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Plato: For Other Uses, See and

Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Athens in 428/427 or 424/423 BC. He founded the Academy, a philosophical school where he taught doctrines that would later become known as Platonism. Plato made major contributions to epistemology, metaphysics, and political philosophy. He is best known for his theory of forms, which proposed that non-physical forms represent true reality. Plato had a major influence on Western philosophy and science and his dialogues are considered some of the first and most influential works of philosophy in the Western tradition.

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20 views2 pages

Plato: For Other Uses, See and

Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Athens in 428/427 or 424/423 BC. He founded the Academy, a philosophical school where he taught doctrines that would later become known as Platonism. Plato made major contributions to epistemology, metaphysics, and political philosophy. He is best known for his theory of forms, which proposed that non-physical forms represent true reality. Plato had a major influence on Western philosophy and science and his dialogues are considered some of the first and most influential works of philosophy in the Western tradition.

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Milanka Izgarevic
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© © All Rights Reserved
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For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation) and Platon (disambiguation).

Plato

Roman copy of a portrait bust c. 370 BC


428/427 or 424/423 BC
Born
Athens, Greece
348 BC (aged c. 80)
Died
Athens, Greece
 Euthyphro
 Apology
 Crito
 Phaedo
 Meno
 Protagoras
 Gorgias
Notable work  Symposium
 Phaedrus
 Parmenides
 Theaetetus
 Republic
 Timaeus
 Laws

Era Ancient Greek philosophy


School Platonic Academy
Notable students Aristotle
Epistemology, Metaphysics
Main interests
Political philosophy
Allegory of the cave

Cardinal virtues
Form of the Good
Theory of forms
Notable ideas
Divisions of the soul
Platonic love
Platonic solids

Atlantis
Influences
Influenced

Plato (/ˈpleɪtoʊ/ PLAY-toe;[1] Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348 BC) was an
ancient Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece.

In Athens, Plato founded the Academy, a philosophical school where he taught the philosophical
doctrines that would later become known as Platonism. Plato, or Platon, was a pen name derived,
apparently, from the nickname given to him by his wrestling coach – allegedly a reference to his
physical broadness. According to Alexander Polyhistor, quoted by Diogenes, his actual name
was Aristocles, son of Ariston, of the deme (suburb) Collytus, in Athens.[2]

Plato was an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy. He raised
problems for what became all the major areas of both theoretical philosophy and practical
philosophy. His most famous contribution is the Theory of forms, which has been interpreted as
advancing a solution to what is now known as the problem of universals. He is 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.[a]

Along with his teacher, Socrates, and student Aristotle, Plato is a central figure in the history of
philosophy.[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.[6] Although their popularity has fluctuated,
Plato's works have consistently been read and studied.[7] Through Neoplatonism Plato also
greatly influenced both Christian (through e.g. Augustine of Hippo) and Islamic philosophy
(through e.g. Al-Farabi). In modern times, Alfred North Whitehead famously said: "the safest
general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of
footnotes to Plato."[8]

Biography
Further information: Life of Plato

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