Plato :: essays research papers

Plato (circa 428-c. 347 BC)Plato was born to an aristocratic family in capital of Greece. His stupefy, Ariston, was believed to have descended from the azoic kings of Athens. Perictione, his mother, was distantly related to the 6th- century BC lawmaker Solon. When Plato was a child, his father died, and his mother married Pyrilampes, who was an associate of the statesman Pericles.As a younker man Plato had policy-making ambitions, but he became disillusioned by the political leadership in Athens. He eventually became a disciple of Socrates, accept his basic school of thought and dialectical style of logical argument the pursuit of trueness through questions, answers, and additional questions. Plato witnessed the death of Socrates at the hands of the Athenian land in 399 BC. Perhaps fearing for his own safety, he left Athens temporarily and traveled to Italy, Sicily, and Egypt.In 387 Plato founded the academy in Athens, the institution often exposit as the first European uni versity. It provided a comprehensive curriculum, including such subjects as astronomy, biology, mathematics, political theory, and philosophy. Aristotle was the Academys most prominent student.Pursuing an opportunity to combine philosophy and practical politics, Plato went to Sicily in 367 to tutor the new ruler of Syracuse, Dionysius the Younger, in the imposture of philosophical rule. The experiment failed. Plato made another trip to Syracuse in 361, but again his engagement in Sicilian affairs met with small-scale success. The concluding years of his life were spent lecturing at the Academy and writing. He died at about the age of 80 in Athens in 348 or 347 BC. Works Platos writings were in dialogue pattern philosophical ideas were advanced, discussed, and criticized in the context of a conversation or debate involving two or more persons. The earliest collection of Platos work includes 35 dialogues and 13 letters. The authenticity of a few of the dialogues and most of the let ters has been disputed. archean Dialogues The dialogues may be divided into early, middle, and later periods of composition. The earliest represent Platos undertake to communicate the philosophy and dialectical style of Socrates. Several of these dialogues take the equivalent form. Socrates, encountering someone who claims to know much, professes to be ignorant and seeks assistance from the one who knows. As Socrates begins to raise questions, however, it becomes clear that the one reputed to be wise really does not know what he claims to know, and Socrates emerges as the wiser one because he at least knows that he does not know.