The Philosophy Of Plato 's Philosophy

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.

“If the truth of all things always existed in the soul, then the soul is immortal” (The Philosophical Journey 89). This states that since the soul has all knowledge integrated, one recollects this knowledge through situations in an individual’s life and use one’s reasoning. With the dialogues of the Meno and Phaedo, Plato discusses the ideas of recollection and immortality of the soul in general. As well, the Republic, through the three different situations shown, Plato shows the ideas of the forms and what is real and what is not.

Socrates spent his time questioning people about things like virtue, justice, piety and truth. The people Socrates questioned are the people that condemned him to death. Socrates was sentenced to death because people did not like him and they wanted to shut him up for good. There was not any real evidence against Socrates to prove the accusations against him. Socrates was condemned for three major reasons: he told important people exactly what he thought of them, he questioned ideas that had long been the norm, the youth copied his style of questioning for fun, making Athenians think Socrates was teaching the youth to be rebellious. But these reasons were not the charges against him, he was charged with being an atheist and

Socrates continues the conversation with Glaucon and now focuses on the obligation of the guardians and philosophers to serve the people as a result of their education.

In Plato’s Apology, Socrates believes that to be good, you should strive to find out why and how things are the way they are. When his childhood friend visited an oracle and asked if anyone was wiser than Socrates, the oracle said there wasn’t. In doing this, he demonstrates that you should not just accept what you see or hear at face value, rather, you should investigate further to understand why. It does you no good to not be able to explain it. If you cannot explain it, you could say that you might not even know it at all.

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,

When I first began to read this passage I was a little confused at the message Callicles was sending to reader and to the philosophers of that time. As I continue to study philosophy I get the sense that most philosophers question the same thing for reason of being. The question of “why” and “what makes…” is the common theme with most things I’ve come across in this course. To read a passage that was written which portrays the negative prospective of philosophy was a bit refreshing to be honest and to say the least. I agreed with most everything Callicles wrote and will reflect upon the passage through the questions provided on this assignment.

The exact birthdate of Plato is unknown. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars estimate that he was born in Athens or Aegina[b] between 428 and 427 BC[a] His father was Ariston. According to a disputed tradition, reported by Diogenes Laertius, Ariston traced his descent from the king of Athens, Codrus, and the king of Messenia, Melanthus.[4] Plato's mother was Perictione, whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker and lyric poet Solon.[5] Perictione was sister of Charmides and niece of Critias, both prominent figures of the Thirty Tyrants, the brief oligarchic regime, which followed on the collapse of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian war (404-403 b.c.e.).[6] Besides Plato

Considered as the big three of Greek philosophy, Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato continue to have an undeniable influences classic philosophy (Perdue, 2014). Greek philosopher, Socrates (469/470-399 BCE) was considered the father of western philosophy and a rather revolutionary philosopher (Mark, 2009). Living in a polytheistic society, one in which the gods were created versus the gods creating the world, Socrates’ conception of the divine was that of benevolence, truthfulness, authorization, and wisdom (Ambury, n.d.). Plato, one of Socrates’ most famous students taught Aristotle who went on to tutor Alexander the Great (Mark, 2009). Initially development by Socrates, Greek philosophy spread throughout the known world during Alexander the Great’s conquests (Mark, 2009).

Comparing the political theories of any two great philosophers is a complex task. Plato and Aristotle are two such philosophers who had ideas of how to improve existing societies during their individual lifetimes. While both Plato and Aristotle were great thinkers, perhaps it is necessary first to examine the ideas of each before showing how one has laid the groundwork and developed certain themes for the other.

“Plato is philosophy, and philosophy, Plato.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson. This was the first quote I read regarding Plato when I first picked up the Great Dialogues of Plato, and turned it over to read the back cover. This quote struck me for some unknown reason and I instantly couldn’t wait to begin reading the dialogues of Plato and begin to understand why he is regarded as one of the great philosophers. The first piece I read, was The Apology, spoken by the great philosopher Socrates and written down by his student Plato. The Apology was Socrates defense in the Athenian court against accusations that were falsely brought upon Socrates. The charges brought against Socrates was that he was a corruptor of the youth and that he believed in supernatural phenomena of his own invention rather than the gods of the state. At first, the dialogue was a smidge difficult for me to read, but as I began getting more involved in the reading and understanding more how Socrates talks, it became much easier to understand the content behind his words. Not once did Socrates beg and cry the jury for his life, but he rather defended his philosophy. While reading The Apology by Socrates, I learned many things, the most notable being: it is important to know oneself, wisdom does not come from specialized knowledge, and that one should focus on the pursuit of truth and of improving of one’s soul.

Prompt: Book X of the Republic does not reflect the rest of Plato's work. On the one hand, Plato stages a final showdown between philosophy and literature (or myth). On the other hand, the book concludes with the elaborate legend of Er's journey into the afterlife creating a determining myth factor. The prompt invites one to make sense of this contradiction. What is the point of the final myth? What does Plato manage to convey through it that he wasn't able to show or persuade with the philosophical arguments and theory of Books 2-9? You are free to argue pro or contra the relevance of the last chapter to the overall theme of the work. Book X of Plato's Republic seems like an abrupt path to take from Books 2-9. Its content serves multiple purposes: to conclude, clarify, and convey Plato's ideas to his audience. Because of the loose ends abundantly present in Books 1-9, Plato should conclude the Republic with Book 10 by addressing poetry in education and which type of good is justice. By addressing both of these topics, Plato is also summarizing his arguments and emphasizing the most important components to his ideal city. Plato attempts to clarify the loose ends present in the Republic in order. The first loose end present is in Book 3: poetry's various roles in education. To make a note, Plato considers education to be the most important foundation for his philosopher king and city. If education is skewed by what Plato considers "bad imitation" then Plato's city and roles

What appears to be so to me is true for me, and what appears to be so to you is true for you. It follows that everyone’s perceptions are equally true. This of course is the extreme form of relativism that Protagoras claims when he asserts that man is the measure of all things in regards to truth. It seems that if all perceptions (e.g. judgments and beliefs) are equally true, there can be no room for expertise. But what is Protagoras to say of our natural inclination that such things as wisdom and the wise really do exist among individuals? If Protagoras’ relativism is to be accepted, he must explain how expertise is possible. Protagoras does not deny that some men are wiser than others, but he disagrees that