Plato Works & Literature

About Plato

Plato, the great Western Philosopher, was born in Athens in either May or December in 428 or 427 BC. There are claims that his given name was Aristocles but that he adopted "Plato" from the Greek "Platon," meaning broad, because of his wide forehead. Raised in an aristocratic family, Plato had access to exceptional schooling and was a pupil of Socrates. Although some of Plato’s letters have survived, his most important writings are his dialogues. Plato uses these dialogues to argue his beliefs on politics, ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology. He believed that anything important should be passed down orally. Since Socrates never published, it is difficult to differentiate where Socrates’ beliefs stop and where Plato’s begin in many of the writings. Most, however, are considered adaptations because of Socrates’ high influence over Plato. According to himself, Plato attended his master’s funeral and was deeply affected by the city’s treatment of Socrates during his trial and execution. During the twelve years following Socrates’ death, he traveled extensively to Italy, Sicily, Egypt, and Cyrene on a quest for knowledge. Upon his return to Athens, Plato founded the Academy, on a section of land in the Grove of Academe. The Academy is one of the earliest known organized schools in Western civilization and ran until it was closed in 529 CE by Justinian I of Byzantium. At the time, it was considered a threat to the propagation of Christianity. Aristotle was just one famous intellectual schooled by the Academy. Plato died in 340BC in Athens, Greece.

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