale supérieure (ENS) and founder of the faculty of Philosophy of the Université de Paris VIII with Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucau ...
, French philosopher, loosely translated ''Republic'' in French
* Chen Chung-hwan, scholar and commentator, translated ''Parmenides'' in Chinese
* Liu Xiaofeng, scholar and commentator, translated ''Symposium'' in Chinese
* Michitaro Tanaka and Norio Fujisawa
Norio (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, Japanese rower
*Norio Hayakawa
, is an American activist who lives in Albuquerque, New M ...
, translators of the complete works of Plato in Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
* Joseph Gerhard Liebes, major scholar and commentator, the first to translate Plato's complete works in Hebrew language, Hebrew
* Margalit Finkelberg, scholar and commentator, translated ''Symposium'' in Hebrew language, Hebrew
* Virgilio S. Almario, translated ''Republic'' to Filipino language, Filipino
* Roque Ferriols, translated ''Apology'' to Filipino
* Mahatma Gandhi, translated ''Apology'' in Gujarati language, Gujarati
* Zakir Husain (politician), Zakir Husain, Indian politician and academic, translated ''Republic'' in Urdu
* Pierre Hadot, scholar and author of commentaries of Plato in French
* Luc Brisson, translator and author of commentaries on several works of Plato, and editor of the complete French translations; widely considered to be the most important contemporary scholar of Plato“Le plus grand spécialiste de Platon”
Other
*
Oxyrhynchus Papyri
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt (, mo ...
, including the Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 228, containing the oldest fragment of the Laches (dialogue), ''Laches'', and Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 24, that of the Book X of the
''Republic''
* Plato's Dream, a story written in the 18th century by the French philosopher and satirist Voltaire
* Plato (crater), Plato, a lunar impact crater on the Moon aged 3.8 billion years, named after the Greek philosopher
* PLATO (spacecraft), a proposed space telescope under development by the European Space Agency for launch in 2026, named after the Greek philosopher
Notes
References
Works cited
Primary sources (Greek and Roman)
*
Apuleius
Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern-day ...
, ''De Dogmate Platonis'', I. See original text i
Latin Library
*
Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...
, ''The Wasps''. See original text i
Perseus program
*
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
, ''
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
''. See original text i
Perseus program
*
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
, ''De Divinatione'', I. See original text i
Latin library
*
* See original text i
Perseus program
* See original text i
Perseus program
* republished by:
* See original text i
Perseus program
* See original text i
Perseus program
* See original text i
Latin Library
* , V, VIII. See original text i
Perseus program
*
Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; grc, wikt:Ξενοφῶν, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Anci ...
, ''
Memorabilia
A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...
''. See original text i
Perseus program
Secondary sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Reprinted in .
*
*
*
*
*
*
* First published as "Testimonia Platonica. Quellentexte zur Schule und mündlichen Lehre Platons" as an appendix to Gaiser's ''Platons Ungeschriebene Lehre'', Stuttgart, 1963.
* Reprinted in Gomperz, H. (1953). ''Philosophical Studies''. Boston: Christopher Publishing House 1953, pp. 119–124.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
* Allen, R. E. (1965). ''Studies in Plato's Metaphysics II''. Taylor & Francis.
* Ambuel, David (2007). ''Image and Paradigm in Plato's Sophist''. Parmenides Publishing.
*
* Arieti, James A. ''Interpreting Plato: The Dialogues as Drama'', Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
* Bakalis, Nikolaos (2005). ''Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments'', Trafford Publishing
*
* Cadame, Claude (1999). ''Indigenous and Modern Perspectives on Tribal Initiation Rites: Education According to Plato'', pp. 278–312, in Padilla, Mark William (editor)
"Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece: Literature, Religion, Society" Bucknell University Press, 1999.
*
* Corlett, J. Angelo (2005). ''Interpreting Plato's Dialogues''. Parmenides Publishing.
*
* Jacques Derrida, Derrida, Jacques (1972). ''La dissémination'', Paris: Seuil. (esp. cap.: ''La Pharmacie de Platon'', 69–199)
*
* Fine, Gail (2000). ''Plato 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology'' Oxford University Press, US,
* Finley, M.I. (1969). ''Aspects of antiquity: Discoveries and Controversies'' The Viking Press, Inc., US
*
* W. K. C. Guthrie, Guthrie, W.K.C. (1986). ''A History of Greek Philosophy (Plato – The Man & His Dialogues – Earlier Period)'', Cambridge University Press,
* W. K. C. Guthrie, Guthrie, W.K.C. (1986). ''A History of Greek Philosophy (Later Plato & the Academy)'' Cambridge University Press,
* Havelock, Eric (2005). ''Preface to Plato (History of the Greek Mind)'', Belknap Press,
*
* Harvard University Press publishes the hardbound series ''Loeb Classical Library#Plato, Loeb Classical Library'', containing Plato's works in Greek language, Greek, with English translations on facing pages.
*
* Hermann, Arnold (2010). ''Plato's Parmenides: Text, Translation & Introductory Essay'', Parmenides Publishing,
* Irwin, Terence (1995). ''Plato's Ethics'', Oxford University Press, US,
*
* Jowett, Benjamin (1892). ''[The Dialogues of Plato. Translated into English with analyses and introductions by B. Jowett.]'', Oxford Clarendon Press, UK, UIN:BLL01002931898
*
*
*
* Suzanne Lilar, Lilar, Suzanne (1954), Journal de l'analogiste, Paris, Éditions Julliard; Reedited 1979, Paris, Grasset. Foreword by Julien Gracq
* Suzanne Lilar, Lilar, Suzanne (1963), ''Le couple'', Paris, Grasset. Translated as ''Aspects of Love in Western Society'' in 1965, with a foreword by Jonathan Griffin London, Thames and Hudson.
* Suzanne Lilar, Lilar, Suzanne (1967) ''A propos de Sartre et de l'amour '', Paris, Grasset.
*
* Márquez, Xavier (2012) ''A Stranger's Knowledge: Statesmanship, Philosophy & Law in Plato's Statesman'', Parmenides Publishing.
*
* Miller, Mitchell (2004). ''The Philosopher in Plato's Statesman''. Parmenides Publishing.
* Mohr, Richard D. (2006). ''God and Forms in Plato – and other Essays in Plato's Metaphysics''. Parmenides Publishing.
* Mohr, Richard D. (Ed.), Sattler, Barbara M. (Ed.) (2010) ''One Book, The Whole Universe: Plato's Timaeus Today'', Parmenides Publishing.
* Moore, Edward (2007). ''Plato''. Philosophy Insights Series. Tirril, Humanities-Ebooks.
* Nightingale, Andrea Wilson. (1995)
"Genres in Dialogue: Plato and the Construct of Philosophy" Cambridge University Press.
* Oxford University Press publishes scholarly editions of Plato's Greek texts in the ''
Oxford Classical Texts
Oxford Classical Texts (OCT), or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. It contains texts of ancient Greek and Latin literature, such as Homer's ''Odyssey'' and Virgil's ''Aeneid'', ...
'' series, and some translations in the ''Clarendon Plato Series''.
* Patterson, Richard (Ed.), Karasmanis, Vassilis (Ed.), Hermann, Arnold (Ed.) (2013) ''Presocratics & Plato: Festschrift at Delphi in Honor of Charles Kahn'', Parmenides Publishing.
*
*
*
* Sayre, Kenneth M. (2005). ''Plato's Late Ontology: A Riddle Resolved''. Parmenides Publishing.
* T. K. Seung, Seung, T.K. (1996). ''Plato Rediscovered: Human Value and Social Order''. Rowman and Littlefield.
*
* Stewart, John. (2010). ''Kierkegaard and the Greek World – Socrates and Plato''. Ashgate.
* Thesleff, Holger (2009). ''Platonic Patterns: A Collection of Studies by Holger Thesleff'', Parmenides Publishing,
*
Thomas Taylor has translated Plato's complete works.
Thomas Taylor (1804). ''The Works of Plato, viz. His Fifty-Five Dialogues and Twelve Epistles'' 5 vols
* Gregory Vlastos, Vlastos, Gregory (1981). ''Platonic Studies'', Princeton University Press,
* Gregory Vlastos, Vlastos, Gregory (2006). ''Plato's Universe – with a new Introduction by Luc Brisson'', Parmenides Publishing.
* Zuckert, Catherine (2009). ''Plato's Philosophers: The Coherence of the Dialogues'', The University of Chicago Press,
External links
* Works available online:
**
** – Greek & English hyperlinked text
**
**
**
*
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'
*
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'
* Other resources:
**
**
**
{{Authority control
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