Plato
Plato
(427 B.C-348 B.C)
Athans
Aimen Akbar
Plato was one of the most influential Greek philosophers and a pioneer of
Western thought. He was a descendant of Athenian nobility, but he lost his
father at an early age and his mother got remarried. Plato was provided private
tutoring from the best philosophers and poets. Plato was a student of Socrates,
who bravely promoted open-ended dialogues to introduce new ways of thinking.
However, Socrates was executed by the Democratic Athenian state and Plato
related his teacher's ideas throughout his life.
Following his teacher’s forced suicide, Plato traveled widely and studied
the philosophy of each country he visited. Upon returning to Athens after 12
years when he was about 40 years old, he founded his Academy. It is famous for
being the world’s first university and for training Aristotle, another
influential philosopher and the founder of the Lyceum. The Academy continued
teaching philosophy for the next three centuries before being attacked by the
Romans.
Plato’s thoughts are preserved in his 36 dialogues which offer the dialectic
method used by Socrates. Plato’s most famous work, The Republic, is still
greatly valued today for exploring issues such as governance, ethics, logic,
sentiments, and desires. Plato was also deeply interested in geometry, cosmology, and law. He used his teachings to guide Athenian rulers to lead through wisdom
and sympathy.
Famous Quotes:
Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.
When the mind is thinking, it is talking to itself.
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have
to say something.
Socrates (470 B.C-399B.C), Plato (427B.C-348
B.C) and Aristotle (384 B.C-322 B.C) contributed valuable services by providing
groundwork to all disciplines of the modern world whether it is physical,
social sciences, or philosophy. They laid the foundation of all the sciences,
whether physical or normative, upon which studies were conducted and new
disciplines were created.