Plato
Plato
Circa 428-348 or 347 b.c.e.
Philosopher
Influence. Plato is a member of the great trio of ancient Greek intellectuals—the other two being Socrates and Aristotle—who established the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Almost every ancient philosopher who came after him wrote in response to Plato’s theories. In fact, scholars studied his logical, epistemological, and metaphysical writings throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Aristocles. Plato was born in Athens, the son of Ariston and Perictione. He was originally called Aristocles, after his grandfather, but was given the nickname “Plato” (after the Greek word flatus, meaning broad, apparently in reference to either his physique, broad forehead, or intellect). He studied under Socrates until the philosopher’s death in 399 b.c.e. and then began a series of travels that led him to Megara, Egypt, Cyrene, Sicily, and Magna Graecia (the Greek seaport colonies of southern Italy). Returning to Athens in 387, Plato founded his school of philosophy known as the Academy, where one of his most famous students was Aristotle.
Works. The extant works of Plato are in the form of dialogues in which his mentor, Socrates, takes a leading role. His greatest dialogue, Republic, the first book of which was written sometime before 387 b.c.e., describes the construction of an ideal state. Apology was also written prior to 387 b.c.e. and purports to be Socrates’ speech at his trial. Three other important works were composed sometime between 380 and 360 b.c.e.: Symposium (a study on ideal love); Phaedrus (a critique of the prevailing conception of rhetoric); and Phaedo (a discourse on immortality of the soul and Socrates’ last conversation before death). One of Plato’s famous late dialogues is Timaeus (circa 355-347 b.c.e.), which contains his theory of the universe and the story of Atlantis.
Sources
John Glucker, Antiochus and the Late Academy (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1978).
John Earle Raven, Plato’s Thought in the Making: A Study of the Development of His Metaphysics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965).
Alice Swift Riginos, Platonica: The Anecdotes Concerning the Life and Writings of Plato (Leiden: Brill, 1976).
C.J. Rowe, Plato (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984).
A. E. Taylor, Plato, the Man and His Work, fifth edition (London: Methuen, 1948).