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Bio of Plato, Research and Science

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Lukas Steal
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26 views1 page

Bio of Plato, Research and Science

Uploaded by

Lukas Steal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Plato (/ˈpleɪtoʊ/ PLAY-toe;[2] Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn, pronounced [plá.

tɔːn] in
Classical Attic; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was an Athenian philosopher
during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, founder of the Platonist school of
thought and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western
world.

He is widely considered a pivotal figure in the history of Ancient Greek and


Western philosophy, along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student,
Aristotle.[a] Plato has also often been cited as one of the founders of Western
religion and spirituality.[5] The so-called neoplatonism of philosophers such as
Plotinus and Porphyry greatly influenced Christianity through Church Fathers such
as Augustine. Alfred North Whitehead once noted: "the safest general
characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a
series of footnotes to Plato."[6]

Plato was an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy.
Plato is also considered the founder of Western political philosophy. His most
famous contribution is the theory of Forms known by pure reason, in which Plato
presents a solution to the problem of universals known as Platonism (also
ambiguously called either Platonic realism or Platonic idealism). He is also the
namesake of Platonic love and the Platonic solids.

His own most decisive philosophical influences are usually thought to have been
along with Socrates, the pre-Socratics Pythagoras, Heraclitus and Parmenides,
although few of his predecessors' works remain extant and much of what we know
about these figures today derives from Plato himself.[b] Unlike the work of nearly
all of his contemporaries, Plato's entire body of work is believed to have survived
intact for over 2,400 years.[8] Although their popularity has fluctuated, Plato's
works have consistently been read and studied.[

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