Philosopher · Classical Greece · Greece
Plato
c. 428–c. 348 BC
Athenian philosopher, student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle, author of the Republic and of the dialogues that carry most of what is known of Socrates.
Facts
- Life
- About 428 to about 348 BC. Dates are traditional, not from a birth record.
- Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Plato
- School
- Founded the Academy at Athens, about 387 BC.
- Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Plato
- Major work
- Republic, on the just city and the just soul. A dialogue, not a constitution he enacted.
- Source: Plato, Republic
The record
Plato wrote in dialogue. Socrates is the speaker in most of them. Treating a line in a dialogue as Plato's own doctrine is a further claim, and it has to be argued.
The Republic sets a city ruled by philosopher-guardians, with property and family abolished for that class. That design is a text, not a state Plato governed. He founded the Academy at Athens around 387 BC. Aristotle studied there and later rejected several of its claims, including the separate existence of the Forms.
A philosopher page records the person and the claims in the texts. It is not a chronicle of a state.
Connected
Links in both directions: what this page points to, and what points here.
Comments
Loading comments…