Plato Essay

Born in Athens in 437 B.C, Greek philosopher Plato is one of the most powerful thinkers in history. Coming from Greek aristocracy, Plato had political ambitions as a young man and appeared to follow the family tradition. However, Socrates and his dialectical method of inquiry, which was to question and answer everything to show ignorance, soon captivated Plato.

"Unless," I said, "the philosophers rule as kings or those now called kings and chiefs genuinely and adequately philosophize, and political power and philosophy coincide in the same place, while the many natures now making their way to either apart from the other are by necessity excluded, there is no rest from ills for the cities, my dear Glaucon, nor I think for human kind, nor will the regime we have now described in speech ever come forth from nature, insofar as possible, and see the light of the sun."(THE REPUBLIC OF PLATO By Allan B- 473d - 473e)

Plato is remembered as one of the worlds best known philosophers who along with his writings are widely studied. Plato was a student of the great Greek philosopher Socrates and later went on to be the teacher of Aristotle. Plato’s writings such as “The Republic”, “Apology” and “Symposium” reveal a great amount of insight on what was central to his worldview. He was a true philosopher as he was constantly searching for wisdom and believed questioning every aspect of life would lead him to the knowledge he sought. He was disgusted with the common occurrence of Greeks not thinking for themselves but simply accepting the popular opinion also known as doxa. Plato believed that we ought to search for and meditate on the ideal versions of beauty, justice, wisdom, and other concepts which he referred to as the forms. His hostility towards doxa, theory of the forms, and perspective on reality were the central ideas that shaped Plato’s worldview and led him to be the great philosopher who is still revered today.

Following events, which went on to take place further, established his dislike for the government form, thus resulting his propositions of a Utopia in The Republic. At a young age, Plato began to follow the great philosopher Socrates, which instilled his ultimate desire to pursue philosophy, rather than his destined profession in politics. Plato had grown close to Socrates and his teachings; this close connection was a cause to Plato’s finalizing opinions of Democracy. In 399 BCE Socrates was executed by the newly leading Democratic leaders of Athens, and was voted by a majority to be put to death. Plato turned in disgust from contemporary Athenian politics afterwards and went on to be the founder of the Academy; a gathering place, which one could consider a school, that housed great scholars and their revolutionizing thoughts on Mathematics, Philosophy, and Theoretical Astronomy. Due to the events of Plato’s life, he was able to develop the most profound and employed ideas associated with western civilization. His influence had such great impact that his principles are often used in modern-day establishments, from government forms, to fundamentals pertaining to philosophy, the impacts of socialization, as well as religion. To begin an analysis of principles, there must be an understanding of human nature and his personal thoughts regarding the topic, in having that basis of knowledge one could further understand how the basic

Plato was a philosopher who was born in Athens (470-390 BCE), and was also a student of Socrates. He felt that intelligence and one’s perception belonged to completely independent realms or realities. He believed that general concepts of knowledge were predestined, or placed in the soul before birth even occurred in living things. Plato believed that the cosmos was intelligible, and the the universe was mathematically understandable. He believes that mathematical objects could be seen as perfect forms. Forms, a doctoral of Plato, can be understood as an everyday object or idea, which does not, exists in the everyday realm, but merely is existent in the hypothetical realm or reality.

Plato has a different sense of justice than what we ourselves would consider to be justice. Justice starts in the heart and goes outward. Justice is about being a person of good intent towards all people, doing what is believed to be right or moral. Plato believes that once a person has a true understanding of justice that they will want to be “just” for its own benefit regardless of good or bad consequence. Though being just is known to have good consequences also makes being “just” a positive trait. (Clark, 2003, 13) Living a “just” life is good and good is the “well being of well living, the best life is supreme good.” (Bao, 2011, 259) The cause of

George Boas’ article include many important dates and facts about Plato early life and how they all contributed to his literature works. According to Boas, Plato had a father name Ariston and his father was dead at the time of Socrates’s trial (440). Plato was born on the first year of 88th Olympiad, on the seventh day of Thargelion. Dated to be on May 22, 427 B.C. (442). His birth place was assumed to be in Aegina, Athens according to Boas only source of findings. Plato was first name Aristocles and later changed to Plato by his gymnastic teacher because of his

Plato, in addition to being a philosopher, wrestled at the Olympic level, is one of the classical Greek authors, mathematicians and the founder of The Academy, the first higher learning institute in the west. In short, Plato is one of the great thinkers in history and his contributions to philosophy, ethics and politics are many and varied. One of Plato’s main philosophical ideas is based on the idea that the world

Plato attempted to demonstrate that there was proof of a “divine goodness” by several illustrations. Such illustrations include his famous “Divided Line”, “The Simile of the Sun”, and “The Allegory of the Cave”. In these expressions, he aims to pick apart the foundation of knowledge and where it comes from. He believed that human souls could ultimately reach the highest level of reality and have a total understanding of all things. In other words, the soul who had reached the highest level of understanding no longer needed to question or perceive things, because he would recognize and comprehend “pure knowledge” or “pure goodness”. (Soccio)

Plato has been documented as one of history’s great thinkers, he was a student of Socrates learned how to think of the greater aspects in life and asking questions about life. He created a school for others to learn, to question the truth and broaden their horizons. In Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave, he concentrated on human perception and willingness to advance knowledge by looking beyond surroundings and seeking the truth.

“the having and doing of one’s own and what belongs to one would be agreed to

Plato was the most brilliant and famous disciple of Socrates. He was born in May-June 428/27 BC in Athens to a noble and aristocratic family. His real name was Aristocles meaning the best and renowned. His nickname Plato was given by the term platys, because of his broad and strong shoulders. He was very good in the study of music, poetry, mathematics and rhetoric. It was at the age of 20 that Plato met Socrates and since then was mesmerized by him. So deep was his influence on him that he gave up the idea of becoming a poet.

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 sentenced to death in 299 B.C. Extremely hurt Plato left Athens and traveled for several years. In 387 B.C., Plato returned to Athens and founded a school of philosophy and science that became known as the Academy. Topics such as astronomy,

Plato was among the most important and creative thinkers of the ancient world. He was born in Athens in 428 BC to an aristocratic and well-off family. Even as a young child Plato was familiar with political life because his father, Ariston was the last king of Athens. Ariston died when Plato was a young boy. However, the excessive Athenian political life, which was under the oligarchical rule of the Thirty Tyrants and the restored democracy, seem to have forced him to give up any ambitions of political life. In 388 BC he journeyed to Italy and Sicily, where he became the friend of Dionysius the ruler of Syracuse, and his brother-in-law Dion. The following year he returned to Athens, where he devoted his

Growing up in Athens, Greece in around 420 B.C., Plato was born into the perfect place for a young philosophizing man such as himself. He was well educated from an early age, showing a proclivity for music, writing, and gymnastics. (Diogenes). Young Plato, much like many boys in their teenage