Plato

Plato (; : in ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was an during the in , founder of the school of thought, and the , the first institution of higher learning in the .

He is widely considered the pivotal figure in the of and , along with his teacher, , and his most famous student, . Plato has also often been cited as one of the founders of and . of philosophers like and influenced and . once noted: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of to Plato."

Plato was the innovator of the written and forms in philosophy. Plato is also considered the founder of Western . His most famous contribution is the known by , in which Plato presents a solution to the known as Platonism (also ambiguously called either or ). He is also the namesake of and the .

His own most decisive philosophical influences are usually thought to have been along with Socrates, the , and , although few of his predecessors' works remain extant and much of what we know about these figures today derives from Plato himself. Although their popularity has fluctuated over the years, the works of Plato have never been without readers since the time they were written.

Early life

Birth and family

Due to a lack of surviving accounts, little is known about Plato's early life and education. Plato belonged to an and influential family. According to a disputed tradition, reported by , Plato's father traced his descent from the , , and the king of , .[9]

Plato's mother was , whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian and , one of the , who repealed the laws of (except for the death penalty for ). and niece of , both prominent figures of the , known as the Thirty, the brief (404–403 BC), which followed on the collapse of Athens at the end of the (431–404 BC). appeared to him in a vision, and as a result, Ariston left Perictione unmolested.[12]

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 The traditional date of Plato's birth during the 87th or 88th , 428 or 427 BC, is based on a dubious interpretation of Diogenes Laërtius, who says, "When [Socrates] was gone, [Plato] joined the Heracleitean and Hermogenes, who philosophized in the manner of Parmenides. Then, at twenty-eight, Hermodorus says, [Plato] went to ." However, as argues, the text does not state that Plato left for Megara immediately after joining Cratylus and Hermogenes. In his , 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 , Plato was six years younger than , and therefore was born the same year the prominent Athenian statesman died (429 BC). regards 428 BC as the year of Plato's birth. The in his Chronicles argues that Plato was born in the 88th Olympiad. and also claimed he was born during the 88th Olympiad.

Besides Plato himself, Ariston and Perictione had three other children; two sons, and , and a daughter , the mother of (the nephew and successor of Plato as head of the Academy). as sons of Ariston, In a scenario in the , confused the issue by presenting a Glaucon much younger than Plato.[29]

Ariston appears to have died in Plato's childhood, although the precise dating of his death is difficult., her mother's brother, and was a friend of , the leader of the democratic faction in Athens. Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes' second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato, who appears in .[34]

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 and . These and other references suggest a considerable amount of family pride and enable us to reconstruct Plato's . According to Burnet, "the opening scene of the Charmides is a glorification of the whole [family] connection ... 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 from the adjective platýs ( The sources of Diogenes Laërtius account for this by claiming that his 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. While recalling a about frugal living mentions the meaning of Plato's name: "His very name was given him because of his broad chest."[41]

His true name was supposedly Aristocles (Ἀριστοκλῆς), meaning 'best reputation'. However, another scholar claims that "there is good reason for not dismissing [the idea that Aristocles was Plato's given name] as a mere invention of his biographers", noting how prevalent that account is in our sources.[38]

Education

Ancient sources describe him as a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies. 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"., , and by the most distinguished teachers of his time. many times in the Republic. Plato was a wrestler, and went so far as to say that Plato wrestled at the .

believed that Plato met in Egypt and was influenced by his ideas. Augustine initially accepted this claim, but later rejected it, arguing in that "Plato was born a hundred years after Jeremiah prophesied."]

Later life and death

Plato may have travelled in , , and . 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. The was a large enclosure of ground about six outside of Athens proper. One story is that the name of the Academy comes from the ancient hero, ; 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 , an named Echedemus. The Academy operated until it was destroyed by in 84 BC. Many intellectuals were schooled in the Academy, the most prominent one being Aristotle.

Throughout his later life, Plato became entangled with the politics of the city of . According to Diogenes Laërtius, Plato initially visited Syracuse while it was under the rule of . During this first trip Dionysius's brother-in-law, , became one of Plato's disciples, but the tyrant himself turned against Plato. Plato almost faced death, but he was sold into slavery. bought Plato's freedom for twenty , 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 , a fellow disciple of Plato.

According to Seneca, Plato died at the age of 81 on the same day he was born. while Neanthes claims an age of 84. 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 , Plato simply died in his sleep.

Plato owned an estate at , 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.

Pythagoras

Although Socrates influenced Plato directly as related in the dialogues, the influence of upon Plato, or in a broader sense, the , such as also appears to have been significant. Aristotle claimed that the philosophy of Plato closely followed the teachings of the Pythagoreans, repeats this claim: "They say Plato learned all things Pythagorean.", and both believed in , transmigration of the .

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.[63]

George Karamanolis notes that

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.[64]

According to , this influence consists of three points:

1. 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.


2. The idea that mathematics and, generally speaking, abstract thinking is a secure basis for philosophical thinking as well as "for substantial theses in and ".


3. 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 , and has a named for and whose central character is the mathematician . While not a mathematician, Plato was considered an accomplished teacher of mathematics. , the greatest mathematician in Classical Greece, who contributed much of what is found in 's , was taught by Archytas and Plato. Plato helped to distinguish between and by widening the gap between "arithmetic", now called and "logistic", now called .

In the dialogue Plato associated each of the four (, , , and ) with a regular solid (, , , and respectively) due to their shape, the so-called Platonic solids. The fifth regular solid, the , was supposed to be the element which made up the heavens.

Heraclitus and Parmenides

The two philosophers Heraclitus and Parmenides, following the way initiated by pre-Socratic Greek philosophers like Pythagoras, depart from and begin the tradition that strongly influenced Plato and continues today.[63]

The surviving fragments written by Heraclitus suggest the view that all things are continuously changing, or . His image of the river, with ever-changing waters, is well known. According to some ancient traditions like that of Diogenes Laërtius, Plato received these ideas through Heraclitus' disciple , who held the more radical view that continuous change warrants because we cannot define a thing that does not have a permanent nature.[68]

Parmenides adopted an altogether contrary vision, arguing for the idea of changeless and the view that change is an illusion. as a domain of inquiry distinct from ."[69]

These ideas about change and permanence, or becoming and Being, influenced Plato in formulating his theory of Forms.[68]

Plato's most self-critical dialogue is called Parmenides, featuring Parmenides and his student , who following Parmenides' denial of change argued forcefully with his to deny the existence of .

Plato's dialogue includes an stranger, a follower of Parmenides, as a foil for his arguments against Parmenides. In the dialogue Plato distinguishes and , providing some of the earliest treatment of and . He also argues that motion and both "are", against followers of Parmenides who say rest is but motion is not.

Socrates

Plato was one of the devoted young followers of . The precise relationship between Plato and Socrates remains an area of contention among scholars.

Plato never speaks in his own voice in his , and speaks as Socrates in all but the Laws. In the , 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";'s and 's seem to present a somewhat different portrait of Socrates from the one Plato paints. Some have called attention to the of taking Plato's Socrates to be his mouthpiece, given Socrates' reputation for and the dramatic nature of the dialogue form.

Aristotle attributes a different doctrine with respect to Forms to Plato and Socrates. side, discussing and the , this is generally attributed to Plato. Plato refers to 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.[74]

In Plato's dialogues, Socrates and his company of disputants had something to say on many subjects, including several aspects of . These include religion and science, human nature, love, and sexuality. More than one dialogue contrasts perception and , and custom, and body and soul.

The Forms

"Platonism" and its theory of Forms (or 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 dialogue (also known as On the Soul), wherein Socrates refutes the of the likes of , 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 at least two worlds: the apparent world of objects, grasped by the , which constantly changes, and an unchanging and unseen world of Forms or , grasped by (λογική). which ground what is apparent.