RP263 Plato

 RP263 Plato

He was a star student, then an influential teacher. His work has shaped Western philosophy from its earliest beginnings. He lived about 80 years, but his legacy has lasted thousands.

Plato was born to a very wealthy, aristocratic family in Athens in about 427 B.C. As a young man, he studied under Socrates. In fact, it is mostly through Plato's writing that we understand Socrates, the famous teacher and philosopher. Plato described Socrates questioning and teaching his young students in his Dialogue s (a series of writings).

Plato's most famous work is The Republic, a dialogue that addresses the topic of justice, both for individuals and for nations. In the work, Socrates and others discuss definitions of justice and whether justice leads to happiness. Throughout, Socrates uses the metaphor of a soul as a city. Justice is not born into either but can be achieved through correct laws and moral rule. The Republic is one of the West's most important works of philosophy and political theory. It provides the basis for many of our ideas of how to live a good life and how to rule fairly.

Plato, like other philosophers of the time, was interested in change and sameness. Philosophers disagreed on the nature of the physical world because it was so changeable and yet so constant. Plato tried to answer this question with his philosophy of forms. He described a separation between the essence of something— the concept of "chair," for example— and its various physical examples. The idea is constant, though the examples differ and die.

After Socrates died, Plato traveled to Italy, Sicily, and perhaps even Egypt. When he returned to Athens, he founded a school, known as the Academy. The 36 dialogues and 13 letters Plato composed over his life have shaped Western ideas ever since.