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Plato

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Philosophers

                              Western Philosophy
Ancient philosophy
Plato - (ca. 427-347 B.C.)
      Name:       Plato
     Birth:       c. 427– 428 BC
     Death:       347 BC
School/tradition: Platonism
 Main interests:  Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, Aesthetics,
                  Politics, Education, Philosophy of mathematics, Metaphilosophy
 Notable ideas:   Platonic realism
   Influences:    Socrates, Archytas, Democritus, Parmenides, Pythagoras
   Influenced:    Almost all Western philosophers

   Plato man ( Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn, "wide, broad-shouldered") (c. 427–c.
   347 BC), whose real name is believed to have been Aristocles, was an
   immensely influential ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Socrates,
   writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens
   where Aristotle studied.

   Plato lectured extensively at the Academy, and wrote on many
   philosophical issues, dealing especially in politics, ethics,
   metaphysics, and epistemology. The most important writings of Plato are
   his dialogues, although some letters have come down to us under his
   name. It is believed that all of Plato's authentic dialogues survive.
   However, some dialogues ascribed to Plato by the Greeks are now
   considered by the consensus of scholars to be either suspect (e.g.,
   First Alcibiades, Clitophon) or probably spurious (such as Demodocus,
   or the Second Alcibiades). The letters are all considered to probably
   be spurious, with the possible exception of the Seventh Letter.

   Socrates is often a character in Plato's dialogues. How much of the
   content and argument of any given dialogue is Socrates' point of view,
   and how much of it is Plato's, is heavily disputed, since Socrates
   himself did not write anything; this is often referred to as the "
   Socratic problem". Another dimension of the problem is the degree to
   which the Socrates story is fictional. Plato's portrait of Socrates is
   thought by many to be at odds with Aristophanes' portrait of him as a
   buffon in his prize-winning play, "The Clouds."

   CAPTION: Platonism

   Platonic idealism
   Platonic realism
   Middle Platonism
   Neoplatonism
   Articles on Neoplatonism
   Platonic epistemology
   Socratic method
   Socratic dialogues
   Theory of forms
   Platonic doctrine of recollection
              Individuals
   Plato
   Socrates
     Discussions of Plato's works
   Dialogues of Plato
   Plato's metaphor of the sun
   Analogy of the divided line
   Allegory of the cave

Biography

   Plato was born in Athens in May or December in 428 or 427 BC (like all
   the other early western philosophers, his birthdate is not exactly
   known). He was raised in a moderately well-to-do aristocratic family.
   His father was named Ariston, and his mother Perictione. His family
   claimed descent from the ancient Athenian kings, and he was related –
   though there is disagreement as to exactly how – to the prominent
   politician Critias. According to a late Hellenistic account by Diogenes
   Laertius, Plato's given name was Aristocles, whereas his wrestling
   coach, Ariston of Argos, dubbed him "Platon", meaning "broad" on
   account of his robust figure. Diogenes mentions alternative accounts
   that Plato derived his name from the breadth (platutês) of his
   eloquence, or else because he was very wide (platus) across the
   forehead. According to Dicaearchus, Plato wrestled at the Isthmian
   games. Such was his learning and ability that the ancient Greeks
   declared him to be the son of Apollo and told how, in his infancy, bees
   had settled on his lips, as prophecy of the honeyed words which were to
   flow from them.

   Plato hints that he was part of the Socratic entourage but never says
   so explicitly. He says that he was present at the trial of Socrates,
   but avers that he was too sick to come to the prison when Socrates was
   scheduled to take the hemlock. It is notable that Plato never presents
   himself as a participant in any of the dialogs, and with the exception
   of the Apology, does not claim to have heard any other the dialogs
   firsthand. One dialog, the Theaetetus, he denies having written. The
   character Euclides says that he compiled the conversation from notes
   that he took based on what Socrates told him of his conversation. It is
   not unusual for Plato to take some pains to distance himself personally
   from the dialogs.

   Plato is commonly thought to have been deeply affected by Athens'
   treatment of Socrates, and his so-called early dialogs have the
   superficial appearance of historical record. The trial of Socrates
   seems to be a fiasco, not to say judicial mystery: Socrates is charged
   with atheism, which was not clearly a crime at all in free-speech
   Athens; and Socrates exonerates himself, in part, by claiming to be
   sent to them by Apollo, an important figure in the standard Greek
   pantheon.

   Plato seems to have traveled extensively in Italy, Sicily, Egypt, and
   Cyrene in a quest for knowledge. 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 Academe. The
   Academy was "a large enclosure of ground which was once the property of
   a citizen at Athens named Academus... some, however, say that it
   received its name from an ancient hero" (Robinson, Arch. Graec. I i
   16), and it operated until 529 AD, when it was closed by Justinian I of
   Byzantium, who saw it as a threat to the propagation of Christianity.
   Many intellectuals were schooled in the Academy, the most prominent one
   being Aristotle.

   Plato mentions many of his contemporaries by name in the dialogs.
   Political and literary figures, past and present, abound. Plato refers
   to Homer in many dialogs, but Socrates' attitude toward him is
   inconsistent. Socrates compares himelf to Achilles with regard to
   courage in the Apology, and condems him for being emotionally
   overwrought and greedy in the Republic.

   Plato's relationship with Aristophanes is no less interesting. An older
   contemporary of Plato's, Socrates accuses him in the Apology of being
   responsible for the slander that led to his death. Plato is thought to
   be influenced by a number of prior philosophers, including: the
   Pythagoreans, whose notions of numerical harmony have clear echoes in
   Plato's notion of the Forms; Anaxagoras, who taught Socrates and who
   held that the mind, or reason, pervades everything; and Parmenides, who
   argued for the unity of all things and may have influenced Plato's
   concept of the soul.

Work

   Raphael's Plato in The School of Athens fresco, probably in the
   likeness of Leonardo da Vinci. Plato gestures to the heavens,
   representing his belief in The Forms.
   Enlarge
   Raphael's Plato in The School of Athens fresco, probably in the
   likeness of Leonardo da Vinci. Plato gestures to the heavens,
   representing his belief in The Forms.

Themes

   Unlike Socrates, Plato wrote down philosophical thoughts, leaving
   behind a considerable number of manuscripts.

   In Plato's writings are debates concerning the best possible form of
   government, featuring adherents of aristocracy, democracy, monarchy, as
   well as other issues. A central theme is the conflict between nature
   and convention, concerning the role of heredity and the environment on
   human intelligence and personality long before the modern " nature
   versus nurture" debate began in the time of Thomas Hobbes and John
   Locke, with its modern continuation in such controversial works as The
   Mismeasure of Man and The Bell Curve.

   Another theme in Plato's writing is the distinction between knowledge
   and true belief. From this, problems, ideas, and arguments arose which
   continue to be debated by modern philosophers. Unlike most modern
   writers, Plato argued that the main difference between knowledge and
   true belief was the nature of their objects: knowledge was of eternal
   truths (later, the Forms), while true belief was of ephemeral,
   contingent truths.

   Plato also had a position on the art of writing as opposed to oral
   communication. This is evidenced in his dialogue Phaedrus and his
   Seventh Epistle. He said that oral communication is superior to the
   written word, especially in the accuracy of the oral word over the
   written word and in his Seventh Epistle that nothing of importance
   should be written down but transmitted orally.

Form and basis

   Plato wrote mainly in the form known as dialogue. In certain dialogues,
   postulated by some scholars as being earlier than others, several
   characters discuss a topic by asking questions of one another. Socrates
   figures prominently, and a lively, more disorganised form of elenchos/
   dialectic is present; these are called the Socratic Dialogues.

   Some scholars believe that the nature of the dialogues changed a great
   deal over the course of Plato's life. According to this theory, works
   believed to date from earlier in Plato's life are more closely based on
   Socrates' thought, whereas later writing increasingly breaks away from
   the views of his former teacher. This theory holds that in so-called
   middle dialogues, Socrates becomes a mouthpiece for Plato's own
   philosophy, and the question-and-answer style is more pro forma: the
   main figure represents Plato and the minor characters have little to
   say except "yes", "of course" and "very true", or "by Zeus, yes". The
   dialogues designated by this theory as late read more like treatises,
   and Socrates is often absent or quiet. It is assumed by believers of
   this theory that while some of the early dialogues could be based on
   Socrates' actual conversations, the later dialogues were written
   entirely by Plato. The question of which, if any, of the dialogues are
   truly Socratic is known as the Socratic problem.

   The ostensible mise en scène of a dialogue distances both Plato and a
   given reader from the philosophy being discussed; one can choose
   between at least two options of perception: either to participate in
   the dialogues, in the ideas being discussed, or choose to see the
   content as expressive of the personalities contained within the work.

   The dialogue format allows Plato to put unpopular opinions in the mouth
   of unsympathetic characters, such as Thrasymachus in The Republic. On
   one level, it also gives readers an opportunity to observe and compare
   the conversations that different youths and men have with Socrates.

Metaphysics

   Detail of The School of Athens by Raffaello Sanzio, 1509, showing Plato
   (pointing upwards, as if to the Form of the Good) and Aristotle
   (holding his hand palm down to Earth, favouring material evidence).
   Enlarge
   Detail of The School of Athens by Raffaello Sanzio, 1509, showing Plato
   (pointing upwards, as if to the Form of the Good) and Aristotle
   (holding his hand palm down to Earth, favouring material evidence).

   Platonism has traditionally been interpreted as a form of metaphysical
   dualism , sometimes referred to as Platonic realism, and is regarded as
   one of the earlier representatives of metaphysical objective idealism.
   According to this reading, Plato's metaphysics divides the world into
   two distinct aspects: the intelligible world of "forms", and the
   perceptual world we see around us. The perceptual world consists of
   imperfect copies of the intelligible forms or ideas. These forms are
   unchangeable and perfect, and are only comprehensible by the use of the
   intellect or understanding, that is, a capacity of the mind that does
   not include sense-perception or imagination. This division can also be
   found in Zoroastrian philosophy, in which the dichotomy is referenced
   as the Minu (intelligence) and Giti (perceptual) worlds. The
   Zoroastrian ideal city, Shahrivar, also exhibits certain similarities
   with Plato's Republic. The existence and direction of influence here is
   uncertain; while Zoroaster lived well before Plato, few of the earliest
   writings of Zoroastrianism survive unaltered.

   In the Republic Books VI and VII, Plato uses a number of metaphors to
   explain his metaphysical views: the metaphor of the sun, the well-known
   allegory of the cave, and most explicitly, the divided line.

   Taken together, these metaphors convey a complex, and, in
   places,difficult theory: there is something called The Form of the Good
   (often interpreted as Plato's god), which is the ultimate object of
   knowledge and which, as it were, sheds light on all the other forms
   (i.e., universals: abstract kinds and attributes), and from which all
   other forms "emanate". The Form of the Good does this in somewhat the
   same way as the sun sheds light on, or makes visible and "generates"
   things, in the perceptual world.

   In the perceptual world, the particular objects we see around us bear
   only a dim resemblance to the more ultimately real forms of Plato's
   intelligible world; it is as if we are seeing shadows of cut-out shapes
   on the walls of a cave, which are mere representations of the reality
   outside the cave, illuminated by the sun.

   We can imagine everything in the universe represented on a line of
   increasing reality; it is divided once unevenly, and then once again in
   each of the resulting parts in the same ratio as the first division
   (Regardless of the ratio, the two midddle sections of the line are
   equal). The first division represents that between the intelligible and
   the perceptual worlds. This is followed by a corresponding division in
   each of these worlds: the segment representing the perceptual world is
   divided into segments representing "real things" on the one hand, and
   shadows, reflections, and representations of those things on the other.
   Similarly, the segment representing the intelligible world is divided
   into segments representing first principles and most general forms, on
   the one hand, and more derivative, "reflected" forms, on the other.
   (See the divided line of Plato)

   Plato's metaphysics, and particularly its dualism between the
   intelligible and the perceptual, would inspire later Neoplatonist
   thinkers, such as Plotinus and Gnostics, and many other metaphysical
   realists. Although Platonist philosophers like Plotinus rejected
   Gnosticism (see Plotinus' Enneads). One reason being the Gnostic
   vilification of nature and Plato's demiurge from Timaeus. Plato also
   influenced Saint Justin Martyr. For more on Platonic realism in
   general, see Platonic realism and the Forms.

   Although this interpretation of Plato's writings (particularly the
   Republic) has enjoyed immense popularity throughout the long history of
   Western philosophy, it is also possible to interpret his suggestions
   more conservatively, favoring a more epistemological than metaphysical
   reading of such famous metaphors as the Cave and the Divided Line.
   There are obvious parallels between the Cave allegory and the life of
   Plato's teacher Socrates (who was killed in his attempt to "open the
   eyes" of the Athenians). This example reveals the dramatic complexity
   that often lies under the surface of Plato's writing (remember that in
   the Republic, it is Socrates who relates the story).

Epistemology

   Plato also had some influential opinions on the nature of knowledge and
   learning which he propounded in the Meno, which began with the question
   of whether virtue can be taught, and proceeded to expound the concepts
   of recollection, learning as the discovery of pre-existing knowledge,
   and right opinion, opinions which are correct but have no clear
   justification.

   Plato stated that knowledge is essentially justified true belief, an
   influential belief which informed future developments in epistemology.
   In the Theaetetus Plato argued that belief is to be distinguished from
   knowledge on account of justification. In the Many years later, Edmund
   Gettier famously demonstrated the problems of the justified true belief
   account of knowledge.In the Sophist and the Statesman Plato associates
   knowledge with the knowledge of the kinds and the Forms as well as of
   their ability of blending, which he calls expertise in Dialectic.

The state

   Plato's philosophical views had many societal implications, especially
   on the idea of an ideal state or government. There is some discrepancy
   between his early and later views. Some of the most famous doctrines
   are contained in the Republic during his middle period, as well as in
   "The Laws" and "The Statesman". However, because Plato wrote dialogues,
   it is assumed that Socrates is often speaking for Plato. This
   assumption may not be true in all cases.

   Plato, through the words of Socrates, asserts that societies have a
   tripartite class structure corresponding to the appetite/spirit/reason
   structure of the individual soul.
     * Productive (Workers) — the labourers, carpenters, plumbers, masons,
       merchants, farmers, ranchers, etc. These correspond to the
       "appetite" part of the soul.
     * Protective (Warriors or Auxiliaries) — those who are adventurous,
       strong and brave; in the armed forces. These correspond to the
       "spirit" part of the soul.
     * Governing (Rulers or Guardians) — 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 (as it
   existed in his day) are rejected as only a few are fit to rule. Instead
   of rhetoric and persuasion, Plato says reason and wisdom should govern.
   This does not equate to tyranny, despotism, or oligarchy, however. As
   Plato puts it:

          "Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called
          kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophise,
          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."
          (Republic 473c-d)

   Plato describes these "philosopher kings" as "those who love the sight
   of truth" (Republic 475c) and supports the idea with the analogy of a
   captain and his ship or a doctor and his medicine. 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.

   However, it must be taken into account that the ideal city outlined in
   the Republic is qualified by Socrates as the ideal luxurious city,
   examined to determine how it is that injustice and justice grow in a
   city (Republic 372e). According to Socrates, the "true" and "healthy"
   city is instead the one first outlined in book II of the Republic,
   369c-372d, containing farmers, craftsmen, merchants, and wage-earners,
   but lacking the guardian class of philosopher-kings as well as
   delicacies such as "perfumed oils, incense, prostitutes, and pastries",
   in addition to paintings, gold, ivory, couches, a multitude of
   occupations such as poets and hunters, and war.

   In addition, the ideal city is used as an image to illuminate the state
   of one's soul, or the will, reason, and desires 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 love for wisdom and the courage
   to act according to wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge about the Good or the
   right relations between all that exists.

   Wherein it concerns states and rulers, Plato has made interesting
   arguments. For instance he 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 (since then there is only one person committing bad deeds)
   than be a bad democracy (since here all the people are now responsible
   for such actions.)

   According to Socrates a state, which is made up of different kinds of
   souls, will overall decline from an aristocracy to a timocracy, then to
   an oligarchy, then to a democracy, and finally to tyranny. Perhaps
   Plato is trying to warn us of the various kinds of immoderate souls
   that can rule over a state, and what kind of wise souls are best to
   advise and give counsel to the rulers that are often lovers of power,
   money, fame, and popularity.

Platonic scholarship

   "The safest general characterisation of the European philosophical
   tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."
   (Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, 1929).
   Enlarge
   "The safest general characterisation of the European philosophical
   tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." (
   Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, 1929).

   Plato's thought is often compared with that of his most famous student,
   Aristotle, whose reputation during the Western Middle Ages so
   completely eclipsed that of Plato that the Scholastic philosophers
   referred to Aristotle as "the Philosopher". However, in the Byzantine
   Empire, the study of Plato continued.

   The Medieval scholastic philosophers did not have access to the works
   of Plato, nor the knowledge of Greek needed to read them. Plato's
   original writings were essentially lost to Western civilization until
   they were brought from Constantinople in the century before its fall,
   by George Gemistos Plethon. Medieval scholars knew of Plato only
   through translations into Latin from the translations into Arabic by
   Persian and Arab scholars. These scholars not only translated the texts
   of the ancients, but expanded them by writing extensive commentaries
   and interpretations on Plato's and Aristotle's works (see Al-Farabi,
   Avicenna, Averroes).

   Only in the Renaissance, with the general resurgence of interest in
   classical civilization, did knowledge of Plato's philosophy become
   widespread again in the West. Many of the greatest early modern
   scientists and artists who broke with Scholasticism and fostered the
   flowering of the Renaissance, with the support of the Plato-inspired
   Lorenzo de Medici, saw Plato's philosophy as the basis for progress in
   the arts and sciences. 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. It inspired the greatest advances in
   logic since Aristotle, due to Gottlob Frege and his followers Kurt
   Gödel, Alonzo Church, and Alfred Tarski, the last of whom summarised
   his approach by reversing Aristotle's famous declaration of sedition
   from the Nicomachean Ethics (1096a15: Amicus Plato sed magis amica
   veritas): Inimicus Plato sed magis amica veritas ("Plato is a friend,
   but truth is yet a greater friend"). Albert Einstein drew on Plato's
   understanding of an immutable reality that underlies the flux of
   appearances for his objections to the probabilistic picture of the
   physical universe propounded by Niels Bohr in his interpretation of
   quantum mechanics. Conversely, thinkers that diverged from ontological
   models and moral ideals in their own philosophy, have tended to
   disparage Platonism from more or less informed perspectives. Thus
   Friedrich Nietzsche attacked Plato's moral and political theories,
   Martin Heidegger argued against Plato's alleged obfuscation of Being,
   and Karl Popper argued in The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945) that
   Plato's alleged proposal for a government system in the Republic was
   prototypically totalitarian. Leo Strauss is considered by some as the
   prime thinker involved in the recovery of Platonic thought in its more
   political, and less metaphysical, form. 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 thinkers
   acknowledge as 'the crisis of the West.'
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