Plato: The Life of Plato Plato was born around 427 BC, in Athens Greece to rich and politically involved family. Plato's parents spared no expense in educating him; he was taught at the finest schools. He was taught by Socrates and defended Socrates when he was on trial. Plato traveled to Italy and may have even visited Egypt before founding The Academy. Plato also visited Sicily and instructed a young king there before returning to The Academy to teach for twenty years before his death in 347
any jealousy of anything. And because he was free from jealousy, he desired all things to be as much like himself as they could possibly be” (Pittenger 101). Plato was a famous philosopher. His affect the world was great. Many things that people have been wondering about for years, such as life’s questions, were first written by Plato in his different writings and dialogues. In his writings, he tried to answer things such as the meaning of life, what the world is truly like, or things
In 428 B.C. Aristocles (later known as Plato) was born in Athens. He was born on the island of Aegina, which lies just twelve miles off shore from Athens in the Saronic Gulf (Havelock 3). Aristocles was born into a great political family (Friedlander 14). His father being the descendant of Codrus, the last king of Athens, and his mother was descendant from the great Athenian law maker Solon (Friedlander 15). Like most adolescent children his ambitions were far from anything his parents had ever done
Plato was a philosopher and educator in ancient Greece. He was one of the most important thinkers and writers in the history of Western culture. Plato was born in Athens into a family that was one of the oldest and most distinguished in the city. His father Ariston died when Plato was only a child. The name Plato was a nickname meaning broad shoulders. Plato's real name was Aristocles. Plato had aspirations of becoming a politician, however these hopes were destroyed when his friend Socrates was
Plato (circa 428-c. 347 BC) Plato was born to an aristocratic family in Athens. His father, Ariston, was believed to have descended from the early kings of Athens. Perictione, his mother, was distantly related to the 6th- century BC lawmaker Solon. When Plato was a child, his father died, and his mother married Pyrilampes, who was an associate of the statesman Pericles. As a young man Plato had political ambitions, but he became disillusioned by the political leadership in Athens. He eventually became
Plato Biography Plato was born in Athens of an aristocratic family. He recounts in the Seventh Letter, which, if genuine, is part of his autobiography, that the spectacle of the politics of his day brought him to the conclusion that only philosophers could be fit to rule. After the death of Socrates in 399, he travelled extensively. During this period he made his first trip to Sicily, with whose internal politics he became much entangled. He visited Sicily at least three times in all and may
The great philosopher, Plato, wrote two specific dialogues; the book Timaeus and the book Critias. Plato was a professional teacher who valued intelligence immensely. Plato founded the first Philosophical Academy in Athens in the early fourth century BC. He devoted his life to philosophy and the teachings of his friend Socrates. Plato learned from Socrates and passed on his knowledge to his students. After his friend's sudden death, Plato became dissatisfied with the government in Athens. He filtered
that his real name was Aristocles, with "Plato" (meaning "the broad") being a nickname given to him because of his wrestler's physique. He served in the last years of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and after democracy was restored in Athens in 403 BC he hoped to enter politics. However, the realities of political life as well as the execution of his mentor Socrates in 399 BC drove him to abandon this goal. After the death of Socrates, Plato left Athens and traveled in Italy, Sicily
By Adilkhan Tuleubayev Drawing from Book VI of the Republic (pp. 154-160), Plato used the Allegory of the Cave (Book VII, pp. 160-161) as an ultimate example to illustrate the importance of the good discussed before and to eloquently conclude his line of thought. Although he never exactly said what the Good was, his representation of its functions and existence adequately compensated for this minor shortcoming. The following essay aims to analyze the passage by synthesizing its main ideas and incorporating
Plato was a philosopher in the time of the distinguished Greek philosophers. He wrote a book entitled The Republic in which he explains some of his philosophy on subjects ranging from education to government. Plato constructed a model by which he proposed all governments evolve. He called it the Five Stages of Government. He suggested that there are five forms of government, which evolve out of one another; Timocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy, Tyranny, and Aristocracy. A Timocracy is a government of
Socrates' ideal city is described through Plato in his work The Republic, some questions pondered through the text could be; How is this an "ideal" city formed, and is justice in the city relative to that of the human soul? I believe Socrates found the true meaning of justice in the larger atmosphere of the city and applied that concept to the human soul. Socrates describes his idea of an "ideal city" as one that has all the necessary parts to function and to show that justice is truly the harmony
became known as philosophy. This form of thinking became popular in the Greek city-states such as Athens. Philosophy was early scholar’s way of understanding life and how it worked. Plato is a famous philosopher, born in 429 B.C., who was passionate about finding logic, instead of blaming events on the Greek gods (Plato, Wikipedia). Almost 700 years later, in 354 A.D. another phenomenal philosopher,
One should not fear death because the lack of knowledge of death’s benefits or ill effects. In the book Apology, Socrates argues how fearing death is equivalent to being ignorant. First, Socrates points out that nobody knows whether death is beneficial or not. The next point he makes is that to fear death is to think one knows that death is a bad thing when they really have no idea if death is a bad thing, therefore one is ignorant. Socrates then states that one should not be ignorant. The two
The focus of Socrates at this time in Plato’s Republic is of the ideal city and how it can be traced to the human soul. Socrates believes that the city he has proposed to the other men is perfect in itself. He says that this city possesses four virtues which are the base for the city being perfect. These are the virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation and lastly but most importantly is the virtue of justice. He breaks down the city into classes and he says how each man within the city is responsible
The Ambiguity of Plato For hundreds of years, Plato has been admired as a writer, a master rhetorician, an artist, and above all, a philosopher; however, Plato's backlashes against sophistry and art have led to much confusion concerning his ideas and beliefs. John Poulakos says of Plato, "[F]or most rhetoricians Plato has always played the same role he assigned to the sophists--the enemy" (Nienkamp 1). Plato will always appear to be the skilled rhetorician or artist who speaks out against rhetoric
Greek philosopher named Plato has laid the foundation for Western culture. Plato was born to an aristocratic family in Athens in 428/427 B.C. As a young man, Plato studied poetry, but later under the tutelage of the famed Socrates, turned to philosophy, who introduced him to the ethical importance of the pursuit of wisdom. Plato was also influenced by the writings of pre-Socratic thinkers Pythagoras and Parmenides in the areas of mathematics, metaphysics, and epistemology. Plato was a prolific writer
Plato’s interpretation of justice as seen in ‘The Republic’ is a vastly different one when compared to what we and even the philosophers of his own time are accustomed to. Plato would say justice is the act of carrying out one’s duties as he is fitted with. Moreover, if one’s duties require one to lie or commit something else that is not traditionally viewed along with justice; that too is considered just by Plato’s accounts in ‘The Republic.’ I believe Plato’s account of justice, and his likely
Plato’s notion of the Forms vs. the physical realm is quite and interesting topic. I believe something very similar to what Plato thinks about the Forms and our physical reality. Plato says that there is nothing that is perfect in this reality that we live in. And the Forms are the perfect ideals or thoughts that we are striving to achieve throughout our lives. Plato says it is impossible to reach the Forms in our current reality and that it is only possible to achieve perfect knowledge and truth
Plato (428-347 B.C.E.) is considered to be one of the greatest philosophers the world has ever known. Though concerned with specific problems of his own era, Plato's ideas transcend all time. Throughout the ages his works have been translated into many languages and studied by great thinkers of every region of the world. A revival of Platonic thought occurred during the Renaissance. Though Plato's ideas have survived in their original forms, translators and commentators during Renaissance times
Confucius and Plato Confucius and Plato are two of the most respected and most widely studied teachers of history. There philosophies of how people should be governed and what characteristics make for a good leader. Both men’s ideas are good for the civilizations that they lived in, and they shared many similarities in their ideas. My own ideas of an ideal leader are a mixture of these two men’s ideas. The personal experiences of both men also play a key role in how they shape their ideas. The best